Morning!!
Got another book for y’all that’s about to drop on the scene: The House Hacking Strategy: How to Use Your Home to Achieve Financial Freedom by Craig Curelop of BiggerPockets.com – one of the best online communities for this stuff.
It doesn’t come out until next week, but I snagged a few copies for you :)
Before we get to that though, let me announce the winners of last week’s giveaway – the new “Choose FI” book. The two lucky winners there are Amy V. and Margaret – congrats guys!! Hope it shaves off a good 10 years at least from your FIRE journey!
Here’s more on this new house hacking book – though fair warning I haven’t read it as I’m not much of a real estate guy ;) I know it’s one of the top 3 routes of building wealth though, so I’m sure many of you will appreciate it! And the guy’s bio looks insane…
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“The House Hacking Strategy”
By: Craig Curelop
Savvy investors have been using a little-known but clever strategy in real estate for decades… When mastered, house hacking can save you thousands of dollars in monthly expenses, build tens of thousands of dollars in equity each year, and provide the financial means to retire early. In fact, the average house hacker can turn a single-family home or small multifamily property into a cash-flowing investment. You can collect rent that completely covers your living expenses—and then some!
In this book, serial house hacker Craig Curelop lays out the in-depth details so you can make your first (or next) house hack a huge success. Discover why so many successful investors support their investment careers with house hacking—and learn from a frugality expert who has “hacked” his way toward financial freedom!
Inside, you’ll discover:
- What house hacking is, and why it’s one of the best methods for building wealth
- The different types of house-hacking strategies you can use—no one size fits all here!
- The incredible connection between house hacking, wealth building, and early retirement
- How to get started house hacking—even with low income or low savings
- Strategies to house hack with a family, spouse, or independently
- How to find the ideal house hack property—even in a competitive or expensive market
- Stories from real estate investors all over the country on their house-hacking triumphs, mishaps, and their purpose behind house hacking.
- Property-management strategies to make ownership a breeze
About the Author(s):
Craig Curelop is the Finance Guy at Biggerpockets.com, a real estate investor, and a huge believer in the Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE) movement. At only age 26, he has paid off over $90,000 in student loans, owns 3 cash-flowing properties, and achieved financial freedom through the house hacking method.
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And then here’s the first 22 pages of the book if you want to check it out: Intro Chapter (PDF) (they’re also offering a bunch of freebies for anyone who pre-orders it which you can find here if interested – it comes out Oct 17th)
Want a chance to win a FREE copy?
Answer the following question(s) down below in the comments or via email, and I’ll randomly select *THREE* lucky winners by the end of the weekend.
Have you ever owned real estate before?! What’s been your experience so far?
I really wish I loved this stuff more, but sadly it just never sits with me well… But I’m always here on the sidelines admiring and cheering you all on! It really does make sense *logically* if your personality fits!
Good luck!
UPDATE: Giveaway now over! Congrats to Jarret F., Nikki G., and Camilla for winning. For everyone else, be sure to check it out at your local library or book store!! :)
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Winners in the U.S. will receive the physical book, while winners overseas will receive a digital copy
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I bought my first house hack last year: a 3-family property. It’s been fun and a lot of work and definitely isn’t for those who don’t want to run a business that has downsides as well as upsides. I was called “the worst landlord in the universe” in the 1st 3-weeks by one tenant while her roommates all asked if I had other units for rent because they appreciated how responsive I was to issues in the unit. I’m one month into trying 1 unit as a short term rental & already had one illegal party w/beer pong til 4AM! Every other guest thus far has been great. I’m still deep in the cost-heavy side, but in a few years our improvements to the space & rents should start paying its dividends.
Wowww you are brave!!!
And hope they at lest *invited you* to that beer pong party!! ;)
Two homes. The price of real estate has skyrocketed since our first purchase, so we were able to sell at a huge gain (almost 3x the original purchase price) but since we decided to stay in this expensive area when we bought our second home we didn’t come ahead in terms of profits to invest. I don’t feel like the house is a real investment since we don’t have plans to move, so it’s not liquid, but in the long run I’m very glad we bought.
Not a bad entry into real estate at all!
We ponied up thousands just to *sell* ours a few years back – the opposite of fun :(
When the price of land was increasing all around us, we invested in a small piece of residential plot, thinking it would increase in price. 10 yrs later, we are told its still sitting at the same price we bought. Damn! this is a country where the price of every land had only increased. So, I guess we picked the wrong place to invest. So, we are pretty much clueless with real estate investment who got our first lesson on where not to invest.
