Real Estate Investor · Irmo, SC · Member since 2012 · 106 posts · 90 votes
I am buying a new personal residence and would like to add a 2 bedroom rental apartment. I can either add it over the garage or put it in the basement. Both are doable, with different costs. It would be a full apartment with 2 bedrooms, eat in kitchen, full bathroom, living room and its own laundry.
I am looking for feedback on 1) which renters would prefer: to rent a basement apartment or rent an apartment over a garage and 2) which would buyers prefer if we ever needed to sell?
Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 96 posts · 59 votes
10y
As someone with 20 years of in-depth experience dealing with multifamily, both large and small, there isn't even a second of consideration that over garage is better than basement.... by and landslide. My only question was why not both...
Real Estate Investor · Irmo, SC · Member since 2012 · 106 posts · 90 votes
10y
Thanks, @Doug H. and @Account Closed for your input. I also felt like over the garage was better because renters would like having more windows and because above ground square footage is more valuable than below grade sq footage. But then my 2 sisters (1 is a renter, the other is a homeowner, neither are investors) both expressed that they would prefer a basement apartment as a renter because it would be more private and that as a homebuyer they would prefer a rental unit in a basement rather than over a garage.
How do you think a homebuyer would view buying a house with a second kitchen over the garage?
Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 96 posts · 59 votes
10y
As someone with 20 years of in-depth experience dealing with multifamily, both large and small, there isn't even a second of consideration that over garage is better than basement.... by and landslide. My only question was why not both...
Flipper/Rehabber · York, UK · Member since 2013 · 895 posts · 453 votes
10y
To give you more specific feedback, I would say the majority of renters would prefer to live upstairs rather than in a basement (unless it was walkout). The advantage of the garage for both renters and future buyers is the separation of space (assuming the garage is detached). I'd rather not have renters living underneath my feet.
Real Estate Investor · Irmo, SC · Member since 2012 · 106 posts · 90 votes
10y
Hi @Micki M., the garage is attached. The county the house is in allows for rental apartments but one of the requirements is that the rental unit share a common wall with and be accessible from the owner's part of the residence.
So if you imagine a 2 story colonial with a huge bonus room over an attached garage, the garage apartment would go in the bonus room. On the owner's side of the common wall is the stairs to the second level and the upstairs bathroom. On the apartment side of the shared wall will be the bathroom, kitchen and living area (see below).
Blue is the owner's part of the house, and yellow is the rental apartment. The house right now has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The plan is to add the the master suite at the back and convert one of the bathrooms into upstairs laundry.
Flipper/Rehabber · York, UK · Member since 2013 · 895 posts · 453 votes
10y
That does make a slight difference but one attached wall versus having a whole apartment above/below you is still better. Great way to recognize an opportunity to add value, I love accessory dwellings!
Frederick, MD · Member since 2015 · 654 posts · 256 votes
10y
Conversion differences may come into play too... typically the first things that come to mind for me when considering a basement apartment conversion are:
1) Headroom/ceiling height
2) Meeting the egress requirements
3) Is the sewer line low enough to accommodate a gravity system or will a sewage crock and pump be required?