Classical Katharine Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I'd like to ask the Hive for ideas on behalf of a friend in an unusual situation. How to make best use of their unusual house, given that her husband is ill and now is not a good time to sell and move? And given that the house is so unusual that it isn't easy to sell? Their house is huge. She is a nurse and ran a business of elder-care in the downstairs for a time, which brought in income. They have a detached apartment on the grounds as well, and have rented it in the past. The downstairs of the house is itself a five-bedroom living space with a kitchen. Currently she plans to return to nursing, and they desire to bring in income from the apartment and the downstairs of the house. (She does not want to return to running a business downstairs herself.) At present the downstairs is leased out and the renters plan to start an elder-care business themselves. However, for various reasons this may fall through. She is considering what else can be done with the downstairs space to help pay the mortgage on the house so they can stay put during a difficult time in their family. They are less than half an hour from a couple of colleges, so she has thought about renting out individual rooms to students. Has anyone done this? Any tips or pointers? For instance, in their state, marijuana has been legalized, but they wouldn't want it smoked in their house. Is this a stipulation they can make? Also, they have children and want to feel comfortable with people who are sharing their home. What legal issues do they need to be aware of if they have concerns about a potential renter and would prefer not to rent to that person? Would the rules or issues be the same for the detached apartment as for the downstairs of their home? What other businesses might make sense in the downstairs space? And, what is the most efficient way for her to find out all the legal aspects--from zoning to business permitting? Is there any central way she can figure out what all the possibilities are, or does she have to explore the rules business by business? I'm not even sure I am putting that correctly, but she is in a very difficult life situation, wants to follow the laws, and any way to streamline the research would be a huge help to her. They live in the state of Washington. Thanks, Hive, for any thoughts . . . they will be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I have no idea with regard to the legal issues, permitting, etc., with having a business run out of their home space, but ideas off the top of my head that make sense for that kind of space include a massage therapist's office, chiropractor, etc.--with all those bedrooms, it seems like the space is already divided up in a way that would lend itself to individual treatment rooms. Maybe a day spa kind of place. Or maybe a tutor(s). If the noise wouldn't be an issue, a small music school (again, individual rooms for individual instrument or voice lessons). It sounds like the space itself could be really useful for a number of applications, really. I think it's the logistics that could be an issue (permits, parking, etc.). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 The lease can stipulate no smoking weed on the premises. Ours stipulates no smoking regular cigarettes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 PPs ideas would work or the college renters. For both she needs to be sure tocall her home owner's insurance which I assume she knows since she at one time had a business there, but others operating a business there mightbe a bit different. (And I assume she would want to make sure any renters hold the appropriate licences and their own insurance.) As far as a one call stop, I would think that googling her county or city and "tenant laws" would cover room rentals as well as the apt rental. And most have a toll free line for landlord/tenant questions where she could ask those sorts of questions. We had to use ours locally and they were quite helpful. Of course she would want to get a lawyer experienced in her area to actually draw up any rental contracts. Here in CA there are non-smoking apts, so I assume that would include not just cigarettes iykwim. Another call could be to the city zoning/planning if she has specific questions about what type of business could be run there. I think they could also answer about parking required etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 We live in Washington and have a rental property. They can absolutely say "no smoking" in their house. We say "no pets, no parties, no smoking" all the time. Just because it's legal doesn't mean they have to allow it. (That's different from civilly protected things like race, age, gender, sexual preference, etc.). I don't know about the large space. Are they located in a popular area? I have airbnb on the brain right now (www.airbnb.com) because we just turned our studio unit into an airbnb (nightly) rental unit. You could type in their location at airbnb and see what comes up. When I did that about six weeks ago, there was only one other airbnb unit in our college town of about 18,000 (right in town; there were others outside city limits). So since our studio was empty, we got it set up for this type of situation and it's been a big hit so far. We booked all but 4-5 days in September and right now have half of October booked. It appears that it will bring in two to three times the income doing it this way than it did as a monthly renal. So, that might be something to consider for the separate apartment especially; I don't know about the five bedrooms in the house. Could that part function as a bed and breakfast? Would that interest her? (Airbnb, even though says "b-n-b" in the name, doesn't necessarily mean the units have to be bed and breakfasts; ours isn't). Personally, for our own travels, I much prefer to have a self-contained unit than one where we share space, but there are plenty of units on airbnb that aren't self-contained. We have rented the main part of our rental house to college kids (we don't live there). Ours is in a really great location, though, just 2 blocks from the university, so we could be very picky about who we chose. I actually liked renting to students because they pretty much have funding in place (financial aid and/or parents). We chose non-party type students. You do have to be careful because according to Washington Tenant/Landlord law, if you have a space for rent you can't just turn everyone down who applies just because there's something about them. You legally aren't supposed to hold out until you get someone you like; you're supposed to get it rented in a timely fashion. I have no idea how they'd monitor this, but it's something to be aware of. Being