House Hack Calculator | Predictable Income

🔑

House Hack Calculator

Live in one unit, rent the others. Model whether buying a duplex or triplex beats renting or a single-family home.

Multi-Unit Property

Property Type

Purchase Price ($)

Down Payment 5%

Interest Rate 7.0%

Rent Per Other Unit ($ / mo)

Property Tax / mo ($)

Insurance + HOA / mo ($)

Maintenance + Vacancy Reserve 12%

What You'd Pay Otherwise

Rent for Comparable Place ($ / mo)

Single-Family Home Price ($)

Your Effective Housing Cost

—

per month after rental income

🏢

Renting

—

pure expense

🏡

Single-Family

—

PITI only

🔑

House Hack

—

net of tenant rent

Monthly Housing Cost — 3 Scenarios Compared

House hacking saves you — per month versus renting, or — per year. Plus you build equity and pay down a loan while your tenants effectively cover it.

House Hack Calculator

House hacking is one of the fastest ways to start building real estate wealth, letting you live in one unit of a duplex, triplex, or fourplex while your tenants pay most or all of your mortgage. Our House Hack Calculator compares three paths side by side, renting a comparable apartment, buying a single-family home, and buying a multi-unit property as a house hack. Enter the multi-unit purchase price, your down payment, expected rent per tenant-occupied unit, and standard expenses like property tax and insurance, and the calculator shows your effective monthly housing cost after collecting tenant rent. The results include a three-way comparison chart and a hero metric that turns green when house hacking beats renting. With low down payment owner-occupied financing starting at 3.5 percent, house hacking is often the single highest-leverage move a first-time buyer can make toward both homeownership and a growing rental portfolio.