This may or may not be something you're interested in but I prefer it for my own privacy.

Just this week a branch fell from a neighbors tree doing damage to a privacy fence on a property that we manage. 

Many buyers still want views, but land is now a higher priority — they want land, pools, offices and privacy.

By all accounts, notifying a tenant that you are the property's owner is a bad idea. How can you avoid the tenant signing a lease to you, as the owner, without establishing an LLC and using that?

I am sure they are not stealing or invading your privacy. 

I've considered this method of house hacking though I don't know how comfortable I feel with other strangers living around my girlfriend and me or the lack of privacy.

The basement is a common area (boiler and hot water heater) with no privacy and no bathroom facilities; however, it does have a window and two doors (one to the the backyard and the other to the the first floor) .

Also gives you another layer of privacy.

You're not invading their privacy, remember THEY called YOU. 

hope I am not infringing privacy by wireless thermostat?