Types of House Hack Ideas
Most believe there are simply just two types of house hack ideas, which involve living in one unit of a residential multifamily house and renting out the other(s) or living in a single family house where a bedroom is your area of residence and the rest of the bedrooms in the house you own are rented out. However, there are many creative types of house hacking ideas that are below that involve live in a property and flipping it, renting out the garage, renting basement, and much more. A combination of these strategies will yield the most return. Therefore, it is important to buy your house with the concept in mind of multiple sources of rental income. Some of the house hack strategies listed below are far fetched, however very possible. Of course, the highest source will be vacation rentals or long term rentals. Having some supplemental rental income such as parking space rent or garage rent can help with overall to make the numbers work to live for free with your everyday housing expenses.
1. Traditional Residential Multifamily House Hack
This is the most common House Hack method and is what coined the term initially. Formally speaking, 9 out of 10 times when people use the term they are referring to purchasing a 2 unit, 3 unit or 4 unit and then living in one unit and renting out the other unit(s) to offset the rent. As an example let us say you buy a fourplex and rent out 3 units. These other 3 units would go towards pay for the mortgage, the house insurance, taxes and utilities. Best case scenario the rent pays for all of this in full where you then live for free while owning a property that is appreciating in value.
Here is a blog post speaking more in depth on the traditional Residential Multifamily House hacking.
2. Airbnb and Short Term Rentals House Hack
Airbnb House Hacking has a couple ways to approach it. You can rent by the room to people or the whole unit if you have a duplex to fourplex. Additionally, when you go on vacation yourself either for a short or long period of time you can rent out your whole house to help offset some costs of either your vacation you are going on or the everyday expenses you will be occurring while you are not even living in the primary residence. A big factor in this method to be successful is LOCATION, LOCATION, and location. If there is no travel in and out of the area then there won’t be any demand for short term rentals to make this method work. Airbnb site is a great way to check comps easily of current short term rental values and demand (how much are available at a given time / how far booked in advance). If you are in the type of market that is a vacation area or high travel area take the long term rental comps and compare it to the short term rental value to see which path makes most sense for you.
For more details on Airbnb House Hacking check out this blog post.
3. Single Family Room Renting
If you are comfortable sharing space with others that could be strangers and having common areas in the house that could be used by strangers that you never knew before, room renting could be a viable alternative for you. Furthermore, Student housing is technically in some situations a single family house where you would rent it by the room, but in this instance you would be living in it too. This shared house with roommates will forcibly make you have interactions with people on a regular basis. Ideally doing this you will be allowing someone to rent the whole second floor or the whole basement while you are living as king on the main floor.
If renting out bedrooms in a single family is something you might want to do check out thit blog post.
4. Renting Out Your Garage Space House Hack Idea
If you have a detached garage and even better yet you have a separate driveway going to the detached garage then renting it out can be a great way to get a fourth of what a one bedroom apartment usually rents for in your area. In the grand scheme of things just park on the street or in the driveway or off to the side of the garage. All you really need a garage for is to store some tools, the lawn mower and a snow plow. People usually seek to rent a garage because they have expensive cars that they want to keep it safe from the outside elements. People also seek to rent out garages for extra storage instead of doing a formal self storage unit.
Besides the usual Craigslist and Facebook market place to find renters who are looking for storage, there is a popular site called Neighbor where you can list a parking spot or storage area. This site allows you to list more than just your garage of course if needed like your attic, basement etc. Garage rental for storage is most ideal since they have free access to their property without entering your actual living quarters. The storage listing website Neighbor is very incentivising to the renter since comparably you could be saving 50% compared to a self rental storage unit.
5. Rent Out Parking Spaces
Let us face it parking at public transportation such as trains and bus stops on a regular basis is expensive. Additionally, universities charge an arm and a leg to the students for parking on an annual basis and also give parking tickets like their life depends on it. More instances to illustrate opportunities for renting out parking spots is if you live near a highly popular town event parking is a rare commodity to come by that you can profit from the limited availability for making other people’s lives easier for the event. Some landlords if parking on the street is allowed for their property they charge extra to the tenant for allowing them to park off the street and on their driveway. It is simple supply and demand at its finest.
6. Live In and Flip House Hack idea
This house hack idea takes traditional flipping a house and combines it with house hacking. These types of house hacks really come down to the numbers and trust in the real estate economy that it does not tank in the time frame you are holding the property fixing up the cosmetically distressed property. Any property that needs to undergo a gut job or one where at a given period of time you are unable to use the needed plumbing such as a bathroom or sink.
7. Renting out a Mother-In-Law Suite
Technically a house with a mother-in-law suite is not a multifamily dwelling property. It is a single family based on the tax records, but that is something you can check the zoning on the tax records or by calling up the town to double check what the purpose of the land can be. A mother-in-law suite is just a studio apartment since it is usually an open floor layout with a kitchenette and a bathroom and sometimes it’s own washer and dryer. This method is great for a person venturing off on his own and does not want to do the single family room rental method. The benefits are it has a separate entrance and an entirely separate living space. Some mother-in-law suites have a door connecting it to the main house, which you can leave it as is or you can sheetrock it closed for making it an entirely separate dwelling unit.
