I’ve mentioned numerous times on this blog how house hacking was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But, there were many times (especially in the beginning) when I asked myself “wtf did I get myself into”. So, unlike my house hacking guide that shows you how to house hack successfully – this post is going to give you a list of reasons why you shouldn’t house hack at all.
I’m a big believer that before you make a potentially life-changing decision, you should learn as much as you can about both the good and the bad.
Whenever I’m making a big decision, I tend to focus on the reasons why I shouldn’t do it more than the reasons why I should. I do this because if the reasons why I shouldn’t do something aren’t a big deal or if I have solutions to them – the decision is much easier for me to make. But that’s just me.
Anyway, let’s talk about why you shouldn’t house hack.
Table of Contents
More responsibility
House hacking requires you to basically purchase a rental property. And purchasing a rental property (or property at all) adds a lot of responsibility to your life.
You’re now responsible for both the lot and the building on it. If something happens to your property, you have to figure out:
- why it happened
- how to fix it
- what needs to happen to prevent it in the future
You no longer have the option to tell a landlord about it and let them figure it out while you continue your normal life. For example, one day I had the flu, and my tenant’s furnace stopped working. It was my responsibility to fix it so I spent time making phone calls to companies until I could get someone out the same day. I would have liked to just sleep that whole day but I had a responsibility to my tenant to make sure she has heat when she needs it.
If taking on additional responsibility sounds like a hassle, you shouldn’t house hack.
It’s more work
House hacking is a business. This comes with benefits like rental income (of course) but it also comes with additional work that you wouldn’t experience if you purchased a regular home for you and your family. This additional work includes:
- Creating a dedicated bank account
- Collecting rent
- Keeping good records of your income and expenses
- Doing taxes
- Self-managing your property
- Learning the law related to house hacking (check out this post: Is House Hacking Legal)
- and I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting
If you’re not prepared or interested in doing the additional business-related work, you shouldn’t house hack.
Less privacy
If you’re house hacking, you’re essentially signing up for living in close proximity to other people. I’ve talked about how house hacking a two-family property gives you more privacy but it’s still less privacy than living alone in a single-family home.
I’ve talked about some of the privacy-related issues my wife had in the “what to do after house hacking” post. The issues she had happened even though we lived in a duplex. If you’re planning to house hack a single-family home, you’re going to have even less privacy.
So, if you’re thinking of house hacking (even if it’s a multi-family property) because you need a high level of privacy and are tired of living in an apartment – you shouldn’t house hack.
Most multi-family properties that I’ve seen (and lived in) here in Ohio have “paper-thin” walls. The better properties make it hard to hear conversations from your neighbors unless they’re talking loudly/yelling. The more common properties allow you to hear most conversations from your neighbors (including their sex noises).
You need to be available when problems happen
House hacking requires you to always be available when problems happen. This includes being available during any vacations or trips
Unlike owning rental property and using a property manager, you will likely self-manage your house hack since you live there. Managing the property yourself will save some money in exchange for you having to handle any problems that arise. But, if you’re OK with paying a property manager to manage the property for you – you may be able to reduce your availability. But, that comes with a caveat…
If you hire a property manager for your house hack, and your tenants know that you own the property, when things go wrong and your tenants don’t like the way your property manager handled it – they will come to you.
So, if you like to disappear from time to time and go off the grid – you may not want to house hack.
More mental stress
Owning a rental property (including house hacking) adds more mental stress (at least it does for me). When major storms go through the areas where my properties are located, I experience stress due to being on standby and waiting for calls that may (or may not) come.
For example, there was an extreme ice storm one year that took down a lot of trees. One of my properties that I moved from had a tree nearby that was still healthy but was leaning away from the property. If the tree fell, it wouldn’t have landed on the house but would have landed in my parking lot either blocking vehicles from entering/exiting or crushing a vehicle. Once the storm passed and I was waiting on ‘that’ phone call. I kept thinking (and mildly stressing) about how I should have just cut the tree down even though it was healthy.
That phone call never came and the mild stress I experienced served no real purpose. But, I’d be lying if I told you that house hacking or owning rental property is stress-free. I eventually spent the money and cut that tree down so that I never have to think (or stress) about it again in the future.
So, if you’re someone who’s already under a lot of mental stress – you probably shouldn’t house hack because it’s going to add more stress. However, if you’re under a lot of stress because of things like your living situation – house hacking might solve more stress than it creates. So your specific situation will play a big role in deciding if you should or shouldn’t house hack due to mental stress.
