Live in one, rent the others. Do the math first.
TrueCap handles the math that makes house hacks unique: owner-occupant break-even bands, FHA 3.5% down, MIP, your-unit subsidy, with a separate-scenario workflow for a later move-out.
Free screen: no card or signup
Why house hacks need a different analyzer
Most calculators treat every deal as pure investment. House hacks aren't — and the wrong math gets you to the wrong answer.
Owner-occupant math, not investor math
Select 'Owner-occupant' propertyType. The engine knows you live in one unit (no rent), so the deal scoring uses the right break-even bands instead of investor-style cash-flow thresholds.
FHA 3.5% down — modeled correctly
Set down payment to 3.5%, enter the lender's annual MIP in the dedicated PMI / MIP field, and select the loan-life option when it applies. Add any upfront premium to closing costs if it is not financed. The starter 'FHA 3.5% owner-occupant' template pre-fills editable screening defaults.
Multi-unit revenue, your-unit subsidy
Multi-family mode lets you set rent for each unit individually. Mark one as your unit (zero income, full carrying cost share). See how the rented units offset your housing.
Plan the later rental as a separate scenario
The live-in model does not switch automatically in year two. Save a separate full-rental scenario with your unit rented, then compare the assumptions explicitly.
The house-hack workflow
- 1Open Templates (Pro) and clone the 'House hack' or 'FHA 3.5% owner-occupant' starter — the defaults are already shaped for your strategy.
- 2Paste the listing address (the engine handles 2-4 unit multi-family automatically).
- 3Set per-unit rent for the units you'll rent out. Leave your-unit rent at $0.
- 4Hit Calculate — see your monthly out-of-pocket (the gap between rent collected and total carrying cost). Owner-occupant scoring uses the right break-even bands.
- 5Save the live-in underwrite as its own base decision.
- 6Create a separate full-rental scenario with your unit rented. TrueCap does not automatically switch occupancy in a future year; compare the two explicit scenarios and verify the later market rent.
Why house hackers pick TrueCap
- Right math. Owner-occupant scoring uses ±$300/mo break-even bands, not investor $1,000/mo bands. A deal scoring 60+ as an investment might score 80+ as a house hack.
- FHA 3.5% template ready to clone. One click pre-fills the down %, MIP, term, vacancy assumption.
- Per-unit rent. Multi-family mode lets you model each unit independently — the only way to get house-hack math right.
- Separate transition scenario. Preserve the live-in assumptions, then model the later full-rental state as a distinct saved scenario.
- Mixed-use boundary. TrueCap does not currently expose a tax-specific module or allocate basis, depreciation, or interest between personal and rental use. Build that calculation with a qualified tax professional.
Recommended reading and tools
Start with the deep-dive on house hacking explained and the comparison of single-family vs multi-family properties. Screen candidates fast with the free analyzer in House Hack mode — your effective housing cost after tenant rent, in seconds. Once you've picked a property, ground the numbers in the TrueCap analyzer — cap rate and DSCR for the rented portion — then run the year-1 screen with the 60-second underwriting workflow.
Screen the live-in year, then preserve a separate move-out scenario.
Free covers monthly out-of-pocket, cap rate, and CoC for a first-pass live-in-year screen. Pro adds saved scenarios and comparison so the later full-rental state can be modeled separately; there is no automatic year-two occupancy switch.