House Hacking: The Not-So-Secret Weapon for Financial Independence

Imagine waking up at 25 and realizing you never have to work another day in your life.

That’s the exact situation Cody Berman created for himself five years ago. In case you’re wondering, he didn’t inherit a fortune or win the lottery. A serial entrepreneur, Cody quit corporate life just a few months in to begin building businesses and multiple income streams. Fast forward to today, he’s an entrepreneur, investor, author, podcast host, and one of the more down-to-earth voices in the financial independence space.

As Cody’s income grew, he didn’t inflate his lifestyle. Instead, he kept his expenses low and figured out how to turn his biggest monthly expense into an asset.

Enter: house hacking.

House hacking wasn’t the entire reason Cody reached financial independence, but it was the lighter fluid that served as an accelerant on his way to FIRE (pun intended, get it?). It helped him increase his savings rate, earn income passively, and invest more to snowball his wealth.

Here’s how house hacking became one of the biggest propellants in Cody’s path to financial independence.

Fresh out of college, Cody moved to Boston. Saving money must’ve been impossible, right?

Wrong.

Despite living in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., he managed to keep his total expenses to $2,000 a month. Get this…he only spent $450 on rent! Cody lived with roommates and even shared a room with a friend, which sounds extreme until you remember he had basically just come from college. 

That mindset gave him an unfair advantage. While a lot of people use their first real paycheck to upgrade their lifestyle, Cody kept his costs low and saved aggressively. But here’s where the story gets wild...

His first year as an entrepreneur, he made $96,000 while spending about $24,000 a year. The next year, his income jumped to $198,000, but his expenses stayed the same. Year three, he doubled his income again and still lived on roughly $24,000.

By keeping expenses low, he built an enormous financial moat. Needless to say, he was flush with cash and ready to invest.

In his book, Retire by 30, Cody cites the three biggest expenses people have: housing, transportation, and food. Among these, housing is the biggest expense for most people. The decision to house hack turned this expense into another asset on his balance sheet. 

Cody wasn't going to find a house hack that worked in Boston or even Worcester at a price point that made financial sense. Instead of forcing a bad deal in his backyard, he ran the numbers and moved to central Connecticut where the price-to-rent ratios were where they needed to be. He could still reach major metro areas like Boston and Providence, without paying Boston or Providence prices. Just as importantly, the area had enough renter demand to give him a solid tenant pool.

With a market in mind and a million property tours under his belt, Cody bought his first house hack in 2020. Here’s what it looks like:

Notice the outlier above? He used a commercial loan.Cody actually couldn’t qualify for conventional or FHA financing, which would have allowed him to put much less down as an owner-occupant.

Even though his business was generating over $400,000, Cody was “newly” self-employed. And because of how lenders looked at his income, underwriters used the last W-2 income they had on record: $44,000 from his previous job. So instead of putting down 3%, 5%, or even 10%, Cody had to use a commercial loan with 20% down. 

The headache was worth the outcome, though.

Cody went from paying $450 a month for housing to making $500 a month from it. That’s nearly a $1,000 monthly swing, and every dollar could go right back into building wealth.

Not everyone reaches financial independence by living behind a curtain in the living room like house hacking legend Craig Curelop.

Cody lived in the basement unit and rented out the nicer split-level unit above him. Yes, he took the less desirable space on purpose. But house hacking doesn't require living like a monk. There’s plenty of other ways to do this:

There’s a version of house hacking that can fit almost anyone’s life…it’s up to you!

Four months later, Cody bought another house hack. Then he started buying rental properties using the same principles he learned from those first few deals: buy where the numbers make sense, keep your own costs low, and let the property create margin.

By the end of year one, Cody had acquired 11 doors and grown his monthly cash flow to around $3,700 a month. Layer that on top of a high income and you can start to see how financial independence becomes realistic at 25.

What would happen if you didn’t take a shower for a year?

One of Cody’s early tenants used the shower as a storage unit. She probably saved a ton on her water bill. Her social life might not have been salvageable, though.

All jokes aside, Cody got a masterclass in real estate investing by house hacking. Cody learned by doing, and he was generous enough to share the lessons that stuck.

Managing your own properties teaches you the parts of real estate you only really learn by doing. You get a glimpse into maintenance, tenant communication, lease enforcement, vendor relationships, pricing, screening, and how to handle issues without turning every small problem into a five-alarm fire.

Self-management can also save real money. That said, “don’t cheap out on the lease. Have a lawyer draw it up so you know it’s air-tight, so you’re protected if things go sideways” Cody urged.

The other key point regarding self-management is to treat it like a system. Otherwise, you don’t own rentals, you own another job. Cody said “we spend about five hours a month on property management, and that includes an Airbnb!” That only works because he took what he did once, documented it, cleaned it up, and made it repeatable.

Don’t chase spreadsheet numbers alone. That’s how you end up with tenants like our friend who doesn’t shower.

Cody's golden rule after dealing with enough tenant problems: only buy properties where you yourself would be willing to live. If you'd live there, you'll likely attract tenants who take care of the place as you would. 

Credit check. Background check. Income verification. References. And social media… not to judge personal lives, but to catch obvious red flags standard screening misses. Five minutes of extra diligence can save months of headaches.

Everyone who hates the idea of becoming a landlord usually says some version of the same thing: “I don’t want to fix toilets at 2 a.m.”

Fair. Neither do I.

The goal is to build a team so when something breaks, you know who to call. That starts before you even buy the property. Talk to your agent, local investors, contractors, and other landlords in the area. Ask who they use, who actually shows up, and who they would never call again.

Your real estate agent is the quarterback here. A good agent does more than open doors and write offers. They can connect you to the handyman, contractor, inspector, attorney, lender, insurance agent, and other people you’ll need to make the deal work.

After the agent, your handyman is the ultimate utility player. A good handyman who can handle the small stuff and actually picks up the phone is worth their weight in gold.

They say your network is your net worth, and in real estate, that might be even more true.

The biggest value of networking is proximity. When you’re around people who are already buying properties, solving problems, and building wealth, the whole thing starts to feel more possible. Cody saw this firsthand through friends like James and Emily Lowery, who reached financial independence through real estate. Being close to people already doing it helped him stop asking, “is this realistic?” and start asking, “how do I do this too?”

Then, there’s mentorship. Cody didn’t approach it by asking strangers to “pick their brain.” In college, a teacher had him build a list of people to reach out to, three at a time, and Cody kept going until that list eventually turned into thousands of contacts. When he wanted to get close to Grant Sabatier, author of Financial Freedom, he didn’t ask for advice. He offered to help with his book tour. That’s the lesson: find people a few steps ahead of you, but lead with value before you ask for anything.

As the great philosopher Lil Wayne once said, “Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.”

A lot of people buy the “things” before they buy the assets. Cody’s approach was the opposite. Stay humble, sacrifice a little in the short term, invest aggressively, and build a life where your money eventually buys back your time. He even took it to the next level by helping others do what he’s doing. 

Earn more. Spend less. Invest the difference.

House hacking accelerates the journey. It widens the gap between what you earn and what you spend by reducing your biggest monthly expense, and in Cody’s case, turning it into income.

Even if your goal isn’t full financial independence, that still matters.

House hacking creates flexibility. More savings. More options. More breathing room. More ability to take risks, change jobs, start a business, invest, or simply feel less trapped by a paycheck.

What's one tradeoff you'd be willing to make right now to widen the gap between what you earn and what you spend? Hit reply and let me know.