Next, We’d like to try our hands at house hacking esp a rental property where there’s cash flow. This books sounds wonderful and very educational for clueless ppl like us.
Yeah, land is a whole other beast I hear compared to the “improvements” upon it.
Maybe you can sell it and use that money to help invest in your next venture here? :) If you don’t win the book you should at least pick it up from the library once it’s out to see if it helps!
Forget waiting for it at the library! If I don’t win, I need this book now! :-)
Funny today’s post is about housing as I was going to thank my three favorite people today…again (J$, MMM, ERE) for leading me to the path of freedom. I am mailing my LAST mortgage check today. Took a 30 year mortgage on a brand new home in 2013 and paying it off today. Never would I dream of paying off my home in 6 years. That is until I stopped being a consumer sucka, working hard and stashing cash. I know there’s a whole debate on rent or own, payoff mortgage or invest, or a multitude of opportunity cost situations out there. But personally, having ZERO debt, positive income, and a roof over my head for life…is priceless. Thank you my friend.
Congrats, Bryan! Yes, like you said there are other benefits besides financial, to paying off your house. I’m a mom and wife and wanted to stay home. I had a really good job, used most of the income to pay off the house and we lived off my husband’s income. After we paid off the house and saved for a few other things, (braces, etc.) I quit my job. I loved staying home. I stayed home for approximately 8 years after that.
Thank you Chris. That’s awesome! I agree, to me it was a guaranteed 3.5% return on my investment and a 100% guarantee that the roof I sleep under each night is mine not the bank’s.
YES!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
And now you have SO MUCH extra money to put towards *another goal* too!!
Any plans on where you’ll be applying it yet, or just soaking it all in for now? :)
Just gonna keep on stashing :)
I haven’t read about House Hacking, but we do intend to pay off our mortgage just in time for our second child to start college. (I’m actually hoping by the time the oldest graduates HS, but we’ll see!)
Hubby has no desire to be a landlord, so he’d be a hard sell on the idea. Maybe this book can help.
Your hubby and I would get along well ;)
I bought a house in 2015 as I wanted to have a new start to my life. I never lived on my own before at the time, so I wanted to try moving out.
So far, it has been a bit of a burden financially (as it is a condo, and it’s fees are a little ridiculous), but it has taught me more about money than i could ever imagine. I wouldn’t have learned anything about budgeting, or this site if it weren’t for it!
Always a silver lining!
As much as I hated buying our first home it led to me starting this blog and stumbling across the community so hard to regret anything there :) And now here we are with ANOTHER house we own! d’oh… haha….
Hope those fees level off soon for ya!
Yes, we are real estate owners 3X now. The experience depends on the property and location in my opinion. The first house we owned was in a small rural town and that house was a 1926 four square and completely updated when we bought it yet we added central air and replaced the roof. It had wood clapboard siding so lots of keeping up with that in order to stay ahead of the painting game. House #2 was in a suburb. It was a 1977 colonial with aluminum siding and brick exterior plus wood trim. Much easier to maintain – the least expensive of the three – yet lacking in character. Our current house is a 1919 Dutch Colonial in a more urban neighborhood that is on the National Historic Register. It’s been the most to maintain and update. We have been here 16 years and still have big projects on our list like an updated kitchen. All real estate requires constant maintenance and that upkeep is affected by municipal codes. It’s also more noticeable to me that certain areas – rural vs. suburbs – and certain neighborhoods have their own unwritten codes of keeping up with the standard of the neighborhood which can make homeowners feel pressured. The rural, small town was the least peer affected of the three. Anything we own and want to be a good steward of is going to take time and money. It’s definitely not for everyone.
I’m already drooling over all your old homes, haha…
I know they’re CRAZY expensive to keep up, but boy are they beautiful with all that character and history!! Would love to know where you’re currently living if you don’t mind sharing :) (Email me?)
I’ll email you :)
I own my own home and it’s always surprising how much it costs! There’s always something that needs an update or needs to be repaired or fixed. It’s never-ending. I love having my own home, my special place that’s all mine, but it would be nice if it could be something other than a money pit.
Haha that would be nice, yes…
I have never owned real estate before – I’ve only been the recipient of house hacking – both my current and previous apartments were the basements of single-family homes. House hacking is high on my list of things to do but I’m worried about managing it and also finding the right kind of property to do it in. I’m hoping I’ll be able to buy something in the next 3 years to start!
Good thing to take your time with until you know *for sure* you’re ready!! And if you never are, that’s fine too – there’s nothing wrong with renting!!
I currently own a large over priced home near Atlanta and a small condo (investment property) in Massachusetts.
