How To Live Rent Free in 2023

Rent is always the biggest part of a budget. What if you could live WITHOUT RENT?! Here are 5 ways you can live rent free! Find out how!

Rent is always the biggest part of a budget. What if you could live WITHOUT RENT?! Here are 5 ways you can live rent free! Find out how!

Its a cold Saturday night in Chicago and Im huddled on the back porch of a three-floor walk-up chatting with a few friends about apartment hunting. In the past year, apartment rents have gone up 4.8% in Chicago and in the hot neighborhoods rents are up 15% year over year. Over the past 4 years, rents are up over 50%. Heres a deeper analysis of the rents in cities across the United States. Its insane.

My friend Brian, who recently broke up with his girlfriend, just cant find a cheap enough place to live in the same neighborhood. Its so tough man, he opens up, exhausted after looking at apartments all day. I just cant afford a nice place. He went on to share that he hadnt saved any money in the past 2 years because I get two paychecks a month my rent paycheck and my student loan paycheck. Its a situation so many people are in, but everyone should be saving something.

Im stoked to talk money with my homies. Ive had a bit of wine, so I couldnt help it.

What if you could live rent-free Brian?

…he knows I blog about money, but still looked at me like Im an idiot.

Can I Really Live Rent Free?

Yes, you can live rent-free. Which can make a massive difference in your future net worth.

So many people spend too much money on rent they get the luxury apartment (hate that phrase) in a hot neighborhood and drop 50% of their take-home pay on a place. A majority of those luxury apartments (still hate that phrase) renters are still living paycheck to paycheck. Then they say they dont have enough money to save. Uh…

Rent is many peoples biggest expense and biggest opportunity to save money. I always recommend trying to optimize your biggest expense first, since it can have the future value of investing that savings can be massive. Seriously, dont rent an expensive apartment unless you are already investing at least 20% of your income. Pay yourself first by saving at least 20%, then you can spend the rest. If you have enough to rent a nice place have at it.

But if you want to retire early, gain financial independence, reach financial freedom whatever you want to call it, you gotta keep your living expenses in check.

In 2010 when I was starting my financial independence journey, I decided to downgrade my apartment from $1,500 to $800 a month and invest the difference. The value of every $1 I saved then, using a simple investing strategy, is worth $3.25 today. The total value of the money I saved by downgrading my apartment for one year (while I also saved up to buy my first property), is worth $27,300 today. Thats a ton of saving (thats still growing btw) and if it compounds annually at 7% (pretty realistic) and I dont add a single dollar to it that $27,300 I saved on rent in 2010 will be worth $207,814 in 30 years. Ill take that over granite counters any day.

But, I was still paying $800 per month. What if you could live rent-free, or even make money from renting? Its actually possible, and in some cases, pretty easy to live rent-free in many cities in the United States (and in some places abroad).

5 Ways to Live Rent Free (or actually make money renting!)

1. Rent, Then Sublet for More Money (The Rent Side Hustle)
2. Rent a House and Rent Out the Other Rooms
3. Airbnb
4. Buy a House and Pay the Mortgage with Renters (House Hacking)
5. Barter For Free Rent (Value Exchange)

1. Rent an Apartment, Then Sublet it for More Money

• The Rent Side Hustle

While I only did this once for 2 months, it worked like a charm and I made $1,200. Honestly, I wish Id thought of it sooner. Its a strategy I highly recommend.

The idea is simple you sublet your apartment for more than you pay for rent and bank the difference. You can even go looking for an apartment with the specific goal of doing this and it makes it easier if its another unit in your building or an apartment you are familiar with.

Not all buildings or landlords allow this practice (check your contract closely), but a vast majority of the rental contracts Ive reviewed dont have restrictions or language about sublet rental rates. Yes, they have restrictions on when and how you can sublet, but not on the rental rate that you can charge the subletter. Sometimes, the money is between the lines.

The rent side hustle is a lot easier to do if you have a hands-off landlord or live in a neighborhood where you got a really good deal. I recommended this to one of my friends whose landlord hasnt increased his rent in 5 years.

