How many people can I fit in an SF-6-NP zoned property?

[Moises Guerra Garcia]

Hi! I am trying to house hack here in Austin, TX in the Highland neighborhood, but I do not want to break the rules either. I want to gain an understanding of how many people can I fit in a single property.

Property stats: 

Home area: 1.8k sq feet

Plot area: 14.5k sq ft

4 bedrooms, and 2 full baths.

Property zone: SF-6-NP. (according to https://www.austintexas.gov/gi...) (other plots in the area are zoned as MF or TOD)

I have been living in a "6 bedroom / 3 full bathrooms"  apartment with 13 other people (14 total) for 4 years (about 3 people per room in most rooms). I have been managing the place myself as a tenant/renter. Now, I am looking to house hack, and possibly apply the same system.

I was reading over the rules on this page: https://www.austintexas.gov/de...

This page referenced the "Duelling unit occupancy limit" code (code 25-2-511): https://library.municode.com/t...

According to point (B) from code 25-2-511, I cannot fit more than 6 people (unrelated adults). Point (D) states I cannot fit more than 4 people for SF-6-NP zoned properties. Is this correct? I just want to make sure I am reading this correctly.

If I am only allowed to fit 4 people in the entire house, that would suck. If I only put down 3.5% as down payment through an FHA loan, that would make the monthly payment really expensive (about $5k). If this is the case, I would want to consider going through the process of re-zoning the lot to MF. Has anyone gone through the rezoning process here in Austin, and how long can it take?

Any input y'all?

[Bryan Noth]

Zoning will be the biggest antagonist for this strategy @Moises Guerra Garcia.  6 unrelated adults is the max for most SF properties, save for exceptions such as multifamily units, townhomes, etc.  

Taken directly from AustinTexas.gov: "Houses located in residential zoned areas with 7 or more unrelated individuals are operating in violation of City Code."

You must apply for a permit to legally have more unrelated adults and is most commonly seen with half way houses, assisted living, and some disability care homes.  

As for rezoning, you will likely have an uphill battle.  Austin has rather strict zoning laws and changing those can be arduous and most likely impossible except in rare situations.  

[Moises Guerra Garcia]

@Bryan Noth The City of Austin does offer a lot of information about the rezoning process:

https://www.austintexas.gov/pa...

It doesn't seem impossible. The City of Austin states that basically one just needs to fill out a form:

https://www.austintexas.gov/si...

And then pay the application fee.