In-law suite house hack??

[Bill Campbell]

I'm looking at purchasing my first property as a house hack. Where I live in Rhode Island the amount of multi families are limited, but quite a few house have in-law suites. I found a nice 3/2 that only needs a little tlc and has an in-law suite, plus I can owner finance this deal. Before I move any further on this deal, I was just wondering if there are any laws that will prevent me from living in the in-law suite and renting out the main house? Thanks in advance

[Matt Devincenzo]

None that I'm aware of, unless there is a local zoning ordinance prohibiting renting of the property .

From a lending perspective (assuming you're looking to finance as owner occupied), if you're living in the in-law suite then you are occupying and complying with the requirement. It'd be no different than buying a home and renting rooms as a roommate. The only extra thing to think about in this situation is I assume utilities aren't separately metered, so I'd account for that in your DD and cover those yourself. So just make sure that with you paying utilities and common area landscaping/snow the numbers make sense.

Edit: I noticed you mentioned owner finance, so the lending issue is basically a moot point, so just verify the local zoning...though I doubt there will be an issue there unless there is some very specific ordinance locally preventing it.