House Hacking Part 2: 3 Proven Options That Generate Income, Helping You Reduce Mortgage Costs
CREDITS
Hosted by: Kristina Modares and Steph Douglass
Produced and Edited by: Megan Pue
Music by: Lemonmusicstudio
Photo by: Chelsea Francis
SEASON 6, EPISODE 7 SUMMARY
In this episode, Kristina and Steph dive into three proven house hacking options: investing in a duplex/triplex/fourplex, buying a single-family home, or adding a tiny home to your property.
We'll guide you through each strategy, emphasizing how they can align with your personal values, such as privacy. Whether you're drawn to the idea of a "live-in flip" for profit or renting out spare rooms for added income, this episode offers insight to help you choose the path that resonates most with your goals and lifestyle.
Get in Touch
Comments, suggestions or feedback? Email us at podcast@openhouseaustin.co
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Please stay tuned for more episodes every Tuesday, and subscribe so you don’t miss them! You can find us on Spotify, Stitcher and Apple Podcasts.
Related Resources
Blog post: "House Hacking: 3 Strategies Every Homebuyer Should Consider"
Blog post: "What’s a Sneaky Duplex? How To Generate Income from A Private Room in Your Home"
Blog post: "Our 2023 First-Time Home Buyer Stats (Want to Buy a House in 2024? Read This!)"
Blog post: "5 Questions You Should Ask Your Mortgage Lender In This Real Estate Market"
Connect with a Realtor - Austin-area experts with experience house hacking, buying with friends, tiny home construction, and renovations
Join our Creative Home-Buying & Wealth-Building For Women Group - it's free, and we meet up regularly; you're welcome to pitch yourself to other members via the Facebook Group or at an in-person meetup
Sign up for our next "How to Buy a House in Austin" Workshop
Take our "Are You Ready to Buy a House?" Quiz
Transcript (Auto-Generated)
0:00
Hey, welcome back to the Open House podcast where women talk real estate.
0:03
Here's a quick tip.
0:05
We've got tons of free resources on our website that will help you think creatively about home buying house hacking and renovation projects that includes 100 plus blog posts and two free courses.
0:16
Head to our website Open House austin.co to learn more today.
0:20
Now, let's start the show.
0:28
Welcome to the Open House podcast for women Talk real estate.
0:30
I'm Steph Douglas and I'm Christina Mous.
0:32
I feel like we've had a lot of exciting stuff happen for our company recently.
0:36
Like what?
0:37
Well, I guess by the time this comes out we'll have already, the New York Times article will have come out in real time, full disclosure.
0:45
It has not come out yet, but that's so true.
0:49
Oh, my gosh.
0:49
I hope it's good because we can't.
0:54
That's kind of always how it is.
0:55
When we're in a publication, we have very little control.
0:58
So, so, yeah, fingers crossed.
1:00
It's good.
1:00
And then I don't know, like a couple of other opportunities coming from tiktok.
1:05
Yeah.
1:05
Oh, that's true.
1:06
You're right.
1:07
Sorry.
1:07
My brain still doesn't work properly.
1:08
Like what is going on?
1:10
What are you doing?
1:13
Yeah.
1:13
Yeah.
1:13
And, and I just feel like also the buyers are able to get under contract a little easier right now just because the interest rates are going down and it's not, the mortgage, mortgage monthly is not as scary.
1:24
That's very true.
1:25
How was your Valentine's Day?
1:26
What did you guys do?
1:27
Oh, yeah, it was great.
1:29
We, last year we had like a intense one.
1:33
Not an intense one, but like we went out to eat and we did the whole prefix and then we went to a cliche one.
1:38
Yeah, exactly.
1:39
And then this year I was like, I am not, not interested.
1:42
I also feel like this past holiday season I went out to eat at fancy restaurants so often.
1:48
I feel like very burnt out by it.
1:50
So we just, we just cooked at home.
1:51
I agree.
1:52
It was, it almost becomes like less special when you do that too much.
1:58
Exactly.
1:59
It's like you want that lifestyle and then you're like, ok, wait, yeah, it's like this is all tasting the same, it's all.
2:06
But did you, did you all find lobsters?
2:08
We went to H Mart to get lobster and then we both, like, we in the fish aisle and I was like, we were both like,, not, not this year we were, I think we're both, like, kind of tired too.
2:19
We were just like, let's, let's not.
2:21
So we went to Buffalo at like four when they opened to try to get in and we did, we sat at the bar and it was really nice.
2:31
And then we were like, let's watch it.
2:35
A ROM com and then we put on this movie that I hadn't seen and it was not a ROM com called Mud.
2:41
It was still really good.
2:42
It was so good with, with Matthew mcque.
2:45
Oh, yeah.
2:47
Yeah, it's so good.
2:47
Not a ROM com.
2:48
Not romantic.
2:49
No, no, but still that's good.
2:52
We watched, we watched British Bake Off, which was, we're obsessed with right now.
2:57
That's, I can't see Allen watching that for some reason.
3:00
He's obsessed.
3:01
Actually, I gave him the choice last night.
3:03
I was like, I mean, you can choose whether you want to watch a movie or a Bake Off and he's like, he's so in, he loves a, a, like a cooking competition show.
3:11
Like he like top chef.
3:12
He like, which is interesting.
3:13
Yeah.
3:13
He think he'd be better at cooking.
3:15
, but no, he did, he did a great job last night and we're kind of on health kicks.
