Renting a property by the room?

[Parker D.]

Hello Everyone! 

I have a property that I am currently house hacking in St Paul MN. I am looking to move out in the coming months and am thinking about renting the property by the room.

The property is a 4bd 1 Bath SFH with 4 almost identical rooms located in the Summit - University neighborhood in St Paul. We do have room to add another half bath which I plan to add before doing renting it out.

I am wondering if anyone on the forums does this and what your experience has been? What are the pros and cons? What are some things to look out for and systems you have put in place?

Happy investing,

Parker 

[Mike Leybourne]

@Parker D. My entire portfolio is room rentals.  I won't go into the whole complexity of how I have things set up, but a few things I'll share: 

1. Make sure you have a good home warranty insurance policy (for plumbing, electric, etc.).  I use Homeserve.  They don't have great customer service, but the policy is priceless.

2. I prefer month-to-month leases.

3. Make sure you have the house set up for an easy room rental experience.  Put signs up stating what the trash day is, who to contact for a power outage, etc. etc.

4. Consider how you are going to do your move-in and move-out checklist. 

5. Require a deposit that's at least the cost of a months worth of rent. 

I feel like there's a lot more to consider, but it really depends on who you're renting to and how they're going to treat the house.