Looking at buying interesting multi-family/rooming house

[Chris Klaich]

My husband are looking at a really cool house in the hottest part of town for young professionals, hipsters and college students. It has a common entrance with four one room with private bath on main floor and four one room with private bath upstairs. The eight rooms share a common kitchen. The current tenants are transient types that pay low-end rent, month-to-month. Our idea would be to upgrade the finishes in the common area and rooms and make the kitchen a really nice commercial type kitchen. We would put in washer/dryers for use by the tenants, put in an outside common bbq area and maybe a horseshoe pit and raised bed community garden. Our prospective tenant would be college students, new graduates working and saving, and/or service workers who don't cook a lot. So it's not a boarding house or rooming house really because no meals are provided, they all have private bathrooms, they just share a kitchen. Tempting because the numbers are crazy good, but the common kitchen raises lot of questions/issues. I've spoken with various city officials as well as fire department and all zoning is good for the use.

We own a five unit apartment building right around the corner from this building and it has been a really great investment. It is five one bed/onebath.  It is in the hottest part of town and we easily rent for the highest rent in our city.

Any input would be great appreciated.

Chris K.

Reno, NV