3:19
Which is fun.
3:20
I also finished your nursery.
3:24
Oh, my God.
3:25
Painting.
3:26
Oh my God.
3:26
I'm so excited to see it.
3:27
I was like, looking on Etsy at, you know, stuff to put in our nursery, like art and a lot of it.
3:33
I was like, wait, Steph could do this.
3:34
This is, is, is a blooming artist.
3:39
In my art era.
3:40
But I now have to figure out because I've been painting on, on,, campuses and I have to figure out how to frame them.
3:45
So this will be a perfect, like, test your as well.
3:48
I can figure out how to do, well, it's kind of like if I want to do it anyway and, like, give it to people you kind of want, I don't know.
3:56
I'll, I'll loop you into that, but I need to figure this out.
4:00
We're like, yeah, sorry, I guess we talked yesterday but a lot has happened since.
4:08
Thank you.
4:08
Yeah.
4:09
And I also, I painted a dog, my sister in law's dog.
4:14
I love that.
4:15
It's been so it's calming.
4:17
Everyone should have hobbies.
4:18
I didn't have hobbies until like this year.
4:23
It's great.
4:24
, anyway, how's your, I mean, your baby's coming soon.
4:28
Yes, coming soon.
4:30
Who knows?
4:31
Maybe she'll be here when you guys listen to this episode?
4:35
I think so.
4:36
Yeah, probably.
4:37
I'm 38 weeks tomorrow.
4:39
Oh, my gosh.
4:40
Oh my God.
4:41
And you need to send out your fruit, the vegetable of the week.
4:47
We look forward to it.
4:48
Ok, I will.
4:51
But all good.
4:52
Yeah, I think she will be here.
4:54
So I'm so excited.
4:55
Ok.
4:56
What are we talking about today?
4:57
House hacking part 23 proven options that generate income, helping you reduce mortgage costs.
5:03
Wow, that sounds.
5:05
So we love it.
5:07
We love house hacking.
5:08
This is our theme for the next couple of months.
5:11
And, you know, if you hadn't listened to the first episode, we put out, we talk a lot about why we were doing,, why we, why we House Act.
5:20
So we'll listen to that first and yeah.
5:22
Yeah, like the why behind it is so important and really, I mean, we talk about this a lot too but mindset first and then we're going to get into some practical ways to do this today.
5:33
, but houses is like our bread and butter, it's kind of how we, we, we fell into it by being scrappy and wanting to cover costs and then realize that it's actually a really good way to like, accelerate anything that you want to do financially.
5:47
So whether that's savings, whether that's traveling, whether it's, you know, investing, it's a good way to do it.
5:53
Right.
5:54
And, and this actually makes,, homeownership an investment, I would say like, yes.
6:00
Right.
6:00
Like you don't want to just buy at the top of your budget and, you know, have a high mortgage and be like, well, I'll just depend on appreciation like you don't want to do that house hacking, you know, with house hacking, you not only can hope for appreciation, but you can also say, you know, I'm eliminating my monthly payment or I'm at least like eliminating the interest side of this payment.
6:25
Right.
6:26
Yeah, exactly.
6:27
You're paying, you're, you're supplementing your mortgage and making it so that you get, you're getting a return on your investment, which is literally what it means to have an investment or an asset.
6:37
Something that makes you money doesn't distract money.
6:39
And also to say like you can buy a house and have a, a not, doesn't make money and you're making equity and that's more of a liability I would say.
6:46
But that's also fine.
6:48
I just think that we like to think of our first house as an investment and that's what our whole community is about.
6:55
And for some people, they might be like, wait, what is house hacking?
6:59
You're staying in?
7:00
So house hacking is when you buy a house to live in and you are supplementing your mortgage payment, either through roommates or you know, you have a tiny house in your backyard, sneaky, do bucks.
7:13
We're going to go through all the options today.
7:15
But you are lowering or eliminating your monthly mortgage payment through renting out parts of your home and we've done it so that we've cash flowed even on the place we live.
7:27
So,, all, all good things, even if you're not covering the whole thing, you're still, you're still supplementing.
7:34
So actually I've never, I don't think I've ever cash flow through house hacking.
7:39
Oh, because you're sane and I just, yeah, you've been very practical about it.
7:46
You're like, I want my mortgage, I want my part of the mortgage to be this or below.
7:51
And then you make it that way.
7:52
And I want, well, I also have chosen to live, like, my priority is like, I want to live in an area that I enjoy and sometimes like, or like walkable and sometimes you have to sacrifice that.
8:05
Like, if you really want to eliminate your full monthly payment, you have to sacrifice something in this market right now.
8:11
Right?
8:12
Because it's kind of like, you know, maybe like 30 years ago, 50 years ago, maybe when your parents are buying that would be like super easy.
8:20
It's not that way right now.
8:22
Yeah, right now we're dealing with sort of a higher monthly mortgage.
8:26
So like if you're paying a part of it, that's totally fine and probably more, more common.
8:31
But, but yeah, there's just, there's so many options and it depends on your values.
8:35
So like if you value privacy and like a nice living space and a large amount of space, then you probably, you know, you're gonna opt for certain certain options of, of house hacking that are gonna maybe make you a little bit less.
8:49
But that's ok because those are your values.
8:51
Like you want privacy and you want a large amount of space to live in.
