Table of Contents
Introduction 9
Chapter 1 House Hacking 101 11
What Is House Hacking? 12
Opportunity Cost 15
House Hacking Is a Better Way 17
Who Is House Hacking Good For? 18
Who Isn't House Hacking Good For? 20
Understanding Your Personal Finances 21
Setting Goals and Expectations 26
Chapter 2 The Benefits of House Hacking 29
Starting with Your Current Home 30
Starting Without a Lot of Money 33
Shortening Time to Financial Freedom 37
Flexibility with Your Lifestyle 40
Learning with Training Wheels On 42
Receiving Tax Benefits from Your Primary Residence 43
Chapter 3 Conventional Strategies of House Hacking 45
Multifamily Properties and ADUs 46
Single-Family Finished Basements 49
Single-Family Rent-by-the-Room 51
Live-In Flips 53
Chapter 4 Unconventional Strategies of House Hacking 57
Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb/VRBO) 58
RVs 64
Vacation Properties 66
Chapter 5 Your Real Estate Team 71
What Does It Mean to Be "On the Team"? 72
Whom Do You Need on Your Team? 72
Team Member Roles and How to Find Them 74
Chapter 6 Finding the Right Property for Your House Hack 91
Property Type 92
Property Condition 94
Tenant Desirability 95
Acceptable Financial Metrics 98
How to Find the Property 100
Chapter 7 Finding the Right Market for Your House Hack 109
Using Demographic Data 110
Real Estate Data Sources and Tools 113
Evaluating Specific Neighborhoods 114
Why You Shouldn't Follow the Crowd 119
Accepting Your Current Location 120
Chapter 8 Analyzing House Hack Deals 123
Income Analysis 124
Expense Analysis 129
Profitability Analysis 134
Post-House Hack Analysis 137
Chapter 9 The Steps to Buying a Property 139
Mortgage Preapproval 140
Getting the Property under Contract 142
Conducting Due Diligence and Reviewing Reports 147
Final Step: Closing 150
When Is the Right Time to Buy? 152
Chapter 10 Financing Your House Hack 157
Types of Financial Institutions 158
Types of Loans 165
Financial institutions' Underwriting Process 169
Getting Your Credit In Order 173
Chapter 11 Finding and Managing Your Tenants 177
Defining Your Tenant Criteria 178
Finding Your Tenants 186
Professional Tenant Management 188
Managing a Previous Owner's Tenants 191
Chapter 12 Your Property's Financials 195
The Importance of Bookkeeping 196
Tools and Software for Real Estate Bookkeeping 199
House Hacking Taxes 202
Using a Virtual Assistant 206
Chapter 13 Building On Your Experience 211
How House Hacking Relates to Other Real Estate Strategies 212
How to Reduce Your Risk If House Hacking Doesn't Work 217
Self-Reflection for Areas of Improvement 223
Appendix A The Buying-a-Home Checklist 225
Appendix B Market Research 226
Appendix C Real Estate Team 232
Appendix D Property Search Notes 236
Appendix E New Home Checklist 246
Appendix F Calculating Income 248
Appendix G Tenant Applications 249
Index 251