The property rents have more than doubled in his Chicago neighborhood. Now he sublets it and makes $1,200 a month. As long as his rent check arrives, his landlord doesnt bother him. This is particularly easy in neighborhoods that have high student turnover or buildings with management companies that are overworked and underpaid (most!).

Another opportunity look to take over existing leases from your friends or even on Craiglist. When you take over a lease, then you can immediately potentially sublet it for more money. There are tons of deals to be found if you look hard enough. But make sure you do your homework. This is one bonus of rents increasing so quickly because if youve lived in a neighborhood for a while, you can likely sublet your apartment for quite a bit more than you currently pay. Unless your landlord is super savvy, then find a new landlord 🙂

2. Rent a House, Sign the Lease, Then Rent Out the Other Rooms (and your treehouse?) at a Higher Rate

This is an easy way to live rent-free, as long as you are responsible for paying and collecting the rent. Find a great apartment at a great price, lock it down, then rent it to friends or other people at a higher per room rate than you are paying.

If its a 3, 4, or 5-bedroom apartment or house it should be pretty easy for you to add $100-$200 to each individual room rate to cover the cost of your own. While this is easier to do when you are renting the other apartment rooms to non-friends, it can work with your friends too, since you can tell them their rent is a bit higher since you are taking on the burden of the lease and making payments.

This is likely going on all around you, so if you are young, or you want to live with roommates this is a great option to live rent-free.

3. Airbnb Your Extra Rooms, and/or Your Full Apartment When You Travel

This is a no-brainer and I know a lot of people who not only live for free, they actually make money on their apartment. But be careful because there can be restrictions on home sharing in your rental agreement, especially if you live in a corporate building.

If you have an old-school landlord they likely wont have restrictions, but make sure to check. Also, make sure you save money for taxes since Airbnb income is taxable and I know some people whove been burned by the IRS from their Airbnb income.

You also want to be extra careful if you are renting out your own rental, since there are limitations on what will be covered with your renters insurance (ALWAYS HAVE RENTERS INSURANCE).

Check out this post written by a friend of mine who makes five figures a month renting on Airbnb.

4. Buy a House With as Little as 5% Down or with an FHA Loan, Then Rent the Rooms to Cover the Cost of the Mortgage (aka House Hacking)

Lets go a whole step further and buy a property, so you can have an investment, make some money renting out rooms, and then also live rent-free! Wha? Thats the trifecta. ???

One myth is that you need a 20% down payment. In my opinion, too many people wait until they have a full 20% down payment and miss opportunities to buy into appreciating real estate markets.

While it doesnt always make sense to buy, given the very high rents in most cities, buying might not end up being cheaper. If you are going to live in the same city for a least a few years (check the rent vs. buy calculations using the link below), you could actually make quite a bit of money on the investment.

Check out my post on how to best analyze whether you should rent or buy a home in your market.

5. Live at Home or with a Friend and Barter for Free Rent (aka Value Exchange, Not Freeloading)

This is actually a lot more common than you might realize. If you have something of value (whether skills or an asset like a car), you can barter it for either discounted, or even free rent.

One Millennial Money reader recently emailed me to let me know she lets her roommates use her car and she also cooks for them, in exchange for free rent. You can do the same thing if you decide to move back in with your parents barter for the privilege of free rent and the opportunity to save and invest your money instead.

Important Tips for Living Rent Free: Words of Caution

1. Rental income is taxable income, so be careful and make sure you save at least 30% of your rental income for your taxes
2. Always make sure you have renters insurance and hunt for insurance that covers the property even if you arent saying in it!
3. Read contracts super carefully (yes I know its a pain but its worth it). Every rental and sublet contract is unique so make sure you cover your bases and what you are trying to do is legal, based on the agreements.
4. Be cool. Dont charge your homies a ton of rent if they cant afford it. Be open with them.
5. If you move back home with your parents, offer to pay rent or do enough chores/add enough value so you dont take advantage of their goodwill.

How should you live rent free?

Save Money on Rent

For a slightly different perspective, we previously covered saving money on rent in this Millennial Money podcast episode.

Thanks to Source: https://millennialmoney.com/live-rent-free