8:54
But if you're, you know, maybe you're 24 like we were and, and we were like, we'll live in one room and like all the other rooms will rent out, you know, that's why it's so cool house hiking is so cool because there's just so many like entry levels.
9:07
I wish I was in my scrappy era sometimes because I'm like, oh man, I would just like, I would save so much money every month.
9:13
Like, yeah, when we want, you know, I remember we were like renting out a room renting and then doing airbnb in another room.
9:19
I remember when I was younger I like was renting a house and actually like airbnb our back couch area, like never again, but it was shared a bathroom with a stranger, one bathroom in my, in my first house that I bought where I like house hacked and two strangers that I shared a bathroom with.
9:41
But you know, it was, I was like, I am saving so much money and I we set ourselves up for success.
9:46
So it's all about where you are.
9:50
It's about how much you want to set yourself up for the future and how much, how many sacrifices you're willing to make in the moment.
9:56
But yeah, so let's go into the first option.
9:59
Ok.
9:59
This is like, I think what most people think of when they think of house hacking is to invest in a duplex, triplex four flex.
10:07
So essentially, you know, if you duplex two units, triplex 344.
10:14
So and so essentially you would buy duplex or whatever, live in one side, rent out the other and love this option.
10:23
Alas everyone loves this option.
10:26
So I feel like it can be, it can be a little tricky to find this option or it can be a little bit more expensive because it's like the very standard thing when you think of investing, right?
10:39
You think of buying something like this, it's like the least creative way to do this, which doesn't mean that it's bad.
10:44
It's just very obvious that you would live in one, it's already built for you.
10:48
The other side is built and it's already private.
10:50
And I think because it's so popular, it's hard to find more expensive.
10:53
And then a lot of times, duplexes, triplexes and four pes have been rentals forever and the owner has never actually lived there.
11:01
So the, the condition that you find a lot of them in are, it's a little bit rough.
11:05
So you have to like do a lot to make it somewhere you might want to live potentially, you know, this is all, all varies based on properties.
11:12
But these are the problems we run into in Austin.
11:15
You know, when I was trying to find a property, I was because my dad was like, he was involved in like, educating me a little or he was trying to, he was like, you need to get a duplex or whatever.
11:25
And I was like, ok, so I started looking around and in Austin at the time where the duplexes were or the four PEX triplex, whatever they were not in an area that I wanted to live and they were all clumped together.
11:41
So it almost, I would say like an area that has a lot of these kind of properties if you're even caring about appreciation, I feel like those don't appreciate as much and it totally depends on zoning.
11:55
Right.
11:56
In Austin, we have like certain areas that are zoned to be ok for duplexes in certain areas that aren't.
12:01
So you'll see like those, like you said, clump together and so the streets, you know, it's a lot of renters which is not a bad thing.
12:09
But yeah, they're like, they kind of keep each other low, low appreciation rate in some cases.
12:16
It depends, I'm sure other cities are different.
12:18
We're talking about Austin, but that's like we helped me and Christina obviously started out as realtors.
12:23
We helped so many people who were like, ok, I want to buy a duplex and then they eventually decided to go to single family because of the areas and because of like the zoning problems.
12:34
Right?
12:36
Oh, yeah, for sure.
12:36
Everyone and I, I always would ask people so why do you want to buy a duplex?
12:41
You know, it's always asking why and understanding what, you know what you've heard because you might have heard from your parents or from Googling like this is the best thing and it is honestly like, if you can get that, that's great.
12:54
It just depends on the location.
12:55
It depends on a lot of things that you're wanting.
13:00
Yes, very specific.
13:01
And lots of people are looking for this.
13:04
So there's a lot of competition which means higher prices.
13:08
Yeah.
13:08
Which is why we created these other options because we had, we ourselves ran into this, like, yes, we would have loved to buy a duplex four flex.
13:17
But these, these problems arose and then also with our clients, it was like, ok, let's, let's think outside the box like what else can we can we do because they were competing with cash buyers, right?
13:28
A lot of times.
13:29
Yeah, exactly.
13:29
And a lot of times it's investors.
13:31
They're so yeah, so many duplexes and multi families go cash.
13:35
So, so yeah, I also say a great option.
13:38
Anything else we want to say?
13:40
I would say one of the benefits of this though is when you apply for a mortgage, right?
13:46
So let's when you're applying for a mortgage, they with a duplex or triplex and you're going to live there, they can take the income.
13:56
I think you have to have a lease in place or like, I don't know the details right now.
14:01
Things are changing, but I would say that it is like for financing purposes, if you're doing FH A you can still put a, a really low amount down and I think they can count the rent because it's its own unit like officially on the other side.
14:15
So that will help you get approved for more downside for a duplex is if you're going conventional, then you do have to put a little bit more down.
14:23
I think it's 15%.
14:24
So, so it's all we, we've done, we've, we've made so many purchases and every single one is different and every single situation and scenario are different.
14:33
So there's not like one blanket thing which is why going into this, your mindset just needs to be a little bit flexible.
14:39
Yeah.
14:40
And as far as like why we say 15 versus whatever, you might not know this.
14:44
But as a first time buyer, you can put as little as 5% and sometimes 3% down.
14:49
And you know, so that's why we say 15% that can be, that's, that is often way higher than our buyers are putting down a lot of our buy.
14:58
Actually, we have the stats, we have a stats blog of our last year, our 2023 home buyers, our first time home buyers.