a landlord can be a headache, but it can also help financially nicely. I liked the idea about a chiropractor or some such using the rooms for patient rooms. Is there a need for rentable commercial kitchens in that area? We have friends who built a commercial kitchen to rent out. This would be for people who want to, say, bake for others and sell what they make but who don't have access to their own approved commercial kitchen. Call the Department of Licensing, Business License Division, to see if you can find out answers to some of your questions. The local municipality/county would also have to be considered. There may be zoning that limits/prohibits/allows different things. You can call the county assessor's office, give them the parcel number (or address) and they should be able to tell you the zoning for that parcel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I have no idea with regard to the legal issues, permitting, etc., with having a business run out of their home space, but ideas off the top of my head that make sense for that kind of space include a massage therapist's office, chiropractor, etc.--with all those bedrooms, it seems like the space is already divided up in a way that would lend itself to individual treatment rooms. Maybe a day spa kind of place. Or maybe a tutor(s). If the noise wouldn't be an issue, a small music school (again, individual rooms for individual instrument or voice lessons). It sounds like the space itself could be really useful for a number of applications, really. I think it's the logistics that could be an issue (permits, parking, etc.). :iagree: If the house is set up in such a way as to allow it to be rented out as business offices, it would seem to be the best option. Offices are usually only open during the daytime and are closed or open for very limited hours on weekends, which would be ideal. Also, in many states, it is much easier to evict a non-paying tenant from a business property than from a residential apartment, so that could be another advantage of renting the property as offices. I wouldn't want a bunch of college kids renting part of the home in which I live with my family, particularly in this case where it sounds like the dh is ill. I would much prefer some quiet attorneys, accountants, chiropractors, or other business people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 It might be possible for someone to use the space for a daycare or newly-founded private school as well. If she rents to college students, she can include guest limitations and quiet hours in the lease, just like the dorms do, in addition to smoking and pet restrictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 Milovany, if you are still with the thread, just a quick question about air-b-n-b. The apartment is 750 sq. feet, 1 bedroom, large LR that could be partitioned for a second BR. The kitchen is small and basic, and there is no W/D or D/W. They are planning to put in a W/D and D/W at minimum, because earlier, without these, they had some trouble with the renters who were willing to do without these--some difficult situations arose. Would a quirky-but-functional, not-too-fancy kitchen be perfectly fine for air b-n-b? They are considering what the optimal level of upgrade is for the detached apartment, given uncertainty about how long they will be in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 And to everyone so far, thank you so much for the thoughts and ideas! Yes, peace and quiet and no drama are high on the list of desirables . . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Katharine, I just wanted to say that I think it is very kind of you to try to help your friend figure out what to do. It sounds like the family is going through a rough time and I'm sure they really appreciate your help. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I don't know if this would be helpful. In college I knew a girl who "lived" in a house where there were 4 girls in one bedroom. Rent was $100/month. But, she actually lived with her boyfriend and that space was just so her parents didn't flip out. Most of the girls in that house were doing the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Katherine, I'm still here. :) Our airbnb studio is 240 sf with a queen bed squashed into a kinda separate sleeping area (I linked it so you can see that it is really small and unique). We can only fit two in here although we've talked about putting a loft twin over the queen, LOL, so we could get three if someone wanted that or so two friends, who are not a couple, could rent it without having to share the one bed.. We've actually approved some couples with 1-2 kids, too (they can sleep in the same bed or the floor, according to the parents). With the loft, it'd be really, really tight in there! In the space you described, I'd still keep it one unit but yes more beds are always good. They could have fold out futons instead of a partitioned off area, perhaps. People do still like to have a comfortable sitting space. There's no DW and no W/D. While I understand the desire for those if it's a regular rental, when it's used as an airbnb, I wouldn't worry about putting those in to the apartment. People tend to stay for just a short period of time and neither of those would ever be a deal breaker for me (and haven't been for our reservations so far). They could wait to see how it goes over time and if people would want that. WiFi access would be more important than DW and W/D. When we started ours (and we're still in the startup phase), we priced low ($55 at the start), don't have a cleaning fee, don't charge for extra people, and allow for things like one-night stays. We want it to be as accessible as possible while we build our rep. With several reviews under our belts, we might be able to adjust some of these things, especially the price. I think eventually we'll be able to charge $75-$80. One thing I didn't do that makes it more accessible is allow for Instant Booking. I want to hear from people with a request before I approve it; I want to check them out with some questions/conversation first. At Airbnb, you can turn down reservations if you want to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 Cat, thank you for the kind words. They are a wonderful family and it's a privilege to try to help them. Milovany, that further information is very helpful. I wouldn't have thought of Wifi and your point about what amenities are needed for shorter stays is excellent. Everyone else, I've learned something from each post, and I know my friend will, too. Thank you all for taking the time to think and post. I knew the Hive would help! ETA: this doesn't mean "we've heard enough now"! More ideas welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.