Renting to 2 Families a Single Family Mather/Daughter style house

[Marcin G.]

In my area in NJ a single family house rented to one family usually does not cash flow.

I am thinking about buying a house from 2 retired brothers who live in single family house: one brother lives on the top floor and has his kitchen, bathroom, 3 bedrooms, etc. and the second has similar setup on the bottom floor. There is also separate entrances to each floor.

What things do I need to worry about if I would like to rent to 2 separate families?

My town does not have rent control, and the house is on a residential street where most people own their SF homes, and the street is zone for single family homes.

Can the municipalities not allow me to rent each floor separately? For example, by not giving me a CoO?

Last, I would like to sub meter electric and water. What solutions do you recommend and do I need to worry about building department not allowing me to do it?

Thanks!!!

[Andrew B.]

First you need to understand if you are even allowed to do what you wanna do. towns get split into "zones" and depending on what zoning you are in, it determines what you can do in your property. For example, you can only open a business somewhere that is zoned for commercial businesses. You can only operate a duplex if the zoning allows multifamily property. If zoning does not allow this, you can only operate as a single family house. Your town should have a zoning dept section of the website with a map that tells you which zoning is which. If you have trouble, there should be a number you can call.