Gabe Bult: House Hacking to Create Space to Pursue Your Dreams
Today Gabe Bult joins the show to share his house hacking experience. With three house hacks in three years, Gabe and his wife have built a life they love.
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“There are three stages of house hacking, if you will…Step one of stop the bleeding. Start building passive income, if we had wanted to stay in that stage longer we would have gone to another triplex. And then you start to have, alright now you are in close to your dream home.“
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The Famous Six
What is your favorite real estate resource?
Bigger Pockets, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Books by Brandon Turner
What has been your favorite travel destination so far?
Columbia
What is the biggest bucket list item you haven’t accomplished yet?
Traveling across the oceans.
What is next on your travel list?
Ireland or Greece
What is your favorite life hack?
House hacking and audiobooks
Discussed In This Episode
- How Gabe and his wife tackled house hacking together
- The stages of house hacking
- How the couple quit their day jobs in three years
Books mentioned in this episode
Show Notes
Gabe Bult and his wife have tackled three house hacks in three years. Within that timeframe, both have been able to quit their day jobs to focus on what they enjoy. For Gabe, house hacking offered the opportunity to work on his YouTube channel full time.
You may remember Gabe from the first time he appeared on the show. At that point, he shared his tips on using minimalism and house hacking to quit a job you hate. This time around, we are taking a closer look at this house hacking success.
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Gabe Bult: House Hacking in Stages
Gabe describes house hacking as a series of stages to set up your life for the better. In the first stage, you are trying to get into an affordable property that will allow you to live for free. Once your housing expenses are covered, it is time to start building passive income through house hacking more properties. Finally, you can start to consider house hacking in a property that has some of the features you crave in a dream home.
As a couple, Gabe and his wife talked through the opportunities that house hacking could provide. With dreams of quitting their day jobs and building a family with all of the time they need, house hacking providing the financial vehicle they were looking for.
Gabe and his wife tackled their first house hack together in New Hampshire with a triplex. At the age of 22, Gabe put his whole life savings into a down payment for a triplex. When they closed on the property, one of the units had been a hoarder unit. With that, it took many house of sweat equity to get the unit into a livable condition. Once it was livable, the couple moved into this unit and rented out the others. At that point, they were able to live in the unit for free. Now that they’ve moved out, the property is bringing in around $1,000 per month.
Next, the couple moved into another triplex in a relatively bad part of town. Although the neighborhood was less than ideal, the couple was able to rent out the units to cover their costs. With this property, Gabe turned one of the four-bedroom units into an Airbnb for individual rooms. Running the Airbnb was very labor-intensive for Gabe. Since moving out of that property, they have converted the Airbnb unit into a long-term rental. With that, the property is now bringing in $4,850 per month to cover the $2,400 mortgage with income to spare.
Finally, the couple recently moved into their third house hack. At this property, the goal was to create a home instead of prioritizing living for free. With that, the couple rents out one side of the property for $1,800 to help cover the $2,950 mortgage. Although they are paying to cover part of the mortgage, they are living in a home with all of the amenities they have craved. Plus, the other properties are producing an income to cover their expenses.
House Hacking Allowed Gabe and his wife to Quit Their Jobs
As the couple worked through the stages of house hacking, their finances changed for the better. Instead of sticking with a job they didn’t enjoy or juggling too many gigs, both were able to make a change to their work arrangements.
First, Gabe quit his multiple jobs to work on YouTube full-time. Since he now has more time to dedicate to his YouTube channel, it has been taking off. After buying their third property, Gabe’s wife quit her day job. Now she works as a nanny with kids and plans to stop working for money altogether when the couple starts to have children of their own.
Tip: Look at Crime Maps
If you aren’t comfortable living in a bad neighborhood, then check out Crime Maps before making an offer on a property.
Resources
- Rentometer – Get your free trial of Rentomer to start analyzing rentals comps today.
- FREE Rentometer Pro Report – Already have a free Rentometer account, and want to try a pro report? Check it out here.
- The FREE Quick Start Guide to house hacking
- Check out the article on Reporting Rental Income to the IRS
More From Gabe Bult
You can connect with Gabe on his YouTube channel. Or check out his Instagram @gabe.bult.
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