8. Live In a Trailer or RV and Rent out your Home
Some people love travelling, camping and being on the go while generating passive income. Living in a camper or RV is doable and many people do it camping. Can you see yourself living in one for a long period of time to minimize your expenses while your house is appreciating in value? I would highly suggest this if you have a travel trailer already. Most towns do not allow an RV to be a primary residence, but if it is a private property they might not care what you do on it.
9. Make a Basement Apartment House Hack Idea
If you have a finished basement in your house this could very well be feasible to do. A key to making this successful is having the windows follow town guidelines for Basement egress window requirements and also it is important for it to have its own entrance. In this instance you can live in the basement while renting out the rest of your house for increasing the odds of the mortgage, interest, taxes, insurance and utilities to be paid for. Alternatively, you can live in the main part of the house and rent out the basement.
10. Make an Accessory Dwelling Unit
Accessory dwelling units (AKA ADUs) are legally a part of the same property and the only difference is that it is almost like a shed or another 1 bedroom stand alone apartment. There are companies that can build turnkey ADUs from the ground up for you, which includes plumbing, electrical and the whole nine yards. Depending on the zoning you can make it into an office, a living unit for you or a studio for art/music. Each state and some towns has their own rules and restrictions on making one so be sure to check them before starting your project. ADUs can easily be tiny houses and this can be used for AirBnB/short term rentals too.
One company that takes on the work and creates a small home in your backyard is called Rent The Back Yard. Rent the Backyard company helps you install a beautiful, sustainable home in your backyard to make extra money. The company builds the house off site then brings it to your property for an easy build without the hassle in about a two and a half month process.
11. Make a Garage Apartment
Instead of making an ADU from scratch this is an alternative if you have a large garage or you desire to build above the garage to build upward. Similar to most of them on this list of Different Types House Hacks all you need a separate entrance, electricity and plumbing.
12. Make An Office Space and Rent it out
This just like a lot of the above is something you need to check the town zoning on the legality of renting part of the building out as an office. The positives to renting part of your house out as an office is the utilities. you do not need the stove for cooking and the water consumption is also at a minimum since no one is taking a shower or bathtub.
13. Turn Your House Into a Farm House Hack Idea
A great way to minimize your living expenses in this unorthodox way is to make your primary residence into a farm. It does not have to be a full fledged cattle and slaughter house by any means. All this means is getting the tax benefit of being classified as a farm and then get the benefit of the business side of income, which should be residual. Some easy ways to be classified as a farm is selling eggs, a christmas tree farm, vegetable garden, or a plant nursery. There are some vital restrictions to making your primary residence into a farm such as 5 acres and making a small minimum each year per the 5 acres.
14. Live In a Fishing Boat Yacht and Charter It Out
More people have been living on boats lately than you think. They set up on dock and boat around if they want to get some change of scenery or catch some food fishing. Taking this concept one step further.
15. Rent Out Your Fenced In Backyard As a Dog Park
Sniffpost phone app allows any home owner with a fenced in yard who is a pet lover rent out their yard to make supplemental rental income. Believe it or not, some towns do not have public parks who allow dogs or pets and most parks do not allow dogs to run free off of a leash. When people live in apartment complexes with dogs they do not have the luxury of allowing their dog. This app, Sniffpost, solves the problem for these folks and you can be their saving grace by renting out your backyard. The app is essentially AirBnB for a backyard dog park.
16. Rent Out Your Swimming Pool
Swimply app allows any home owner with a pool make supplemental rental income for letting the pool pay for itself. Pools cost money every year to keep up the maintenance and open it up for the summer season. Most say it is a costly expenditure and could be the reason why some buyers do not buy the property. Flip the switch on this idea have your pool earn you money. It is free to create a listing and you choose the rules.
17. Rent Roof Space to IOT Satellite Companies
Longwave Connect is one of a small handful of innovative satellite companies that need real estate investors like us to place their equipment on specific types of buildings and locations. These companies goal is to be in a connected world with all devices without human interaction.
18. Add a Billboard to The Outside of Your House and Rent Ad Space to Advertisers
Usually most feasible with mix unit type of buildings where there are apartments on top and commercial retail at the first floor due the area would be getting a lot of traffic to view he billboard. Also, if your house is near a highway it will give the billboard a lot of visibility from people driving by.
19. Rent Your Land to Campers, RVers and more with HipCamp
HipCamp works with land owners to offer tent camping, RV Parks, Cabins, and more to earn a some extra money with their land. House Hacking Does not have to be just in main metro areas.
20. Rent Your Driveway to RVers with Vanly
With Vanly App, it to allow travelers and vanlifers to find safe places to park overnight where they won’t have to worry about feeling safe, being woken up in the middle of the night, or waking up in the morning with a parking ticket. The App empowers homeowners to capitalize on their unused driveway space. If you’re a homeowner, you can list your extra driveway or parking space for free. You are also allowed to add any extra amenities you wish to offer, such as wifi, water, electricity etc..