The investment property loses me money (~$12 / month) due to mortgage payments, but saves me much more than that on taxesa due to depreciation. I have had this property for more than 10 years now. If it wasn’t converted to a rental property, it would probably have been paid off before now, but I still have 20 years to go.
The house I currently own is only on year 2 of a thirty year mortgage. Due to the mortgage payment, I can only afford to pay it at 25 payments a year, which doesn’t pay it off as quick as I would like, but once the investment property is paid off, I plan on switching those payment to this one.
Was the over priced home on purpose? or didn’t realize it until after bought? I’ve always liked the Atlanta area – lots of $$$ bloggers out that way! You should go to one of their meetups! :)
We have a house we have a 30 yr mortgage on. My husband is an architect and he usually gets a large bonus at the end of the year if the firm has done well. The last three years we have his bonus towards paying off the house. We still have a ways to go, but I LOVE seeing that balance go DOWN!! I’m not a fan of debt at all. We also own two pieces of property that we would like to eventually build spec houses on. I’d love to read this book. My husband has been wanting to invest more in real estate, but we need to educate ourselves more before we jump into something so risky.
Well you’re now entered!!!
Keep on going with those big payments every year!! Very sexy indeed!!
I would LOVE to get my hands on one of those books! We have moved 5 times, all over the country, and in each place we owned a house. I’ve looked into rental properties/fixer uppers as second properties (not the house I live in) but was always nervous I’d get such a big investment wrong.
That said, we’ve purchased cosmetic fixer uppers and one fixer upper that required some interior structural stuff (Upstairs hadn’t been updated since the coal stoves were taken out. We changed it into 3 bedrooms and a bath – that one we lived in and sold it for twice what we paid including the cash-funded renovations.)
We’ve had good experiences and I’d rather not rent. I like my space. And the money is good. :D We have another cosmetic fixer upper with some structural changes in it’s future. It’s too big, but we have four kids so we have some space, at least.
You had me at coal stoves, lol…
This couldn’t have come out at a more opportune time for me. I JUST closed on my first property. It’s a 3 brdm/2bath place, newly rebuilt. I’ll be renting out the 2 bedrooms I’m not using so that other people will pay my mortgage for me! :D
Heyyy look at that!!!
Congrats!
You’ll have to pick up this book whether you win it or not!! Comes out in 9 more days officially :)
I have yet to purchase a property. I am currently renting and saving up to make a purchase. I’ve been following real estate prices in a few different cities to get a feel for what’s available and in the meantime am learning as much as I can so that when the time comes to make the purchase, I’m ready! I’m looking to do the home hacking described in this article and book, where I’m able to run the homes as a business that allows me to have a flexible day-to-day schedule and work for myself :)
It’s a beautiful thing :)
And even more so to be able to JUMP ON IT as soon as an opportunity comes about!! You’re positioned well!
My wife and I have bought two houses, but never as an investment. Only as our primary residence. Our experience has been mostly positive, with the typical few hiccups on the way. We’re currently working on finishing the last updates on our current house, and plan on making a move in about six months or so.
I’m a mortgage lender (day job) and totally get the HOUSE Hacking. Much too conservative to actually do it myself.. Kids in college and all, but this might give me the push I need!
Thanks J!
I’m like you in that I don’t like this idea of investing in real estate. I have a family of 6, and the thought of someone else sharing our house just does not cut it.
Also, I’m not that handy and don’t want to be called at 3 AM to fix a kitchen sink. I’m a little skeptical of this book (I read the first chapter), and of any leave your 9 to 5 job, setup passive income and stop working. OK, good for you! You stop working at 30, and what happens if you can’t find renters? What happens if your rental income evaporates? You’ve been out of work for 10 years, and don’t have the skills to rejoin the workforce.
To me, there is too much risk in these get rich quick schemes. Sure, they work for some people but for the vast majority of us there is a significant downside. Last, he starts of in Chapter 1 of the book comparing it to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Read the negative reviews on Rich Dad Poor Dad on amazon.com. In my opinion that book is a scam, another get rich quick scheme.
Question for everyone: why not just invest in VGLSX (https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/overview/vgslx) instead? Owing a REIT gives you the ability to own diversified real estate without as much risk. Has anyone compared owning a REIT vs. real property over time?
Hah! Rich Dad Poor Dad was one of the very first books I read around $$$ years ago. Really enjoyed it as a story and to help get your mind thinking differently, but you’re right there’s a looooooot of hate around it. Guess it depends at what stage you pick it up to read?
