Best Strategy ? - Long Beach, CA - Large Single Family

[Bryce Watson]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some advice on how to best utilize a single family in Long Beach, CA.

About the house:

It is a 7 Bedroom home with 4 bathrooms, paid in full. The house has an odd set up, the main house is (3BR/2Bath) and occupied.  An two story addition was added to this that is 4BR/2Bath, small living room, and office, no kitchen. The addition has yet to be finished. Currently the floors, drywall and bathrooms are incomplete. 

Home is centrally located 10 minutes from Long Beach Airport, Convention center, Aquarium/Downtown and 15 minutes to CSULB.

My initial thought was to pull a home equity mortgage to finish the addition and tailor it towards AirBNB & short term room rentals to pay back the loan. Mainly short business trips, convention center events or people visiting children at CSULB.

Now comes the fun zoning laws:

Zoning & Rental Laws: House is R-1N, residential single family on normal lot.

 21.51.270 - Room rental.

The conditions listed below shall apply to all room rentals. Any room rental use not conforming to these conditions shall be considered a boardinghouse, lodging house, hotel or motel, as applicable, and shall be subject to the requirements for that use.

A. The owner of the dwelling unit must live in the unit.

B. The rented room shall not contain more than three (3) plumbing facilities nor a kitchen. Such room shall not contain laundry facilities, a water heater or a wetbar-type sink.

C.The rented room shall not contain an independent exterior entrance.

D.The rented room may not be detached from the principal dwelling unit.

E.Not more than two (2) rooms shall be rented in a single dwelling unit.

Regarding these laws, I would satisfy all of them, the only thing is section E, only 2 rooms shall be rented in a single dwelling. Does the Room rental laws apply to short and long term rentals? If so does it mean only 2 rooms at any given time?

Lastly, should I hire a Property Management company to handle the rental since I will be across the country. Has anyone succesfully managed a STR from thousands of miles away without the use of a property manager?

Is this the right strategy or do you think the home would be better suited for LTR or something else?

Sorry for the novel, any advice is helpful.

Thank you,

Bryce