Cobb County GA basement rental

[Bobby Valcin]

I have recently been looking into properties in Marietta, GA. My family and I are considering relocating to that area. If we do end up going that route, I was thinking it might be a good idea to rent out the basement and live in the main house (house hack).

I did some Google searching to see what a basement might rent for in that area, however, I was having a hard time finding any listed anywhere. I found this odd, so I decided to call Cobb County and they advised that a basement can only be rented by one adult with some kind of square footage per person limitation, and I could not wall off the basement door. The tenant would have to have “access” to the upstairs area. I’m not sure it that means that I can’t restrict their access to upstairs or that I just had to have a door there.

When I asked the rep why there weren't any basements for rent on the MLS he couldn't really give me an answer.

This was a bit of a let down hearing all of this, since there don’t seem to be many duplexes or front houses with in-law suites that would serve the same purpose.

Is there something I’m missing? Has anyone ever dealt with basement rentals in that area?

[Tracy R.]

Hi @Bobby Valcin, what you're describing is exactly what I'm currently in the middle of doing!  I bought a house in Marietta that had a full finished basement, but no kitchen.  So I've put a kitchen in and am hoping to rent it out as my first house hack.  I've not looked at what I could get for rent ahead of time, like you have, but it's a large apartment with 1 bedroom, 2 other rooms (office plus bonus room, etc) plus a brand new open concept kitchen, with its own separate entrance and garage access.  So I'm going to just see what the top dollar rents are for that and go from there.  I am hoping that it will basically pay for my mortgage on it.

 I'm hoping to have it rented in the next couple of months. I'll let you know how it goes, but if you don't hear from me, feel free to reach back out!