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Updated 3 days ago on . Most recent reply

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David Girdusky
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Rent by Room, Nassau Count, New York

David Girdusky
Posted

I'm looking for my 2nd investment property and am contemplating the rent by room option. My target location is Nassau County, Long Island. As the profitability is a struggle here on cashflow, I thought rent by room may help get me there. Does anyone have any experience with rent by room in Nassau County? Specifically I'm trying to figure out how many rooms I can rent out of any given property? Does it go by how many bedrooms there are, or is it just a max per site? I ask because if there is a formal dining room that can be converted and I make a 1 bedroom into a 2, the price may be better than a traditional 2 with no dining room. Some of the houses in Nassau County have 4 or 5 bedrooms plus a 2 bedroom basement. I'm new to this, so any advice would be great. Lastly, any thoughts on purchasing a small camper and renting that out as well in the driveway? Just trying to maximize the property.

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David Girdusky
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David Girdusky
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Quote from @Don Konipol:
Quote from @David Girdusky:

I'm looking for my 2nd investment property and am contemplating the rent by room option. My target location is Nassau County, Long Island. As the profitability is a struggle here on cashflow, I thought rent by room may help get me there. Does anyone have any experience with rent by room in Nassau County? Specifically I'm trying to figure out how many rooms I can rent out of any given property? Does it go by how many bedrooms there are, or is it just a max per site? I ask because if there is a formal dining room that can be converted and I make a 1 bedroom into a 2, the price may be better than a traditional 2 with no dining room. Some of the houses in Nassau County have 4 or 5 bedrooms plus a 2 bedroom basement. I'm new to this, so any advice would be great. Lastly, any thoughts on purchasing a small camper and renting that out as well in the driveway? Just trying to maximize the property.

Rent by the room is an attempt by people who profit by mentoring, or teaching the concept, to “sanitize” rooming houses by trying to make a BUSINESS sound like an INVESTMENT.  

There is undoubtably a need for rooming houses - and definitely profitability.  However, it’s NOT just a matter of one type of investment or the other and which has the greater ROI.  Running a rooming house will take a LOT more management time, a LOT more management skill, has a LOT higher risk, is a much smaller target market, costs a lot more in insurance, has a much higher chance of lawsuits, is much more difficult to deal with tenancy, has a tenant pool of less “desirable” tenants, and is much more of a hassle and aggravation.  

Some people compare “by the room” with STR as far as combining a business with an investment.  But, there is a MAJOR difference.  STR is scalable - hence, the STR owner can choose as much or little involvement as he wants as an entire outsourcing industry exists.  Rent by the room is typically NOT scalable - but if you’re the one who discovers how to 
scale” it you can become a billionaire! 

 Thanks so much for your thoughts. I assume it will be much more hands on, especially when considering the owner will be paying the utilities and other bills, plus higher insurance. Turnover is also a concern, I heard on a podcast that one should expect a 1–2-year renter stay on average for the best tenants. I have a contact who rents rooms in Manhattan and has had mixed success, but at the end of the day is cash flowing better than renting whole. I'm certain there are legal limits to how many occupants can rent a single-family home as well, and finding this information out by each local town is what I'm interested in. 

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