15:06
So you can go see all those stats of like what our clients are buying and we can link it in the show notes.
15:14
Most are putting less than 10 percent.
15:16
Exactly.
15:17
And we are throwing around these like loan terms.
15:19
FH A is a certain type of loan and conventional is a different type of loan, but this all becomes really clear and like listening to podcasts like these, it's like you're kind of going to get that vocabulary to start talking to lenders but an FH, a loan is government backed and there's like, just different requirements, there's different down payment minimums and right now, FH, a rates are lower than conventional.
15:41
Yeah, they are because typically,, FH, a, there's, I don't want to get too much into it, but like, if you have a lower credit score or lower income, that could be a really good route for you to look into.
15:54
Yeah, I think that is that does it.
15:56
And so the the other thing you can think about with a multifamily duplex, triplex, quad lex is the live in flip.
16:03
So you could say, OK, this is, this is good enough for me to move into right now.
16:08
I can live in one side, renovate the other and then move into that side while you renovate the other or you know, there's just a lot of flexibility as far as like renovating and living there while you do it, you do it.
16:19
Yeah, that's such a good point because yeah, the option two is getting creative with a single family home which we love.
16:28
I think that's how we, I feel like that is our bread and butter is like looking at a single family home, especially one that has been overlooked.
16:36
We love seeing it on the market for over 100 days or whatever.
16:40
And we're like what like as long as it's not falling apart structurally like what are people hating about it?
16:47
Hopefully the price is lowering, there's more room for negotiation.
16:50
So we love that kind of home.
16:52
We love getting creative with that kind of.
16:55
Exactly.
16:55
And the like all of the downsides for a multi family, they become kind of easier with a single family.
17:03
financing is a little bit less, less complicated, all of that.
17:06
But with a single family, there's some people who say I don't want this one because like the tile in the kitchen is bad and that's something that you can definitely address.
17:14
That doesn't, it's not all to say that you have to renovate though.
17:17
Like you could still find a move in ready home and then you're looking at the like the layout does it, is it conducive for either roommates or our favorite strategy, Sneaky Duplex, which is something we coined.
17:31
Do you want to talk about sneaky duplex?
17:32
Sure.
17:32
Yeah.
17:33
So sneaky duplex is essentially when you section off part of your home and that becomes its own little like hotel room or like little unit.
17:42
So like we've done it in both kinds of ways where, you know, when I, I was looking for my last house that I live in now, I was like, I need it to be a sneaky duplex because I wanted it to be like a brand new home.
17:55
I knew it was going to be more expensive.
17:56
I needed to offset my mortgage by a certain amount.
17:59
So I was looking for homes with rooms in the front or rooms with like its own entrance or a way I could put my own entrance in.
18:08
So we ended up buying a house that was a brand new build.
18:11
This is the first time I've bought a brand new build and we put a sliding glass door in the front.
18:16
This is a house.
18:17
When you walk in, there's the room, it's like a guest room on the left, there's a bathroom ensuite with like a bedroom.
18:24
So we put a bookshelf door, like a secret bookshelf door in the front and put at it in the,, or in the side inside the house and then in the front, put a sliding glass door and our goal was to make $2000 a month and that would go towards part of our mortgage.
18:42
So that's one way of doing it and there's just a bathroom and a room, it's a hotel and then Steph, you've done it where you sectioned off your, your ninth street home.
18:49
We sectioned off the whole primary suite because that usually, you know, that has an ensuite bathroom.
18:55
And,, this one actually already had a door to the outside because a lot of times, you know, you'll have, you'll see the like the double doors to the, to the patio or where to the backyard.
19:03
We had a little courtyard and it was an alley access.
19:07
So we just put a gate there instead of a fence.
19:09
And so people are able to park on the alley and then go in through those double doors and they have their own suite with a bathroom.
19:16
There's a little mini fridge, microwave coffee maker.
19:19
Obviously, this one had a like a nice big closet and the room was like a decent size.
19:25
So I did put a little table there, you know, like you don't need a table, but it is nice when, you know, in a, in a hotel room you're sitting at the desk or whatever.
19:34
And typically, I guess they're not two kitchens, like you're not going to have a kitchen in a sneaky duplex.
19:40
I mean, you can try to do it.
19:41
I forgot that yours doesn't have that, but yours is so much bigger than mine.
19:46
You could essentially do.
19:47
Yeah, definitely.
19:48
I could have, I could have put a kitchen in and really like a kitchen.
19:52
Yes, you need, you would probably need in all of this stuff.
19:54
You don't need to check with your city about like the permits that are needed.
19:57
, because if you're breaking a hole in the door in the wall of the outside, a lot of times you will need a permit.
20:02
But those are pretty easy.
20:03
Like,, changing a window to a door is like an express permit in Austin.
20:07
And we're talking about that next week permit.
20:09
Oh, yeah.
20:09
Ok, perfect.
20:10
So we don't have to get into it, but Yeah, you could do like a more extensive little kitchenette and the only thing you need to really run is water.
20:18
, and to have to have a little sink but you could put like a little stove and a little, and like a larger fridge and have it be like an actual kitchen.
20:26
But we do find that in a, that just makes it more versatile right.
20:30
The way that we have it right now is, is that the people are coming in for like 44 days, 2 to 2 to 6 days and like they're just eating at restaurants.
20:39
Yes.
20:39
Yes, that's, that's true.
