6 Different Ways to Hack Your Housing (Find One That Works for You!)

There is no question that house hacking is the single best way to generate wealth for those of you who are in the beginning stages of your journey towards financial independence. Here is why:

  1. It either dramatically reduces or eliminates one of your largest expenses—your living expense.
  2. You build equity for free as your tenants pay down your mortgage while the property (in many cases) appreciates.
  3. You save in taxes, as you are able to deduct a portion of your house expenses as well as account for depreciation.
  4. You can get into a house hack for as little as 1% down if you’re a first-time home buyer. With such little money down, it will be tough to find cash-on-cash returns higher on any other type of investment.

Now that you can see how powerful house hacking is—and before you start making excuses as to why you can’t do it—read this article.

I truly believe that one of these forms of house hacking can work for almost anyone—families, those who live in expensive areas, etc. You just need to get creative. I have, and so have many of my friends.

This article is going to outline the different types of house hacking that I have seen. I hope that a variation of one of these house hacking strategies can work for you.

1. The Traditional House Hack

Definitely the most popular and the one that almost everyone has heard of is the traditional house hack. This is when you purchase a 2-4 unit property with a low down payment residential loan. The 3.5% down FHA is popular here, but there are others, especially if you are first time home buyer.

You live in one unit (perhaps with a roommate) and rent out the other unit(s). The rent from your roommate plus your other units should either cover the mortgage or come darn close to covering the mortgage. That way, when you move out, the property cash flows nicely.

This strategy works in most lower priced markets, but it is almost impossible to find a deal that works in the higher priced markets, where rents will usually not be enough to cover the mortgage.


2. Calling the Living Room Home & Renting Out the Rest (Seriously)

With this strategy, I rent out the upstairs unit like a traditional rental. However, this was not enough to fully cover my mortgage. So I decided I would put up a room divider and a curtain and section off a portion of the living room and call it my bedroom. That’s where I rest my head, and 95% of the time, I am good with it.

Since I am not occupying my bedroom, I can now rent it out on Airbnb. This works extremely nicely, allowing me to cash flow anywhere between $250 and $750 per month (after reserves), depending on the seasonality of Airbnb.

3. Renting by the Room

This is a strategy one of my good friends has deployed, and it is working magnificently. The idea is to purchase a large single family home that has at least 4 beds and 2 baths and live in one bedroom while renting out the others. You can typically get significantly more in rent when you rent by the room.

Purchasing a single family home (especially as a first-time home buyer) opens up a lot of potential financing options. At the time of this article, I know they have 1%, 3%, 3.5%, and 5% down loan options on single family homes. The low down payment with the increased rents really boosts your cash-on-cash returns.

We haven’t even gotten to appreciation yet. Single family homes are known to appreciate more quickly than multifamily ones. This is the case because both investors and non-investors are interested. With more demand comes higher prices, not to mention that non-investors will typically pay a premium given they are looking for a home, not a deal.

4. Living in a Trailer/RV & Renting Out Your Primary Residence

My friend, neighbor, and colleague has taken house hacking to the next level! He purchased a stationary RV for $1,500. He puts that in his parking space and lives in that while fully renting out his 1-bedroom apartment on Airbnb. This strategy is for the hustler who is clearly willing to do what it takes to achieve early financial independence.

5. Renting Out an Additional Dwelling Unit

You either purchase a property with an additional dwelling unit or build one yourself. It’s helpful if the unit can have at least a small kitchenette, an operative bathroom, and a comfortable bed to sleep in.

Then, you guessed it—rent it out! You could rent it full time or on Airbnb.

This way, you and your family can have your own personal space in the main house while your guests enjoy their own space in the guest house.


6. The Live-in Flip

This is where you purchase a property that needs some TLC, ideally with a low percentage down loan. You live in the property for at least two years, and while living there, you fix it up. Once it is all fixed up and after the two-year timeline, you sell it and pay no capital gains on the first $250k of net proceeds ($500k if you’re married).

You may be wondering, why two years?! For every other strategy, it is just one. Well, to avoid paying a significant amount of capital gains tax, you are required to live there for two years.

The live-in flip strategy is nice because it could be combined with the other strategies (with exception to the trailer/RV) to create a compounding effect. When combined, you will significantly increase the value of the property while also garnering more rental income.

In a traditional house hack and the living room strategy, you can live in one unit and fix it up while renting the other. Then switch!

If you choose to rent by the room in a large single family home, maybe you add a couple extra bedrooms, redo the basement, etc. This is obviously easiest because you have access to the entire property all the time.


There are a lot of different investing strategies out there. I strongly believe that house hacking is the best possible strategy if you are looking to have the greatest odds at earning the highest possible return on your investment.

I talk to fellow house hackers regularly, and cash-on-cash returns are typically between 30% and 60%. This doesn’t even include the equity build up or tax savings!

The question then becomes not whether you should house hack but what strategy you should deploy. Well, it obviously depends on your situation, what you can afford, and how you are willing to live. There’s typically a tradeoff with luxury and returns. If I had to order these from best to worst in terms of return, I would say trailer/RV, living room, rent by the room, traditional, then luxury (and the opposite in terms of luxury).

I don’t include the live-in flip because it’s a different beast.

So what strategy are you going to do? Connect with us on Facebook for more!

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