Adult family home advice

[Hannad Qaisi]

Hello everyone :-) 

I’m on my journey to open my first AFH in Vancouver WA. One of the main things that concerns me is finding a house to convert to an AFH. I have a couple of questions regarding this topic.

Is it best to buy a house and convert it to an AFH, or rent a regular house and convert it? 

Does it have to be a 1-story house or is a 2-story acceptable? 

Given the high housing market in the PNW it makes me worried to buy a house just to start an AFH. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Michele Fischer]

Hi, Hannad!

I live in Seattle now, but all of our rentals are in Longview, WA, so we are kinda neighbors.

I have seen adult family homes where the downstairs are where the residents live and upstairs are office and employee living quarters.  Something to think about.  You may also want to consider ability to restrict access to the kitchen if you are going to have any memory care type residents.

I would think you would want to puchase rather than rent a home to convert.  If you purchase you have a lot more control over what modifications can be made, and most landlords will not want a revolving door of residents.

Rentals are very dependant on the quality of property management if you aren't self managing, and I assume AFH's would be even more so.