House Hacking Lauren’s way
My decision to become a short term rental host was a bit abrupt. It wasn’t a goal that I was chasing. My goal was to house hack. House hacking is using your place of residence to eliminate your housing expense. You can house hack in many ways. Some of which I discuss in this YouTube video Ways to House Hack. I wanted to eliminate my mortgage payment and still acquire real estate. I helped pay someone’s mortgage for about two years when I moved to the DMV area. My daughter and I lived in a 1400 sq ft basement apartment. I hadn’t lived in an apartment in so long and for what I was seeing and could afford when I moved here, the basement was a sweet deal. No utilities, just rent, huge kitchen, huge closet, plenty of additional storage space, and free parking!! The owner and I developed a friendly relationship and she put me on to how I could do it amongst other things. She was very knowledgeable. I wrote my intentions down and waited for my opportunity. Waiting consisted of paying off all my credit card debt, increasing my income (I switched jobs twice while living there and a third time when I was moving out), and saving money. By the time I was ready it took over six months to secure a property that fit my needs. While I wanted to house hack I couldn’t afford a duplex (despite what the loan officer said) in DC and I didn’t want to move to Montgomery County, MD or Baltimore where there are more multifamily properties. I like being close to DC and Virginia. I searched for homes with basements big enough to live in. I looked at unfinished basements and finished basements. I looked at big houses and small houses. I was out searching for homes every weekend for about 7 months during the pandemic! I was out bid on many houses but I kept the faith. Finally a house came on the market. Beautifully renovated. All new everything including a pool in the flat backyard! I was over the moon about this property. The basement had not one, but two bedrooms and the ability to add a kitchen. I put the offer in ASAP. The listing agent contacted my agent a few days later saying they were excepting my offer!! At this point I can already see how I’m going to complete the kitchen in the basement and list it for rent. A day or so goes by and the listing agent gave us some hogwash. What it came down to was they accepted an offer right before mine came in and mine was better but it was probably too late to turn back. My search had to continue because one monkey don’t stop no show. About a month later the house we currently house hack came along and we snagged it. Up until I saw this house my plan was to rent to a long term tenant. The same type of setup I lived in when I moved here. Once I realized how close the house was to popular areas, and that it was already set up to host guest, I thought about using it as a short term rental instead. During the closing process I researched Airbnb and made a plan to make it happen. I set a furniture budget and got to work. It became way more successful than I could imagine and I’m grateful for the mindset to make it happen! How would you house hack?