20:40
So when you're thinking about a sneaky duplex option, the pros are obviously they do not come into your home so you can live in the other side of your home and never see these people.
20:50
You know, we have gone through many different iterations of soundproofing.
20:55
Yeah.
20:56
So we, we know we know all about that and never actually have heard anyone complain about that.
21:02
And my stinky duplex, I don't know about stuff.
21:04
We've, one time we had like the ducks were all connected and there was some, you know, potentially, yeah, like the air ducts.
21:13
I just thought like the ducks are connected.
21:15
, the air ducts are connected because it's one house, right?
21:18
And so the, the, the problem we had with like the one house was that people were potentially doing some, actually, it's not, it's not illegal in all places, but there was some weeds being smoked and it was going into the other side.
21:33
And so that wasn't noise but it was like, they were like, hello?
21:36
Like, please stop.
21:37
And we were like, oh, yeah.
21:39
Ok.
21:40
We need to test that out because as I'm talking about this, like, I'm, like, screaming into an air duct that goes probably, I need to test that with, yeah, with our, with our newborn coming, I need to keep, we keep putting it off of like testing it like going upstairs and like screaming.
21:56
Yeah.
21:56
Yeah.
21:56
Yeah.
21:56
Yeah.
21:57
How the sound goes downs.
22:00
But I will say that is a downside to this strategy is like having to be conscientious about the noise in your own house.
22:09
So like a lot of times you don't have to but people live in apartments all the time.
22:12
People live in duplexes, triplexes and like that's a reality of life in a lot of those places anyway.
22:18
So yeah, pros and cons.
22:21
Oh, ok.
22:22
Another con I would say is, well, not con but I I would say like something to consider is when you're buying a house with and trying to sneak, sneaky duplex, it think you need to look at your area that you're trying to buy in.
22:35
Are there other like why would someone want to have a hotel room in your area essentially?
22:41
You know, like are, is there anything close by?
22:45
Like because you can't I don't know.
22:47
Sometimes you don't want to make it too cheap, like, $50 or less a night because sometimes the type of guests that you attract is not, it's just not worth it.
22:57
Sometimes it's not even about the money.
22:59
It's like their age.
23:00
Like sometimes they, it just, it's, I just from experience, that's what I found.
23:05
I'm like, it's not even worth it.
23:07
Sometimes they complain about the, the littlest things And, like, you would be surprised though, like, if you're willing to deal with it, the, the places that people actually do need a room, you know, like, it's not just the center of downtown, like in Round Rock, which is a suburb of Austin.
23:23
They have like the Dell Medical School and, yeah, the Dell Medical School.
23:28
And so there's a bunch of people that come in town for like, short amounts of time and they just need a place to lay their head.
23:34
And so there's stuff like that where you'd be surprised almost.
23:37
Exactly.
23:38
So, I, I would, I would say if you're, if you're open to, like, experimenting, it does work in more places than just the center of downtown, you know, for sure.
23:47
I agree.
23:48
I think it just depends on, like, if you're, I guess in Austin it would work mostly because I don't know where there's an area, maybe like Bastrop or something would be tricky.
23:58
But Mandy does it remember people had sneaky?
24:02
Well, she, she did and then she, she transitioned so her whole house is available.
24:06
But,, but, yeah, I was, like, remember, I don't know if you were there but I was like, who is it?
24:11
Like, why are they there?
24:12
Yeah.
24:13
Actually we're going to talk to Mandy soon.
24:15
Oh, yeah.
24:15
That's right.
24:16
That's right.
24:16
Property in two weeks, I think.
24:18
So.
24:18
She can tell us all about that.
24:20
I like doing a CD or an Air BNB in a more rural area.
24:24
Like, not as bustling of a city.
24:25
, so it's so interesting.
24:28
Yeah.
24:28
And I do think that if you're living in a town, even if it's not a big city like Austin or medium city, like Austin.
24:34
, there's, if you're, if you're near a university that you're like a lot of people who come in town for stuff with that and like games or parents or, I don't know, there's just, and there's ways to stick out to, I would say like, so many of these airbnbs when I look at them, they look so bleak.
24:50
I'm like, literally hire a photographer.
24:53
It will cost you 100 and $20 or less.
24:55
I know it sounds maybe expensive for one room.
24:58
I'm like, it could be cheaper.
24:59
Just it's so worth to have nice photos and like nice.
25:04
Give them some nice, like, it's, it's not a big space.
25:07
It's like 2 to 3 sets of things.
25:09
, get some nice sheets, get a nice mattress.
25:12
Like do that initial investment and you will stick out tremendous, you'll be in the top 5%.
25:18
And I, I think you could also look at it as a creative outlet, you know, like, especially like Mandy likes doing it because she was in hospitality.
25:26
And so she likes to create a really good experience for people and like the design of the space is important.
25:31
People love that.
25:32
The like what they're provided upon arrival, stuff like that is like, it's, it could, it could be like a fun, it's like a little mini business.
25:42
I also think this is my sister wants to do this and I think this is starting like it's not that popular yet but for anyone who is like an artist or creative, you could, you could like there's some options where you could put like really cute things that like you made or something like even your painting stuff and like it could be for sale.
26:03
So she was like, I want to have like really cute ceramics or the coffee cups.
26:07
And so like if they want to buy it, they can and I'll just ship it to them or something.
26:12
Like there's so many ways for it to be really creative and cute and lucrative.
