Hey team, I put together a set of spreadsheets for house hackers and small landlords. It's called the Landlord & House Hacker Template Kit, and it has 7 tools: 1. House Hack Deal Analyzer. Enter any 2–4 unit deal and see your net housing cost while you live there, your cash flow after you move out, and your cash-on-cash return. Run it before you make an offer. 2. Rent Roll & Rent Ledger. Tenants, payments, late fees, and balances, plus a monthly check that flags late rent. 3. Security Deposit Itemization. Deductions by labor and materials, with a letter that fills itself in. 4. Move-In / Move-Out Inspection Checklist. Room by room. Walk it with your tenant and take photos. 5. Rental Income & Expense Tracker. Schedule E categories, with a rental-use % for those of us living on-site. 6. Tenant Screening Scorecard. Same criteria, same order, every applicant, so you stay consistent. 7. Start Here Guide. Read this first. One FHA note: on a 2–4 unit you live in, the lender can count 75% of the other units' rent toward your qualifying income. The analyzer shows the rent from the other units, so you can take that number to your lender. It works in Excel or Google Sheets. Type in the yellow cells, and the grey cells do the math. Get it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4604234360/landlord-spreadsheet-bundle-house Your homework this week: run one deal you're looking at through the analyzer. Then post your net housing cost in the comments below. — Coach Joe

Hey House Hacking Mastery, Rates went up again this week, but there's good news on the buying side too. 1. Rates hit a near three-year high. Freddie Mac's average 30-year mortgage rate climbed to 7.40% for the week ending Oct 8. That's the seventh straight weekly rise and the highest since late 2023. A year ago it was 6.30%. 2. One small bright spot. Mortgage News Daily's 30-year rate fell 0.09 to 7.50% on Oct 8, its biggest one-day drop in three months. FHA loans (as little as 3.5% down) averaged 7.17%. 3. Waiting could take years. Redfin estimates it could take about 5 years for housing costs to feel normal again if rates fall to 6%, and more than 10 years if rates stay at 7% to 8%. Those are what-ifs, not forecasts, but the point is clear: don't count on cheap money coming back soon. 4. More homes, fewer buyers. HouseCanary says single-family homes for sale are up 10.6% from a year ago, while homes going under contract fell about 11% and price cuts are up. More choices means more room to negotiate on 2-4 unit deals. My take: run the numbers at 7.4%, ask for a price cut or seller-paid closing costs, and buy when the rent covers enough of the full monthly payment. Your turn: would you buy a duplex at today's rates, or wait? What would the numbers need to look like? — Coach Joe