House-hack-specific comparison

TrueCap vs BiggerPockets for House Hacking: which calculator handles owner-occupant deals correctly?

Q: Which is better for house hackers — TrueCap or BiggerPockets?

TrueCap for house-hacking specifically. The 'owner-occupant' property type auto-excludes your unit from the rent income side. BiggerPockets treats it as generic multifamily — you mentally adjust the math. Both work; TrueCap is less manual setup.

Q: Does TrueCap handle FHA 3.5%-down house hacks?

Yes — TrueCap's down payment field is configurable. Set 3.5% for FHA, enter the lender's annual premium in the dedicated PMI / MIP field, and select the loan-life option when it applies. Include any unfinanced upfront premium in closing costs.

Q: What's 'effective rent saved' and why does it matter?

House-hack monthly cost = PITI minus rent from rental units. That gap is your 'effective rent saved' vs a regular lease. TrueCap surfaces this explicitly so you can compare house-hack vs apartment rental apples-to-apples. BiggerPockets requires manual calculation.

Q: What changes when I model the post-move-out scenario?

TrueCap has no dedicated move-out-year switch. Save a separate fully rented multi-family scenario and compare it with the current owner-occupied case; Pro adds side-by-side comparison and 10-year projections.

Both run house-hack underwriting. This is the house-hacker cut: which one models owner-occupant unit usage cleanly, FHA 3.5%-down financing, and surfaces "effective rent saved" — the metric that actually decides whether the deal beats just renting an apartment.

For house hackers

No card · Free analyzer covers house-hack underwriting

TL;DR for house hackers

TrueCap wins for house-hacking specifically — the explicit "owner-occupant" property type auto-excludes your unit from the rent income side, surfaces an "effective rent saved" metric, while keeping every rent and expense input editable. BiggerPockets' calculator treats the property as generic multifamily and requires you to mentally adjust the math for your owner-occupied unit. For TrueCap has a free core owner-occupant workflow, while BiggerPockets currently presents calculator results as a Pro membership feature. Compare both live pricing pages.

House-hack feature-by-feature

Where each tool wins on the house-hack-specific workflow.

Feature	TrueCap	BiggerPockets
Owner-occupant property type	Yes — explicit 'owner-occupant' property type with per-unit setup	Standard multifamily form; you manually adjust
Per-unit rent + status modeling	Yes — mark which unit YOU live in; other units' rent counted	Manual — you adjust the rent calculation yourself
Effective 'rent saved' calculation	Yes — surfaces what your monthly housing cost actually is	You compute it yourself from the spreadsheet
FHA financing assumptions (3.5% down)	Yes — configurable down payment goes as low as 3.5%	Yes — configurable
Cap rate framing	Standard property-level cap rate; no full-vs-rental-only toggle	Standard cap rate; adjust inputs for each scenario
Starting values (rent/rate/tax)	HUD FMR per unit + FRED rate + manual local property tax	Manual entry
DSCR screening ratio	Yes — screening output, not a lender approval model	Available in its calculator; not lender approval
Post-move-out scenario	Save a separate fully rented scenario; no move-out-year switch	Adjust and save a separate scenario
Sensitivity grid (vacancy on rental units)	Pro — rent ±10%, vacancy ±5pp on rental units only	Manual re-runs
Mobile UX at the showing	PWA installable	Desktop-leaning calculator + separate mobile app
Free tier covers house hacking	Yes — core owner-occupant underwriting on free tier	Current calculator presents results as a Pro feature
Pricing	Free core; paid Pro — see live pricing	Calculator bundled with Pro — see live pricing

BiggerPockets calculator details based on publicly available product info as of 2026. See BiggerPockets' official rental calculator page for their current state.

New to running an owner-occupant deal? Our house hack underwriting guide walks through counting only the rental units' income. To pressure-test the numbers on your own deal, our free deal analyzer returns cap rate and cash-on-cash return for the same owner-occupant setup.

Common questions about TrueCap vs BiggerPockets (House Hacking)

Quick answers to the questions investors comparison-shopping these tools actually ask.

Which is better for house hackers — TrueCap or BiggerPockets?

TrueCap provides a more explicit house-hack setup. The main difference is the explicit "owner-occupant" property type — you mark which unit you'll live in, and TrueCap automatically excludes that unit's "rent" from the income side of the underwriting (because you're paying yourself, effectively). BiggerPockets' calculator treats the property as a generic multifamily and makes you mentally adjust the math for the owner-occupied unit. Both work; TrueCap is just less manual setup for the house-hack workflow.

Does TrueCap handle FHA 3.5%-down house hacks?

Yes — TrueCap's down payment field is configurable. Set it to 3.5% for FHA, 5% for conventional owner-occupant, 10-15% for bigger deals where you want a lower PMI burden. PITI and DSCR recalculate automatically. Enter the lender's annual FHA mortgage insurance premium in the dedicated PMI / MIP field and select the loan-life option when it applies. If an upfront premium is not financed, include that cash amount in closing costs.

What's 'effective rent saved' and why does it matter?

When you house-hack, your monthly housing cost isn't the full PITI — it's the PITI minus the rent your rental units bring in. That gap is your "effective rent saved" vs a regular apartment lease. TrueCap surfaces this number explicitly so you can compare house-hacking vs renting an apartment using the same assumptions. BiggerPockets' calculator requires you to compute it from the cash-flow line yourself.

Does the cap rate apply differently to a house hack?

Cap rate remains property-level NOI divided by purchase price. TrueCap does not provide a dedicated full-property versus rental-units-only cap-rate toggle. Model the current owner-occupied case, then save a separate fully rented scenario to review the post-move-out case.

Is BiggerPockets Pro worth it for the calculator alone?

It depends on which membership benefits you use. BiggerPockets currently presents calculator results as a Pro feature, and its membership includes benefits beyond the calculator. TrueCap has free core owner-occupant underwriting and paid Pro analysis tools. Compare both live pricing pages and the features you actually need.

What changes when I model the post-move-out scenario?

When you move out of the owner-occupied unit and rent it to a third tenant, you're back to a standard rental underwrite — all units producing rent, your housing cost moves elsewhere. TrueCap does not have a dedicated "year you move out" switch. Save a separate fully rented multi-family scenario and compare it with the current owner-occupied case. Pro can compare saved deals side-by-side and add 10-year projections to each.

Sources & methodology: Feature and pricing rows reflect BiggerPockets (House Hacking)'s publicly listed information, last reviewed June 2026. Vendors change features and prices often — verify current details on BiggerPockets (House Hacking)'s own site. Where TrueCap claims “sourced defaults,” that refers specifically to an editable HUD area-rent benchmark and the FRED owner-occupied 30-year mortgage-rate benchmark. Property tax is a manual local input with a disclosed generic fallback, not a state-data auto-fill.

On price, plainly

Tools in this space run from free to well above TrueCap — check BiggerPockets (House Hacking)'s live pricing for their current number. What TrueCap's price buys is the decision layer, not more calculation: an Offer Ceiling under your selected targets, rule-fit results for your Buy Box with reasons, the downside stress test, and assumptions that are source-labeled instead of silently defaulted. Whether that workflow justifies the price depends on your volume, verification process, and existing tools.

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TrueCap's free tier covers owner-occupant property types, per-unit rent + status, FHA financing, and effective-rent-saved math. Pro adds a 10-year cash-flow and equity planning view, sensitivity, Offer Ceiling, and saved-deal comparison. Model post-move-out as a separate fully rented scenario; see live pricing and check trial eligibility.

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