26:17
Yeah, we have a friend who did hers and her, her main value is sustainability.
26:22
And so she, she like sustainability and like nontoxic living.
26:25
And so she did a bunch of research and everything in there is super nontoxic and,, and sustainable and all, like, there's just ways to express yourself in, in this and, like, if you're willing to, to put the work in it could be really fun.
26:41
And then also if you're like, I don't care about that.
26:43
I just want money.
26:44
You could hire a management company.
26:46
Yeah.
26:47
Oh, yeah, for sure.
26:48
And I still do that.
26:49
Like, sometimes we go out of town and who's managing our stinky duplex.
26:52
We have a great,, contact actually in Austin if you want to do that.
26:56
So, whenever we're out of town I just, like, you know, message her, get on her website and she takes care of it while I'm gone.
27:02
So, so nice.
27:03
Yeah, the flexibility there is amazing.
27:05
And we do have a lot of people who are doing this house hacking because they want to travel more and so, like, it doesn't have to tie you down to Austin, which is great.
27:15
, anything else about single family?
27:18
.
27:22
Mhm.
27:24
I know.
27:25
Condo.
27:27
Yeah.
27:27
, I think the most basic and the, the, for the most basic form of passing is having a roommate.
27:33
, and, you know, if you have a three bedroom you have two roommates and that just kind of adds up.
27:38
, and that you get help with utilities, you get help, you know, and that's, that's, if you're willing to share some space, that's a great way.
27:44
To do it without having any upfront costs.
27:46
You don't have to put a hole in the wall.
27:48
You don't have to furnish it even.
27:50
So.
27:50
Yeah, that's if you're listening and you're like, three and you're living with roommates anyway.
27:55
So it's important to do that and think about this.
27:59
Like, I know people think, like, I think that when people think of buying a house, they're like, oh, my gosh, I'm tied to this thing.
28:06
But if you're buying a house and it has multiple bedrooms, if you lose your job, what are you going to do with the lease?
28:13
Right?
28:14
You're still going to have to break it.
28:15
You're still gonna have to pay all that money.
28:17
What could you do with your house?
28:19
You could get a roommate, you could get two roommates, you could move out and get three.
28:23
You know, like there's not, it's still going to be a stressful time obviously when you lose your job.
28:28
But like there's more options and I think people get really freaked out like, oh my God, what if I lose my job?
28:34
And I, I don't have, I mean, obviously you should be having some savings before you buy a house reserves.
28:41
But yeah, like you, you have options.
28:44
Like you could rent your whole house out and leave, you could rent a room out, two rooms out, whatever the flexibility is actually safer by owning a home because you can, you can create income from this property as opposed to just losing your deposit and having to pay to break a lease, right?
29:03
Depending on how you set yourself up for success.
29:06
That's why you really, you know, working with our realtors of like, so when you buy your first house, you're not buying a money pit and you're thinking of like, am I going to the top of my budget and no backup plan?
29:18
Like that's not right.
29:20
And that is something that like our agents are really good about talking through people's options and trying to find the right thing.
29:26
So it's like if you're really worried about that and you don't have tons of reserve, maybe buying a newer property is better, you know, like, and you can house hack a newer property so well.
29:36
So that's true.
29:37
But yeah, the other thing to think about is ho a if you are in a strict ho a and they won't approve of exterior entrance or whatever, you know, I just like if this is in your plans, tell your agent ideally, you're working with an open house agent because they've already thought about this.
29:52
But you have to think about those things because you don't want to get in a situation where you can't do what you want to do.
29:57
Right?
29:57
So like when you're buying a car, know there's typically some restrictions on what you can do.
30:02
It doesn't mean you can't do it, but you need to know what the ho A says and we, we are not against condos but we prefer a single family home when you're trying to house.
30:11
Yeah.
30:12
Yeah, I agree.
30:13
I think, I think that roommates in a condo totally fine and most, most H OS are totally fine with just like, multiple people living together.
30:21
, but if you wanna go even further, if you want it to be like a phase situation where maybe it's a roommate at first and that's another thing, roommate at first, just like, you know, get re,, refresh your reserves and then you're like, ok, now I have some money in the account to make it into a sneaky duplex so that I have a higher quality of life in my privacy.
30:42
And how we've, we've done this before is like, maybe you have a roommate who's a 3 to 6 month contract or a lease contract.
30:49
, so you can have them there for 3 to 6 months.
30:53
And it depends on your city again.
30:54
But also, and that's like, been pretty successful or you could have, like, what I've done before is you, I rented a room for 3 to 6 months to someone and then the other room I airbnb had its own private entrance, but people were like, totally fine with sharing a room and I charged like 50 or $60 a night and people were doing it.
31:15
So, I mean, that was a while ago.
31:17
I don't know if but, yeah, I'm sure, like, people in their twenties young, like, are still doing that.
31:22
And they, yeah, when I first, when I had my three bedroom, I lived in one room, actually lived in the primary bedroom, which is luxury.
31:31
And then I had a roommate and I got her first and I was like, I'm planning to, like, probably get a third roommate as well.
31:36
And, and, and I kind of told her about the Airbnb idea and she was like, well, if you want to Airbnb, the third room, I will manage it and you can give me a break on rent.
31:46
And so she like cleaned it and she did, you know, and she got cheaper rent.
31:50
She did have to share a bathroom with someone, but like she was open to that.
31:54
So, so the limit does not exist.
