What are the downsides of renting by the room?

[Emily C.]

Background: I live an expensive market that would make it hard to achieve cash flow with traditional sfrs, so I'm considering investing in a larger sfr and renting out individual rooms with the common space being shared for higher returns than a single tenant. The target tenant would be young professionals (lots of tech in my city), possibly moving from out of state. Some downsides I have in mind: harder to find properties with a good ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms, more expensive to buy a large property upfront, higher monthly maintenance costs (I would probably pay for utilities and communal furnishings), and interpersonal conflicts between the residents. From others who have rented by the room, am I missing any pitfalls with this strategy?

[Sharlene Mulchandani]

@Emily C. Apart from the downsides mentioned above, one thing to look into would be the additional work it will take to manage your tenants, because in this arrangement there is a lot more potential for tenant drama. 

Another potential issue is common area maintenance. You can either have this stated as a responsibility in your tenant's lease agreement or another solution would be to charge a cleaning fee for all common areas and have this done for them, either once or twice a month.