Your first property is closer than you think.
Listing-level data on what owning a duplex costs against renting across 83 US metros, free calculators to run your own numbers, and my own figures from one van-to-duplex path.
What's your next step?
Pick the question you're trying to answer.
Research a city
83 metros with entry price, rent and the monthly gap
Every metro gets its own page: what a duplex costs, what a one-bedroom rents for, and what you keep by owning.
Find your metroRun a listing
Free tools, starting with the House Hack Calculator
Plug in any listing. Get cash flow, cap rate, and your true monthly cost.
Open the calculatorLearn the basics
3.5% down is the FHA minimum on a 2-4 unit home
How house hacking works, what lenders count, and a conservative duplex breakdown in three affordable cities.
Start with house hacking 101
Listing data. Published math.
Every metro gets its own report: entry price, the monthly gap between owning and renting, and the listings that survived the screen. The top three:
August 2026 edition, at a 6.66% rate. One example deal per metro, not a quote.
What does house hacking save you each month?
Live in one unit, rent the other, and let the tenant's rent cover part of the payment. Start from a Cleveland example deal and change any number.
Example: a $167,000 two-unit in Cleveland
Estimate, not a quote. FHA loan, taxes and insurance at Cleveland's modeled rate, rent counted after a 23.8% maintenance and vacancy allowance.
From a van to a duplex
I lived in a van for thirteen months and eventually made the leap to house hacking a duplex. This site lays out the data and my real figures from that path, including what went wrong.
At my low point I was technically homeless by HUD's definition, working full time with a college degree. Now I own a duplex, and the rentals cover most of what it costs me to live here. I write about how that actually happened, including the parts that went badly.
As featured in MoneyLion, Morning Brew, Newsmax and OnlineU · The full dataset is public: download it, cite it, check the math.
Start here if you're new to house hacking
Can you own for less than you rent?
A conservative duplex breakdown in three affordable cities.
From a van to a duplex
My path from housing insecurity to a duplex where the tenants cover most of the payment.
How to buy a duplex and live in one side
Loans, down payment help, and what a lender counts from the second unit.
Get the $0-to-First-Property Roadmap
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