what makes me happy.

Yep, you read it right. We closed on our second house this week! It feels UNREAL.

My quick two cents about house-hacking…

It’s awesome because:

For the last two(ish) years, I’ve been house-hacking. In my three bedroom house, I’ve rented out a room to a typical renter, and AirBnBed the other room to pay the mortgage. The typical person spends 30% of their income on housing expense… so reducing your largest expense to ZERO is a GAMECHANGER!

Now you’ve got X more each month to save/invest/blow on fun stuff/etc.

It’s a drag sometimes because:

The weird part about house-hacking: it’s a business that you are running out of your home. Try to really take the meaning of the word home in for a second. When you are renting rooms out of your house to other people, you are sharing your home with them.

The day when you come home from work and are exhausted and want to be a shut in, will be the day where a new guest starts their stay (AirBnB) and they check in while you are in the kitchen and they really want to chat with you. The day when you’ve planned a lot of extra activities and are super busy, is the day your roommate (renter) will want to discuss what items are needed for the house (Yes! I already know we need more detergent!)

Tell me what you really think!

So, all-in-all, house-hacking is definitely a great place to begin on the road to riches! But, definitely not a place I’d like to be forever. If you’re younger and are still used to having roommates/living at home with family- this would be an easy transition, for sure.

What’s the new situation like?

Well, that’s the crazy thing! We will have two properties! We are moving into the basement of the new house and renting/AirBnBing the main level, and then renting/AirBnBing the first house completely. Do you know what that means?! One property will be 100% an INVESTMENT property!

This feels very different than when I bought my first house. If you buy a house to live in and house-hack, you can stop house-hacking when you want to if you don’t think it’s for you. (Roommates or strangers in your house isn’t for everyone).

But owning two houses, with two mortgages, is a lot riskier. You can’t just stop if you stop enjoying it. You’re committed at this point.

The thrill of answering the question, How am I going to do this? motivates me to get to work on this exciting project! Seeing how this project fits into the bigger picture I have for my life is insanely satisfying.

#Planningahappylife