Can You Buy a House With No Money Down? 2026 Options
Can you buy a house with no money down? Two loan programs finance 100%: VA and USDA. What each requires, what the fees cost, and how assistance fills gaps.
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House Hacking — all 55 articles
- 15 Units at $15/Hour Is a Lottery Ticket
- A Free DealCheck Alternative for House Hacking
- A Free FIRE Calculator That Actually Models Rental Income (ProjectionLab, Boldin, and OnTrajectory Alternative)
- A Free Mashvisor Alternative for First-Time House Hackers
- Best Rent Collection Apps for Small Landlords
- Buying a Duplex With Your Parents
- Can You Buy a House With No Money Down? 2026 Options
- Can you house hack with a family?
- Deal of the Week: Running an $85,500 Cleveland Double Through the Calculator
- Duplex or Single-Family Starter Home? The Numbers That Decide It
- Duplex Real Results: Q3 2026
- Fannie Mae’s 12-Month Landlord Experience Rule for Duplex Buyers
- Fed Rate Hike 2026: What It Means for Mortgage Rates and Buyers
- FHA vs. Conventional for House Hacking: Which Loan Gets You In for Less
- Free BRRRR Calculator: Run the Whole Cycle, No Account, No 5-Use Cap
- Free Rentometer Alternative: Comp Your Own Rent in 10 Minutes
- From Van to Duplex: How it Actually Happened
- House Hacking at Today’s Mortgage Rates: What Changed, and Where It Still Works
- House Hacking for Beginners: How to Start From Almost Nothing
- House Hacking Mistakes I Made (and What I’d Do Differently)
- House Hacking Strategies: Duplex vs. Rent-by-Room vs. ADU
- House hacking with an FHA loan: the 3.5%-down path I used
- How Do People Afford Houses?
- How Long Do You Have to Live in a House Hack?
- How Much House Can You Afford When You House Hack?
- How Much Money Do You Need to Buy a Duplex?
- How Much Money You Need to Start in Real Estate
- How Much My Tenants Actually Covered: Twelve Months of Rent Against the Mortgage
- How to Afford a House on One Income
- How to Buy a Duplex, Live in One Side, and Rent the Other
- How to Find a House Hack Property
- How to Use a House Hacking Calculator (Step by Step)
- Is House Hacking Still Worth It in 2026? The Math at Today’s Rates
- Living next to your tenants: what it’s actually like
- Multigenerational Living Is Rising, and the 2-4 Unit Home Was Built for It
- Rent by the Room or Rent the Whole Unit? How the Two House Hacks Differ
- Rent Increase Notice to Tenant: Rules, Template, and Math
- Self-Managing a Rental Property: What It Saves and Costs
- Short-Term vs. Long-Term Rental: What I Learned Running Both in the Same Duplex
- Should I Get a Tiny Home? Tiny Home vs. House Hacking
- Show your work: the duplex, year one
- Small Multifamily Investing: The 2-4 Unit Sweet Spot
- Stessa Review: Free Landlord Accounting on a Duplex
- The First Duplex Numbers I Ever Ran (and What the Spreadsheet Couldn’t See)
- The Spreadsheet Behind My First Property, Free to Download
- TurboTenant Review: Is the Free Plan Enough?
- Using a VA Loan on a Duplex or Fourplex: The Rules That Actually Matter
- What a $160,000, $200,000, and $280,000 Duplex Actually Costs Per Month
- What I Wish Someone Told Me Before My First Rental
- What I Would Do Differently at Today’s Rates: My Duplex, Priced This Week
- What is house hacking? A plain-English guide
- What Sweat Equity Actually Gets You
- What Went Wrong After I Bought the Duplex: the Boiler, the Basement, and Guest Number One
- Why Some Cash-Flowing Deals Are Bad Purchases, and What I Check First
- Zombie Foreclosures Are Highest Where Duplexes Are Cheapest
House Hacking
Live in one unit, rent the rest — strategies, real numbers, and lessons from doing it.
House Hacking
Fannie Mae’s 12-Month Landlord Experience Rule for Duplex Buyers
Since January 1, 2024, Fannie Mae only counts duplex rent as income if you have 12 months of landlord experience. Freddie Mac and FHA do not.
Fed Rate Hike 2026: What It Means for Mortgage Rates and Buyers
The Fed raised rates to 3.75% to 4% on Sept. 16, the 10-year Treasury touched 5% and mortgage rates passed 7%. What it means for buyers and house hackers.
Duplex Real Results: Q3 2026
Three months of actual rent and furnished-stay income against the mortgage on my $470,000 duplex, Q3 2026, with the same gap column as the year-one ledger.
Best Rent Collection Apps for Small Landlords
Eight rent collection apps for landlords with 1 to 4 units, compared on price, ACH and card fees, who pays, screening cost and accounting, with a pick per case.
Stessa Review: Free Landlord Accounting on a Duplex
Stessa review for house hackers: what the free plan does, what Manage and Pro add, the rent fees tenants pay, and how it handles an owner-occupied duplex.
TurboTenant Review: Is the Free Plan Enough?
TurboTenant review for one or two units: what the free plan covers, what Essentials and Pro add, and the $2 ACH, 3.49% card and $55 screening fees tenants pay.
Rent Increase Notice to Tenant: Rules, Template, and Math
How much notice a rent increase needs by state, what the letter must say, a free template, and the math I run before raising rent on the tenant next door.
Self-Managing a Rental Property: What It Saves and Costs
Self-managing a rental saves the 8% to 12% a manager takes, plus a month’s rent per new lease. What the job involves on a house hack, from my duplex.
How Much House Can You Afford When You House Hack?
How much house can you afford if a tenant pays part of the mortgage? Lenders count 75% of the second unit’s rent. The qualifying math, with my duplex.