New SFH investor: room-by-room rental and flexible rental terms

[Christopher Oberhaus]

Hi All - I'm new to the real estate investing world and am evaluating a few single family home investment opportunities in desirable downtown Chicago neighborhoods. I'm considering renting the homes on a room-by-room basis and/or offering flexibility on lease terms (length) to drive up rents. Since this is my first real estate investment, I'm hoping for and would be greatly appreciative of any feedback from this forum. Specifically, I would love any input on:

• Whether room-by-room rental is common in major cities and if it can, in fact, increase overall rent roll 
• Whether offering flexible rental terms can work as a strategy to increase rent roll
• What are the best tools for determining the appropriate rent and how can you adjust for lease term and time of year

Greatly appreciate any thoughts! Cheers.