Faro Labs / Tools / House hack calculator
House hack calculator
What living in one unit and renting the rest actually costs you each month. Measured against your current rent, and against what the property does once you move out.
You cover $1,659 a month while your tenants pay the other $2,850 of a $4,509 monthly obligation. Move out and rent your unit too and the property runs $139 negative each month.
How house hacking pencils
House hacking works on a financing asymmetry rather than a clever formula: an owner-occupied loan on a two-to-four unit property can be had for a fraction of the down payment an investor loan demands on the same building, at a better rate. You buy a rental property on residential terms because you're living in part of it.
Count the whole building's costs
The honest version of this calculation charges maintenance and reserves against every unit's rent, including the one you occupy. Your unit's share of the roof, the furnace, and the siding is a real cost that doesn't disappear because you're the one living there. Skipping it produces the flattering number, and the roof arrives anyway.
Run it as a rental too
The second figure, cash flow after you move out, is the one that decides whether this is a good property or just a cheap year of housing. A house hack that turns negative the moment you leave is a lifestyle subsidy with a deadline. One that cash-flows as a standalone rental is a property you can keep and repeat.
House hacking questions
Does rental income help me qualify for the loan?
Often yes, on two-to-four unit properties. Lenders will commonly count a portion of the projected market rent, frequently around 75 percent, toward your qualifying income. Rules differ by loan program and by lender, so confirm the treatment before you make offers based on it.
Do I have to live there for a set time?
Owner-occupied financing carries an occupancy commitment, most commonly twelve months. That's a term of your loan agreement rather than an abstract rule, so read it, and plan the move-out timing around it if repeating the strategy is the goal.
Duplex or renting rooms in a single-family?
Renting rooms usually produces more income per dollar of purchase price, at the cost of sharing your kitchen and living space. A duplex or triplex gives you separated units with their own doors and leases, which is easier to live with and easier to convert to a pure rental later. The math favors rooms; longevity usually favors units.
Every calculator
Check the rents before you commit.
Faro pulls real rental comps for an address so the income side of your house hack isn't a hopeful guess.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only: not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.