First home purchase at age 24. I spent $180,000 on this house, and I still own it.

When I (Hey! Steph Douglass, co-founder of Open House) was fresh out of college, I had a $43,000 salary, which meant I was about to be priced out of the rental market in my Austin neighborhood. So I did what most 24 year olds would NOT think to do. I bought a house!

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By owning my home but continuing to have roommates, I essentially became a landlord. I didn’t have the words to say this then, but I was house hacking. House hacking is supplementing your mortgage, taxes & insurance (henceforth referred to simply as “mortgage”) with monthly income.

Through house hacking, I was able to supplement half my mortgage with rental income from my roommates. And while I was saving up by cutting my mortgage in half, my house was appreciating in value.

I started my house hacking journey with a long-term roommate, but there are many ways to house hack. It just doesn’t occur to many people due to the “American Dream” rules set up by the generations before us that could buy a house for less money.

These unspoken societal “rules” state that you rent until you get married, then you buy a house, have a couple kids and work paycheck to paycheck to cover your mortgage, filling the house with /nice/ furniture and filling the driveway with a car payment. The end goal? You sell this house and use the proceeds to buy a bigger house, with a higher payment. Hopefully you’ve gotten a raise since then, but that may go to the higher car payment to match the nicer house.

While this isn’t bad and it worked for many of our parents, I challenged myself to be creative with my finances, my time and my life. I knew my salary wasn’t going up much as a teacher, so I saved ferociously while I was house hacking and paying an abbreviated monthly mortgage.

With a strategic partnership*, my savings and a little gumption, I bought a second house three years later. This isn’t uncommon. Most people stay in their first house less than 7 years. I, however, kept the first house, rented it for a good amount more than my mortgage and continued my landlordship on a larger scale. I was able to put just 5% down on this house because I intended to move in. This is a mortgage rule that is important to my story. Saving 20% would have either prohibited me from growing or taken me a VERY long time.

This time, I was prepared to put in some sweat equity. My mom* and I rolled up our sleeves, used some creative renovation financing tactics (limited time interest free credit cards!), and we raised the value of the house by $100K in about 3 months by putting only $30K in + many hours of our time. We converted the garage to a 1 bedroom apartment and I set out on the ultimate house hack. I lived in one room, a roommate lived in the second bedroom, and I Airbnb’d the third. At the same time, the converted garage was being Airbnb’d, which was pushing my monthly income to about $2,700 on the house where I lived. House hacking magic!

Two years later, I had added a side hustle (real estate agent!) to the mix, so I had a good amount of savings. My little sister, who learned from her family of creative financiers, had also saved a good amount. We decided to partner on a purchase, thus my third house hacking purchase was born. Again, we put 5% down, purchased a house in a great location, and I embarked on my largest house project to date. My second house was retained and rented.

This is mid-renovation on my third primary residence. It was a huge rehab.

6 months later, I had facilitated a complete renovation. I learned so many invaluable skills, made so many mistakes and spent a lot of money. I refer to this period of my life as “Grad School” and my oh my was it worth it.

The house hack: I renovated the house to include a second exterior entrance with a separate patio - we call this type of rental a sneaky duplex. This entrance takes you to a bedroom and a bathroom suite about the size of a hotel room. It has a mini fridge, a microwave and a coffee maker. Due to the walkable nature of the location, I rent this suite on Airbnb for an average of $2,600 per month, which is about $700 over my mortgage. I get to live in the heart of my favorite city, in a house I designed and built, without roommates and GET PAID to do so. This is the true American Dream.

@openhouseaustin We coined the term “Sneaky Duplex” - here’s how it’s done! #househacking #sneakyduplex ♬ Inspiring Journey Background Music (Upbeat, Indie, Instrumental) - Instrumental - Lesfm

Is house hacking always definitively comfortable? No! Does it come with occasional headaches? YES! Do I feel like I figured out the secret to life? Yes. And you can too. House hacking is my favorite way to get started as a real estate investor. Throughout my 6 years on the house hacking train, I was able to buy 7 separate properties. I eliminated most people’s largest expense, which allowed me to severely accelerate my savings rate. This, I believe, is the secret to achieving seemingly unachievable financial goals.

I firmly believe the agent team I’ve since built can support you in doing the same. Discover how much you’ll need to save to buy a house and decide if the sneaky duplex option is right for you: schedule a brief buyer consultation call with our team here. Live outside of Austin? We’ve got a nationwide network of like-minded realtors. Fill out this form for a personalized recommendation.

Steph co-founded Open House Austin and is on a mission to make real estate investing more accessible to millennials and first-time buyers in Austin. Get in touch with her on instagram @stephinvests and @openhouse_austin.