Does any person have experience in the D.C./DMV area renting out multiple bedrooms to individual tenants? Has anyone had success renting out individual rooms in the D.C./Northern Virginia/Maryland area? If so, what is the market rate per month for a bedroom?

I am considering purchasing a 6 Bedroom in Capitol Heights, Maryland and renting out each room. For a buy and hold, the house would not be a good investment if I rented out the entire house to a single tenant. But if I rent out each room individually, I can pull in a lot more rent money, creating the possibility of significant cash flow. I live in Northern Virginia and do not plan on staying in the house.

At this point, I am just trying to analyze how much I can expect to get for each bedroom. I am also trying to determine the demand for rooms to rent. I imagine that demand is somewhat a function of the amount I charge for rent, but I am curious if others have been able to get individuals to sign one-year leases to rent out a room.

I have researched the multiple occupancy rules and it appears that Northern Virginia does not allow more than four unrelated individuals to inhabit a house. Maryland offers a slightly better rule for landlords – it will allow up to five unrelated individuals to live in the same house.

I would love to hear from someone who has made this idea work specifically in the D.C. area.

I realize this is management intensive but I feel like the right purchase price and strategy could make this work. I would make sure the house had enough driveway and street parking for each tenant to have a parking space. In addition, I plan to furnish the common areas, pay for the utilities and internet, and pay a maid to come in twice a month to clean.

By the way, I totally stole this idea from Podcast Episode 392 with Todd Baldwin. Any insight is appreciated. Thank you.

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Renting Individual Rooms in the D.C./DMV Area

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