RE: Reits – I’ve seen some good comparisons over the years on blogs and I feel like the outcomes are always that owning the homes yourself is better in the long run since it’s a) physical, b) you have more control over the homes, and then c) it’s more profitable in the end… But my brain may be fuzzy so prob best to google and check for yourself :) And in either case, your *personality* still plays a large role in it so if owning and managing a home isn’t for you then it doesn’t matter about all the pros!
We bought our first house in Virginia and I didn’t like living there (husbands military) so we sold it 14 months later and the increase from sweat equity all went towards the realtor fees. boo! Now we are in our second home which I completely gutted and redid myself (except the roof/ac). The land itself is now worth about $280k we have all in $275k into the house. The house would go for well over 300k we’ve had it 2 years. We wont know if it worked out until its time to sell. Markets drop…
The only real estate we’ve owned is our cemetery plots, but I’d love to learn how this is done successfully :)
Now you’re talking my language! Haha…
Tell me you got them in a really old and creepy cemetery too??? :)
We are closing on our very first house in one month!
Let me tell you, anxiety and excitement have been rolled into one with this decision to move forward. But what cheers me up is how perfect it is for both our family’s lifestyle and for our ambitious house hacking plans.
Planning to VRBO the beautiful basement as well as the tiny house from the backyard, completely offsetting our housing costs. I know it will be work and stress to set this all up, but it should be well worth it:)
Ahhhh so exciting!!!
Someone’s going to have the time of their lives in that tiny home!!
I hope it all goes smoothly for you! Big moves!
Currently, the only real estate I have ever bought is the home that I live in. I have never rented out rooms or anything like that, but I’m sure if I put some money into it, I could finish the basement (that has the same square footage as the house), and either rent that out, or rent out the main floor where I currently live. I like the idea of owning something that others rent from you, but I’m not sure I want to be neighbors with tenants.
I’ve considered Airbnb but I live in a pretty rural area, with the closest metro being Omaha, Nebraska, so it’s not really someplace that people are dying to visit. Also, I have a 2 year old daughter and I listen to true crime podcasts so I get paranoid that an Airbnb renter would be out to get us!! (even though I’m sure there are protocols in place to vet people or something like that)
Haha…
People are crazy – you never know!! ;)
We don’t have investment real estate…yet.
We bought our first home in late 2016 in a sales agreement. It was a small fixer upper that we were brave to take in while I was in my third trimester. We got some bad advice and spent our cash fixing it thinking we could get a mortgage for the higher appraisal price. Except that went we went to bank they said “original price or appraised price…whatever is LOWEST”. Oops! I was about to go on maternity leave and had something saved. We had to scramble to come up with the down payment we thought we didn’t have to make. At the end it worked out as we have a very small mortgage.
The house is fixed now and in hindsight everything worked out but it was a bunch of lessons learned during very tricky timing.
That is a blessing with the smaller mortgage payments!!
But more importantly – did the blessing from your belly come out nice and healthy??! :)
I bought my first house in 2015 and sold it for 50k profit in 2018. I considered renting it out instead of selling but was hesitant…my own time renting i wouldn’t call myself an ideal renter so I knew karma would bite my ass…plus the market was great to sell for that much profit. I swore I’d never own a house again due to maintenance issues…
I bought my current house in 2019 due to family gifting us 100k as a bribe to move into their neighborhood…I don’t think I’m allowed to sell this one.
HAH!!! That’s quite the bribe :)
My house came thru a divorce. My biggest piece of advice in this situation is get a good lawyer, then work quickly to pay it off. Too many people still think it’s good to have a mortgage for tax purposes, a lie that needs to stop being told.
Sounds like an interesting book on house-hacking! I wish I could’ve implemented this – by the time I had enough money saved up for a down-payment, I was in a committed relationship and we weren’t in the mindset of sharing our space with someone. Best time would’ve been single a few years out of college.
I ended up buying a 1 bedroom condo near NYC, so house-hacking was automatically ruled out. Would be weird having someone sleeping on our couch every night!!
Ahh you’re no fun! ;)
I own my home. I used the equity to buy a house in the Bay Area for my daughter to live in while she is in medical school. It is a 3 bedroom/3 bath and we lease out 2 of the rooms.
I don’t own any real estate, but I am always talking to an agent looking for a great deal. I do plan on House Hacking it, once I get my first house. I have zero experience but I listen to the BiggerPockets Podcast on a regular basis.
The only real estate I own is the home I currently live in, but I’d love to purchase a 4- or 6-plex to live in and rent the other apts! We lucked out and have friendly neighbors that own lots of tools that they are willing to teach us how to use to fix minor issues we’ve come across in our 100+ year old home.
