Hello all. This is my first post here so I apologize if it is in the wrong place. I recently graduated college and renting a place near where I work. The part of the city where I live has a relatively good rental market with a lot of young professionals renting houses/rooms, but not very many buying houses. I began thinking of purchasing a home with multiple bedrooms, living in one bedroom, and renting out the remaining rooms. I still am trying to think of this as an investment property, and maybe that isn't the correct way for me to think about the house. My first question would be is that the correct mindset to have regarding my primary residence (that it is an investment property)?
My second question is, how should I measure cashflow in this situation? I have come up with a few ways which I have included below, and I am sure that there are countless other ways as well. If anyone has any suggestions, I would welcome the advice. Thanks
Cashflow 1: Rental Income - expenses
Measure cashflow as if I didn't live there
Cashflow 2: Rental Income + What I currently pay in rent - expenses
Measuring the cashflow difference between owning a house and my current living situation
Cashflow 3: Market Rate Rent - expenses
This would measure what I think the market rate rent is of the house that I bought. In this method I would be counting the rent that I "charge" myself as income
