Renting out Rooms

[Aj Bowman]

Hi Everyone, Just wondering if anyone has done this before. I live in the Maryland, Northern Virginia area. If I own a four bedroom house and I wanted to rent out the rest of the room. Kind of like house hacking I guess. How can I determine how much I should charge for rent? Also should I include utilities into my price? Thanks ahead of time, AJ

[Account Closed]

I'd also look on Craigslist and/or college off campus listings, if you are near a college.  I'd include utilities, because otherwise there will be bickering about who is using more electricity or changing the thermostat, and how it's not fair they all have to pay a percentage of the bill, yatta yatta.

I'd also pay someone to come clean once a week, because that will be another argument about who has to clean the bathroom and who doesn't do a good enough job of cleaning, etc..  I'd also include a small apartment fridge and microwave in each room, so tenants won't be eating each other's food and fighting about it and complaining to you about it.  Having a microwave in their room, will cut down on kitchen mess and traffic in the kitchen.  Maybe even include a coffee maker.

I'd look for law students or med students, if they're in your tenant pool, and provide a nice quiet place for them.  

And, as suggested, be sure and run all checks on them.  And I'd collect one month's rent deposit, and I'd only do month-to-month agreements, so if it's not working out on either side, it's easily undone.