House Hacking, Should We Do It?
So it has been a few months since my last post. I have been extremely busy with work, finishing our first house flip that is intended for us to live in and moving into said house. It feels like I have been treading water for months. All of this said, I am thinking about moving again.
What am I thinking, right? We just moved all of our stuff into a new house and I really didn't enjoy that process. So why am I thinking about moving yet again? The short answer is I want to lower the monthly cash expenditure for my family as well as give us some time freedom. How does moving accomplish this? House Hacking.
House Hacking
House Hacking is a well known strategy in the real estate investor/frugal community. It is simply buying a multi unit rental property(duplex/triplex/quad) and living in one unit while the other units get rented out. The benefit of this is you can get a quality multi unit(4 units or under) with an FHA 30 year mortgage and the renters pay it off. So, you live for free and/or make money from your home every month from the renters. This is why I am thinking about moving.
My Options
Our current house is nice. We flipped it and upgraded items we wanted and we enjoy it. Its in a nice quiet neighborhood, its really a great house for us. If we were to sell it, we would make a nice amount of money and we would probably use most of the money from the sale as a down payment of the 3 unit rental we are looking at. The 3 unit rental is very nice, close to our current neighborhood and each unit rents for about $1,000 per month. We would basically live for free and maybe make $100-$200 per month, but it would more than likely be reinvested in long term repairs.
The Decision
So what should I do? I still have not fully decided. I believe the freedom of not having a mortgage payment(having it paid by renters) is great. I am not sure I want to pack everything and move/sell again at the moment. I need to weigh the value for my family and the goals we have in the future.
What would you do?