On one income, the usual advice -save 20% and carry the whole payment on a single-family home yourself- is a pipe dream for all but the top 5-10% of this country. But there’s another approach: buy a house that brings in income of its own.
That’s house hacking. You buy a duplex or a small multi-unit building with a first-time buyer loan at 3.5% down, live in one unit, and rent out the others. The rent offsets your payment each month, and lenders will count part of the expected rent toward what you qualify for, which can make a small multi-unit building easier to afford than a single-family home nearby.
This is how I went from living in a van to owning a duplex. On one income, it’s often what makes buying possible sooner.
Run your numbers: the free Rent vs. Buy vs. House Hack calculator shows which one leaves you further ahead.
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The five-stage plan I followed from the van years to a duplex.