31:57
So you can be as creative as you want.
32:00
You'd be surprised like I shared this house that I house hacked was less than 900 square feet and we had one little bathroom and people were like loving it.
32:08
They didn't care.
32:10
And I, I also think there is something too when you airbnb and you're the host and they meet you and know you like it's different and you know, when I was younger, a lot of those people, like I became friends with some of these people and like, I would go out with them and stuff and, you know, not some people listening to this would be like that is my living house.
32:31
I know, but it is, it is hard to give a bad review to someone that you met and is nice.
32:37
You know.
32:37
So I'm sure your reviews are really good.
32:40
I know.
32:41
I'm in a place.
32:42
Yes.
32:42
How our tolerance for sharing space diminishes as we get older.
32:46
But yeah, again, it's like there's an entry point for any level of, of and it's not even some people who are 24 like I would, I would rather die.
32:55
You know, it's not just age based.
32:58
It's not, I mean, my dad had a roommate and he's like in his fifties was literally about to say my dad is like living in someone's basement, like who are we to say about age?
33:09
True when our dads are having roommates here in their, in their fifties?
33:17
Ok.
33:17
Well, the next step or the next option is a favorite of ours as well.
33:22
Definitely like a higher lift, but it's adding a tiny home to your property or buying a home with an AD U already or an outbuilding or whatever and renovating it into something or, or like I just did 2022 bought something with a fully done, ad U accessory dwelling unit, Granny flat carriage house, whatever you want to call it.
33:43
Yeah.
33:44
Yeah.
33:44
And, and that is, you know, sometimes that can be a little, obviously it's more money up front.
33:50
Well, for yours.
33:51
It was just tied in, which was nice.
33:53
But it was much more expensive.
33:55
Yeah, more expensive property.
33:57
And then also with, like, the conversion, usually it's like, you know, an old garage that maybe has a sink or maybe just has electricity and then you have to plummet to put, like, you know, make sure it has water and electricity and,, it's like a whole thing but at least the structures there, if it's a sound structure, you can like, kind of get going and then, or it's like a garage and you're, you know, you're just, it's a lot more work or there's nothing there.
34:25
You have to put concrete down and all this stuff.
34:27
So there's lots of different options for that.
34:30
And I think actually the option I really like that you did was you just had land and you were able to pull on a tiny house, which, you know, because when you're, when you're building something, you have to bring cash out or use like, get a loan or something with this one, you finance it right.
34:51
It's like a RV ish type thing, but it's, it's not an RV, it's an RV loan and a little prebuilt tiny home that comes fully done, like with the flooring in and the fridge was even there, the stove and it's so easy.
35:05
It is a little bit more expensive than like, actually at this point, probably not more expensive than what you can build in your own house or build on, build in your yard, like from scratch and, yeah, you finance it.
35:17
So you put a down payment.
35:18
I put 20% down.
35:19
Mine was $70,000.
35:22
So, like 100 and yeah, they're, they're more now.
35:25
We should, I bet at least 90.
35:28
I, I haven't seen one under 90 but, yeah, that's $18,000.
35:31
As opposed to, like, you know, cash for all of Yeah.
35:36
So how much does it?
35:37
We have a lot of stuff.
35:38
Actually, you did a little guide on building your own tiny house.
35:41
So it's on our website if you guys want it.
35:43
But yeah, so instead of like you, so you would, you would put a down payment just like buying a house like and then you know, you pay a monthly payment but hopefully you can just start renting it out straight away and cover it.
35:56
Yeah, and cash flow, ideally there's like a margin there so that you can so that you can pay back your initial upfront cash and then pass that pass when you pay it all off, it's just fully income or it's just like an extra space for you, for your family or for your office or you know, the versatility of having a little back house is, is the dream.
36:17
And I think a lot of people, this is also a pretty common one that people are like drawn to these days, right.
36:23
And the pros I or the, the only reason because some people would be like, why, why wouldn't I just do this?
36:29
Like, I, this sounds way better than building from scratch.
36:32
And I would say it's like, how do you get that thing in there?
36:35
Like, you just have to make sure because if you have a front facing house and homes on each side, how are you going to get it over there?
36:43
You have to it.
36:47
And that is, I've never done that for the record.
36:49
And I think that if you're again, like once in your house search, it's OK.
36:54
I want to do this is, this is why you're listening to this.
36:57
I'm so glad you're here and that you're like thinking about these things because when you're buying something, you're like, ok, could it fit in this amount of space or do we have an alley access or is it a corner lot?
37:09
Like you're thinking through these things beforehand so that you have the versatility, even if you're not going to do it right away, you want the option, right?
37:16
And you're listening to this now, so you won't get overwhelmed.
37:19
You're not just going to be like, I'm doing this tomorrow.
37:21
You're, you're taking notes, you're like, you're talking to one of our realtors, you're coming up with a plan, they're helping you.
37:28
You always ask for help from people that you want to be like, and we have so many resources and, and yeah, we tell a lot of our story on Tik Tok too if you ever are curious, but because we've done all of these things, is there anything, I mean, one of us has done all of these things, one option that we have not done yet.
37:52
Maybe you've done it.
37:53
So you, one of our clients bought a little house, it was a two bedroom, one bath and she wanted to travel, but she wanted a house hack and she had a huge lot, like a really big lot.
38:07
So she, what she did was she was like, I don't want anyone in my space.