Lucky indeed!!
I bet the house is beautiful too :)
I own my primary residence, and the only real estate investing I’ve done so far is eREITs which I just started trying out. I would be open to owning rental properties in the future, but I hear such horror stories about tenants that it seems like a TON of work and aggravation. We’ll see.
I have owned a house before during my marriage. We actually really loved the house, but when we divorced, it didn’t make financial sense for me to get it under just my name, and since he was army, he wasn’t going to be staying so it didn’t make sense for him to keep it either. My biggest regret, which I plan on fixing when I buy next year (whoo) was having too much house. We bought a house that was too much house for two of us and was a lot to upkeep and clean. My next purchase will be a duplex (or quadraplex if I can find one in the areas I want) and I will live in one unit and rent out the other(s). Duplexes tend to have less square footage so I won’t have a large home to maintain, and I will also be generating some income to offset the mortgage.
Love the idea of going smaller :)
On our 5th house! I love working on homes and creating beautiful things. During 4 years overseas for work we renting and hated it! If the market tanks one day will be picking up another one.
Was just over on your blog checking out all your custom shelving creations, haha…
You’re good!
When my husband and I were in our twenties and I was in college, we bought our first house as a bank repo. We did the bulk of the renovations ourselves, including a new roof (down to the boards) and almost every interior wall. Hubby worked at a door factory, and we got a nice door with side-lights for cheap. Our neighbor worked at a discount home improvement store and we were able to get carpet and a picture window cheaply through him. By the time we were done, we had doubled the property value of the house.
After I graduated college and moved away, we kept the house and rented it out with mixed success. The first tenant paid the first few months, then got later and later, then finally quit paying. We had to evict. The second tenant paid on time, then we rented to an extended family member (brother of an ex-brother-in-law). We’re not rolling in the dough on it, but the rent is enough to pay for its mortgage payment.
How the heck did you do all that while in college???! Superwoman!!
I’m in the process of buying my first investment property as a house hack. The majority of my motivation and confidence to move forward came from BiggerPockets books and podcasts. Love their property evaluation tools! I’ll keep you posted on my experience when the sale is final!
Rock on!!
Please do! :)
I bought a house three weeks ago…built in 1939. It is a beautiful adobe that needs some renovation, but the foundation and roof are solid and the walls are eighteen inches thick. I live in northern New Mexico – adobes are mud bricks finished with stucco, usually in earth tones. I chose it because I wanted an adobe house and this has a detached garage with an apartment above it. Hoping to use it for house sharing type thing and guests (friends and family).How it goes remains to be seen….:)
Haha, well I’m sending over good vibes your way!! Fun new adventure to try out at least! :)
Bought our first house (townhouse condo) in 1993. Moved in 2004. Kept the townhouse as a rental for three years, (borrowed against it for the new house), before selling. The profit put a nice deck and hot tub in the back yard of the new house.
l have not owned ‘real estate’ before, but l have owned quite a few houses as we have moved around quite a lot (in the UK not in America for real estate)
I have never owned a real state property ever before but I dream about the day I will stop paying rent…
Perfect book for you, then :)
I house hacked the first home I bought. It was a 5 bedroom house. The rent I was getting from the other 4 rooms was enough to pay the mortgage; however, there were alot of drama – cleaning dishes, people stealing, it’s too cold, etc. At the end, I sold it for a pretty good profit and know not to live with other renters. I took the profit and bought another rental but now I rent it to a family and it’s been good. The key is finding the right tenant.
Yeah, 4 roommates is a lot! haha…
I’ve never owned real estate, but it’s something I’d love to learn more about!
Yep, I owned 1 apartment before but it now belongs to my brother and I am homeless in the sense that the apartment I live in is my husband’s bachelor apartment ;)
This apartment is quite small (almost 500 sq ft or 46 sq m) for 2+2 family, although in Europe this is not really extreme :)
Never owned any real estate. I’m very happy to rent and be responsible for one consistent monthly payment. Yes, it can go up year over year, but for that year, I know what I’m paying. I joke (which isn’t really joking) that maybe I’ll just wait until I can purchase a home in cash. And given that I live in the center of DC…I’m not there yet.
I SUPPORT THAT PLAN 100%!!!
And you’re not wrong with the “knowing how much you’ll be spending” part too! Renting is great!! :)
*** Giveaway now over! ***
Congrats to:
— Jarret F.
— Nikki G.
— Camilla
Thank for participating, everyone!! Be sure to check it out at your local library or book store if you’re still super interested in it! So many people rave about house hacking…