Why we chose short-term rentals for House Hacking

Thanksgiving day felt a little sad this year. 🥺

With an upcoming two-month trip packed with family, friends and travel, we thought we’d savor the quiet while we could.

But when the day came, it got too quiet. 🫥 We missed showing up to a home-cooked feast (like spoiled kids), surrounded by the warmth of family and friends. 😿

So, we promised ourselves: next year, no matter how “Seattle freeze” we’re feeling, we’re spending it with loved ones. 😤💖

The lesson, though, is to plan for what truly matters. ✨

Angie set up a three-hour morning routine to double down on her well-being.

But lately, with 9:30 AM wake-ups (thanks, gloomy season 🌧️), sticking to it has been quite rough 🫠. By the time she sat down to work, it’s already lunchtime. 🙉

Still, having a plan in place keeps her charting forward!

Since 2019, we’ve been saving, investing, budgeting, salary negotiating, house hacking, you name it—all because we had a plan for Financial Freedom.

Buuuuut our plan isn’t about being rich, but being free. Because there’s so much more to life than just making money.

And that intention made a day-and-night difference in how we approach building wealth.

So, here’s the thing

If you want to achieve Financial Freedom, plan for it—and let your core values be your North Star. 🌟

Saying, “I want to quit my job early,” without a plan is just wishful thinking. You can’t manifest it—you need a plan and the commitment to show up, rain or shine. 🌦️

In this letter, we’ll share

• Why We Chose Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb/VRBO) for House Hacking 🏡💸
• annnnnnnd Our Travel & Work-from-anywhere Gears (cause we’ve been spotting some amazing deals)

Missed the first letter in our House Hacking to Build Wealth series? Catch up here.

Why We Chose Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb/VRBO) for House Hacking

Everyone has a different tolerance for risk and lifestyle, and real estate is no exception.

The industry operates in 50 shades of gray—especially when it comes to insurance and liability.

We live in a deep deep deep blue state so… yes, evicting squatters can take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars. 💸💸💸

It can be all fun and games until one bad stroke of luck. 💔

Horror stories like what happened to our friends: a tenant earning over $200K decided to squat and even invited a roommate to join, 🙉 made us cautious about mid- and long-term rentals.

That’s why short-term rentals felt like a risk we could tolerate.

House Hacking can be an acquired taste

When buying our first property, we asked, Can we handle the full mortgage if house hacking doesn’t work out?

If someone tells you real estate is so passive, label them as sharks 🦈 and run. Well, unless they’re talking about REITs.

Automation helps, but isn’t magic—you might trade your W-2 job for property management.

Short-term rentals have accelerated our path to freedom and diversified our portfolio, but not without costs.

We talked in length about the reasons why we chose NOT to expand our real estate investments.

Another big reason is we value a lifestyle that lets us travel for months at a time.

Real estate can chain us down with stress-inducing issues that demand immediate attention. A 2AM call once in a while? Fine. Managing contractors while traveling? Hard pass. 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏼‍♂️

For now, we’ll keep going as long as it feels like, “There’s work, but it’s so worth it.” 🙏 Until it shifts to, “This is ridiculous, we need to stop.” 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏼‍♂️

Final Thoughts

Like anything in life, financial decisions should align with your values.

Take the time to understand the costs of your house hacking approach and decide if it’s truly right for you—always with a backup plan in place.

After all, it’s sad to chase money or live someone else’s dream, only to miss out on what truly brings us joy.

Hope it's helpful for your journey to Freedom 🙏

Love you to freedom and back, 🫰

Angie & Tyler

Things We are Loving Right Now ❤️‍🔥

In true capitalist spirit 🎄🎁,

let’s stay sane and wise while doing our part for the national economy. 🛍️💸

Angie hates shopping—retail therapy has the opposite effect on her. But hey, when it’s the best deal of the year, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

So, here are a few must-haves we swear by from our nonstop traveling life. ✈️ We’ve been seeing some amazing deals popping up. Hope you’ll find good ones. 🍀

TRAVEL GEAR

• Sling Bag: Angie’s absolute favorite. Amazing organization, a thick strap ideal for all-day wear, and the magnetic fastener making it SO easy to take the bag off.
• Compression Packing Cubes: Angie is super picky about packing cubes—they must have mesh and be compressible. And at last, she found them. 🤌
• Lightest Water Bottle: We regretted whenever we left the house without this, just because we had to pay for bottles of water 😩 Had to stay hydrated!
• Mulberry Silk Sleep Mask: This is the kind that we didn’t know that we needed until we tried it. Angie? Out like a light every. single. time she puts it on. 😪 Tyler’s on his way to joining the heavy-user club.
• Sunhat: Breathable, foldable, machine-washable, provides excellent sun coverage, and includes a secure neck strap to stay in place on windy days. What else do you want to ask from a hat?
• Merino Wool Tee: Tyler’s been preaching about this since day one—his GOAT travel hack. Walk into any Airbnb bathroom we’re in, and you’ll probably find his hand-washed merino shirt hanging up, ready to go by morning. Yep, it dries that fast.
• Portable Luggage Scale: For those teetering on the edge of overweight bags, this little gadget keeps you from tipping over to the other side.

WORK-FROM-ANYWHERE GEAR

• Laptop Stand: Ultra-light and packable, perfect for our on-the-go lifestyle. Each of us uses two—one for our laptop and one for an extra monitor.
• Universal Adapter: It cost us €35 to buy multiple adapters during our Europe trip. 🤦🏼‍♂️ Don’t leave home without it.
• Fast Charger: Why wait when we can charge multiple devices much faster? ⚡️
• Power Strip with Extension Cord: We didn’t realize how precious it was till we had multiple devices that needed to survive on ONE universal adapter. 🥲

Happy shopping 🛍️

Only buy what you’ll use right away. Don’t stock up. Compound interest is magical. What you save today can grow tomorrow!

But don’t skimp too much—having just the right gear to enjoy the freedom lifestyle brings a whole new level of satisfaction. 😉