House-Hack / Rent by the Room in Tampa, FL
Hey all, I'm looking to see if anyone is currently doing a rent-by-the-room house hack or even just a normal house-hack investment in Tampa, FL. I'm from California and bought my first buy and hold house-hack in Denver early 2021 and now looking to go to a bit of a lower-priced market such as Tampa as I have family in the area as well so even more reason to invest in the area. I would love to connect with other fellow house-hackers & investor-friendly realtors in the Tampa area and hear about how the different areas, how much you're getting for individual bedroom rents, how the short term rental market is, etc. Also looking to see if there are property types in the Tampa area that favor being split up into multiple different "units" with the potential of using 1 section specifically for short term rentals and the other side for traditional bedroom renters (similar to splitting a 2-story property and creating a private entrance for the top unit and adding a kitchen space). This strategy works amazing in Denver because of the flexible property types they have out there, but not sure if that style of properties are out in the Tampa area. Can't wait to connect! - Tyler
I’d highly suggest purchasing near USF. Students are much more likely to rent by the room as all the student housing apartments already operate based on the rent by the room model.
@Tyler Garcia Hey Tyler, I currently house hack in Tampa and am in the middle of purchasing my next house hack. I can definitely help you with some of the questions you have, feel free to message me and I can go over more in detail.
Although I graduated from USF, I would highly recommend doing a house hack near UT over USF. UT is a private school and costs 40k+ a year. Much higher tuition levels and parents often co-sign their children’s leases near UT.
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Real Estate Agent
- Kristina Kuba - KW Tampa
- http://www.ClickTampaHomes.com
- [email protected]
Quote from @Kristina Kuba:
Although I graduated from USF, I would highly recommend doing a house hack near UT over USF. UT is a private school and costs 40k+ a year. Much higher tuition levels and parents often co-sign their children’s leases near UT.
Thanks for this insight Kristina! How much do you see rents for individual bedrooms going for in a shared home? I've seen rates from like $450/month all the way up to like $900/month for a bedroom. Trying to get a better grasp on the income potential for each room
When I first moved to Tampa, I rented a bedroom in a pre-furnished 4-bedroom house in a good location (North Hyde Park) for $1,350 a month... this was one of the cheapest places I was able to find that was close to downtown.
If you take a look on Airbnb and set the search settings for bedrooms, one month stay, and leave the dates open, you'll get all the rent comps you could need.
As far as renting by the bedroom, you've really got two good renter pools in Tampa. Those going to school at UT or UCF and young professionals working downtown. So, ideally, you're renting by the bedroom in a place near downtown or near either one of the schools. Of course, you could also do monthly stays for traveling nurses if you found a place on Davis Island or near any of the other hospitals in the area.
Regarding your question about splitting up single-family properties into multi-family, Florida is a lot different from the mountain west or midwest. Very few older homes are more than 1-story and basements are unheard of. It's not impossible to do conversions, but I'd say these opportunities are much less common than in other areas of the country.