38:11
So she like went to travel, just had her house, the two bedroom, one bath and then she rented out her land to someone with an RV.
38:19
So that was she was able to cover her mortgage plus,, that way, love that option as well.
38:25
That's also hacking hacking your land totally.
38:28
We actually did this sort of stay tiny and they, they built the roll off tiny home on the, on the lot.
38:38
And so we basically rent the lot to them.
38:40
They take a majority of the income from it, but we get a percentage of whatever they make every month.
38:46
So we don't have to do anything.
38:47
They manage the airbnb, they manage everything and they just cut us a check every month.
38:52
So I need to do that actually, or look into this because for our 13th Street house.
38:57
Anyway.
38:57
So bar again.
39:01
Yeah.
39:01
Yeah.
39:02
Yeah.
39:02
Yeah.
39:03
And you do lose some yard, obviously.
39:05
Like, if you love having a big yard, this might not be the best.
39:08
But like, when you think about the, like how much money you could potentially make every month, it could make it worth it.
39:15
The one that we have in our backyard, actually, I, I have the numbers here.
39:20
It's a one bedroom, one bath.
39:21
It's 485 square feet.
39:23
It's above our garage.
39:25
And so they have, and it's alley access.
39:27
So they have a parking spot.
39:29
It's like a really nice setup.
39:31
It's not a really nice house, like it's, it was built in 2005 and literally has never been touched since it makes, it averages $3147 a month.
39:41
That's amazing, which is amazing.
39:43
It's like this little house and, you know, it, it is not, it's not no frills.
39:47
It does have a full kitchen.
39:49
But, but yeah, so that is so worth it for like what I do every month, which is very little.
39:57
I do have a manager, manages and cleans and all that.
40:00
But but yeah, the possibilities are pretty exciting.
40:04
Yeah.
40:05
and say the company again, it's stay tiny, tiny Texas and they are, I don't know, they're like potentially on a break right now.
40:14
But if you reach out, I'm sure they, I'm sure they have resources but reach out to us too because we have, yeah, potentially we could help you out in that way.
40:23
So, yeah, I know someone else is talking to me, I'm talking to someone for who wants to do similar model.
40:29
And like if say T is not doing it.
40:31
It's a great model.
40:32
OK.
40:32
Well, we want to, OK, we're gonna wrap it up, right?
40:35
We have nothing, we wrap it up and we want you all to take actionable steps towards this because a lot of times like I do this too where I listen to a podcast and I'm like, oh, I want to do that and then I just like send it to a friend and then I forget about it if you want to, to actually do this.
40:54
And you can also combine this with another strategy like partnering with someone which honestly always have done.
41:00
I've always, and you've mainly done this too, like we've house hacked and we've partnered together and it makes it so much more easy to grow and easy to get started sooner.
41:11
So, you know, reach out to us, reach out to our realtor team.
41:14
We are the only people in this, in the country.
41:18
Honestly.
41:18
I, I wish we, people keep asking us if we're, if we're going to expand.
41:21
And I'm like, we are, we are not there yet, but we have agents all over the country we can set you up with.
41:29
So still reach out to us.
41:30
There's a button on our website that we can connect you with someone but talk to if you're in Austin or the surrounding areas of Austin, you want to do this, talk to us there.
41:39
It's free.
41:39
It's easy.
41:40
Our agents are so sweet and I have so much experience in this.
41:45
Yeah.
41:45
So talk to us and we also have, if you're not in Austin again, you can, we can connect you with someone.
41:51
We also have so many resources on our blog, you can just search, you know, house hacking, whatever, buying with friends, partnering.
42:01
We also have a lot of like free little mini courses.
42:05
We have course online.
42:06
It's on youtube, free home school.
42:09
You can go take that lots of things, so many, so many resources.
42:12
So pick one and do it.
42:15
Now put it in your calendar.
42:17
Yes, that is, that is the very first action that needs to be taken and then pass that.
42:22
It's like continuing to listen, continuing to like think about what is possible for you.
42:28
I guess those are not, that's not the best action, but there's just like so many.
42:31
There's so I just like I almost said, just do it.
42:34
But but this is the planting the seed and then the actions taken are specific to your.
42:41
But I do think that getting in touch and using our resources are important.
42:45
Yeah.
42:45
And don't be scared like, you know, I have planted the seed and it's taken me a year and a half to do something or two years or whatever, you know.
42:52
But don't just say I'll do it in two years.
42:55
You've got to do something now to get there in two years.
42:58
If you want to do it in two years, start now.
43:00
Yes, I bought a house in 2013 and everyone's like, oh my God, the golden area.
43:05
It's like, well, yeah, but 2024 will be that in 34.
43:10
You know, we're looking back and being like, I wish I bought back then.
43:14
It's like, ok, well, that's what you're going to say if you don't do it now,, in the future.
43:18
So yeah, we didn't know we didn't have all the wisdom we have now back when we bought, but we're so glad we did it.
43:26
Yeah.
43:26
Oh my gosh, we were so, I mean, we learned for you all.
43:30
So now we'll tell you all of our mistakes and we, we, yeah, we talk about that all the time.
43:35
We did make mistakes and we learned so much from it and like it's, there's nothing you can do but yeah, learn from people.
43:44
Yeah.
43:45
ok, cool.
43:46
This is so fun.
43:47
I know.
43:48
How, see you next week.
43:51
Bye bye.
