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House Hacking: The Strategy for Homeowners to Earn More Money
🇦🇷 Argentina /Economy & Trade

House Hacking: The Strategy for Homeowners to Earn More Money

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • House hacking is a real estate strategy where homeowners generate income from their primary residence to cover property costs.
  • It involves renting out rooms, units, or spaces like garages to offset expenses like mortgages and maintenance.
  • This approach, originating in the U.S., helps reduce living costs, facilitates homeownership, and provides investment experience.

Homeowners can transform their living expenses into income streams through a strategy known as "house hacking." This real estate approach involves generating revenue from one's primary residence to cover, or even exceed, costs such as mortgages, maintenance, and utilities.

In simple terms: instead of seeing your home solely as a monthly expense, you turn it into an asset that generates cash flow.

— Juan Manuel TapiolaExplaining the core concept of house hacking.

"Instead of viewing your home solely as a monthly expense, you turn it into an asset that generates cash flow," explains Juan Manuel Tapiola, CEO of developer Spazios. He notes that this trend, which gained significant traction among young people and beginner investors in the United States, is now spreading globally.

It's a trend that was very strong in the United States with young people and beginner investors, but today it is spreading globally.

— Juan Manuel TapiolaDescribing the origin and global spread of house hacking.

House hacking offers several modalities depending on property type and desired privacy. One common method is informal co-living, where a homeowner rents out spare bedrooms in a multi-bedroom apartment or house to students or young professionals, sharing common areas. Another option is short-term rentals through platforms like Airbnb, dedicating a room or semi-independent unit to tourists or business travelers. Alternatively, homeowners can purchase or subdivide properties into multiple units, living in one and renting out the others. Renting out garages for parking or storage, or even spaces for coworking, are also viable house hacking strategies.

In many cases, it allows you to live for free.

— Juan Manuel TapiolaHighlighting a major financial benefit of house hacking.

The primary benefit of house hacking, according to Tapiola, is converting the significant cost of housing into a capital-building tool. By generating income to pay down the mortgage, taxes, and maintenance, homeowners can effectively live for free. This strategy also makes accessing a first home more attainable, as rental income can help cover mortgage payments, reducing reliance solely on personal income. Furthermore, it serves as a practical introduction to real estate investment, teaching skills in tenant management and property upkeep without the immediate pressure of managing multiple properties.

You don't depend solely on your salary to meet the installments.

— Juan Manuel TapiolaExplaining how house hacking facilitates mortgage payments.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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