Rent for roommate situation for SFH in San Francisco

Rent for roommate situation for SFH in San Francisco

Rental Property Investor · San Francisco Bay Area · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

I have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath SFH (1357 sq.ft) in San Francisco that I'm renting out to 4 different tenants (two couples, working professionals). The main level of the house just went through a complete renovation (all new electrical wiring, kitchen, bathrooms, appliances, recessed lighting and new paint and baseboards and trim casing in all rooms). There are two separate 1 car garages, washer and dryer, backyard (a pretty good size for San Francisco). There's a downstairs unit (a large room) with a bathroom which could be a potential studio apartment if I put in a kitchenette

I know the first couple personally so I'm giving them a slight deal. I'm having difficulty trying to find a market rate rent to divide among the two couples. Most of the rentals are apartments in that area, within half mile radius as most of the SFH are owner occupied.

Here are the Zillow Rents comps:

-  4 bedroom 2.5 bath condo(1655 sq. ft) for $5890. That condo has a view of the mountain in that neighborhood. 

- 3 bedroom 2 bath (1340 sq ft) Victorian house renovated for $7495.

- 4 bedroom, 2 bath house (2166 sq ft) for $8950 

- 1 bedroom (877 sq ft) apartment for $3195 right across the street

-  3 bedroom 2 bath apartment  (1471 sq ft) for $4895

The $7495 rent seems very high and my house isn't a Victorian but built in 1957. A realtor I know suggested charging $2000 for master bedroom with private bath and $1700 the other 2 bedrooms who share a bath. The makes the total $5400. He didn't give me comps. It's likely one of the bedrooms won't be rented out for a while since the two couples know each other and to get a stranger in there would disrupt the household balance. My thoughts were $1900 for the couple I know, and $2000 for the other couple who would have the master bedroom and private bath (maybe $2100). There are 3 cars (the second couple only has 1 car), so each couple would get to use the 2 garages. So that's $3900 to $4000 a month total rent. Is that low? I'm not trying to price gouge them but that renovation cost me a lot of money. 

Also I'm paying for PG&E (electricity and gas) and SF Water since I can't meter each person's usage. How should I bill them? Include a certain amount in the  rent? Bill them separately after I get the bill and divide by two (for each couple). When the owner lived there the PG&E I believe was somewhere between $100 to $180 a month for one person (who ran the heat constantly when it was cold). 

The second couple needs to know soon as they need to give notice to their landlord in 2 weeks (their current rent is a $2000 studio apartment). Thanks for any help you can give. I'm new to the SF rental market. My other rental is in Indiana. I'm having them all fill out a rental application and running a credit and background check (I wouldn't necessarily have done a check on the first couple I know but my friend advised me to). 

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Miller McSwainPro Member
Investor · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2018 · 261 posts · 233 votes
4y

Just to give you a data point, I am rent-by-rooming in Colorado Springs. I found that the total rent for RbR to be 1.55 x the the traditional long-term rental rate. 

That may help give you a ballpark 👍

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  • Investor · San Francisco · Member since 2021 · 30 posts · 6 votes
    4y

    Hi Becca,

    I live and rent in SF so I may be able to help with this. What is the zipcode? If you want to send it in a private message that is fine too. 
     

  • Miller McSwainPro Member
    Investor · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2018 · 261 posts · 233 votes
    4y

    Just to give you a data point, I am rent-by-rooming in Colorado Springs. I found that the total rent for RbR to be 1.55 x the the traditional long-term rental rate. 

    That may help give you a ballpark 👍

  • Rental Property Investor · San Francisco Bay Area · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    4y

    @Miller McSwain Thank you. How do you divide out the utilities (electricity/gas, water, trash/recycle)? For example would I just take a ballpark guess of $200 for electricity/gas and divide it into $100 for each of the two couples and since there hasn't been 4 people living there so I don't really have baseline amount on the previous resident's bills for that many people.  I don't know what the water bill would be. Its about $30 with no one living there (except when contractors did the work). If I estimated $100 or $120, then divide that out among the two couples. Hopefully no one is taking hour long showers with the drought here. And include that in the rent? Could I put an addendum that utilities would be re-evaluated in 6 months? 

     I'm still confused. If theoretically I could get $5400 for the 3 bedroom house but two sets of people are occupying 2 bedrooms, I'm not sure how to divide this up. 

  • Miller McSwainPro Member
    Investor · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2018 · 261 posts · 233 votes
    4y

    Ah good question. We include all utilities, internet, lawn care, etc in that rent amount I discussed. We have 5 bedrooms, so splitting it up would take some additional work but it's doable. 

    It is customary to include utilities in my market though, so I think it would be difficult to rent it for the current amount of we didn't include utilities. 

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