All Forum Posts by: Joseph Ayoub

Hey, Al! Contgrats on making this decision and welcome to the investing world! In addition to the great points offered by everyone so far, one other thing to ask yourself is how long will you plan to live there and what your your exit strategy will be? IMO, if you're planning to live there 5-7 years, it would make more sense to live in a better area. If your exit strategy is to sell, think of who your target buyer may be - for example, a family with school aged kids might be more inclined to live in the suburbs in a SFH, versus selling a MFH to an investor who would look more at how the property performs. If your exit strategy is to hold the property and rent it, think of the target tenant you'll attract and if it is one you wan to deal with.

One thing to note with ADUs and basement conversions for single family homes is that if you move out, you can only rent the house as a single family home in some of the suburban areas of the DMV. Learning that from personal experience having gone through a similar journey. 

Hi All - I am wondering if anyone who does rent by the room in the Atlanta metro area has advice on how to do a rent by the room rental? Specifically, how to go about managing unrelated persons living together per county or city ordinance and lease structure. 

I am considering two properties: 

1) A home DeKalb County (Decatur) that is zone R75 for single family zoning. The zoning record says it is in an unincorporated tax district. 

2) A home in Kennesaw that is also zoned for single family.

I see online that there is conflicting info, where in DeKalb county, 3 unrelated people can live together, but Decatur shows 2 unrelated people. Additionally, the house in Kennesaw is close to KSU and currently used as a student rental, but Cobb county shows 2 unrelated people who can live with each other. 

My questions are:

1) How are leases structured? Do you create a separate lease for each individual?

2) Do you need a rental license or any registration with the county/city?

3) Is rent by the room a feasible strategy with these county/city living restrictions?

Thanks for any insight!

Hey, all! My name is Joe and I'm an out-of-state investor looking for my first rental in the Atlanta area. I'm wondering if people have any recommendations for property managers that can handle different types of strategies on the same property? I am considering long-term rentals, mid-term rentals, and student housing/rent by the room. I have called a handful of companies and found that they only specialize in a single strategy or do not accommodate mid term or rent by the room, so any help would be appreciated. 

Hey Gaby - one thing to consider as well is that when you account for the management/showing aspect, ensure that your PM is willing to deal with a rent by the room situation. I am currently managing a rent by the room property in Washington, D.C. and am having trouble getting a property manager to take it on. One way around this is to have a consistent handyman who can do showings and you can pay them per showing, but I would reach out to a few and see if they are willing to do that. 

Hey Yuta - to echo some of what others have said, Silver Spring is a great area. Lots of young professionals or recent graduates where people would be willing to live in a group house or rent by the room situation. Proximity to DC makes for a strong tenant base. A lot of houses also have basements that could be converted to ADUs. I’m personally working on a house hack to do this, so would be happy to talk about my experience. 

Another area to consider is Hyattsville or Riverdale. A little less expensive than Silver Spring, but also have graduate students or people needing rooms since it’s close to University of Maryland. Proximity to DC is good and there’s a fair amount of development in the works too. 

Hey all - have a couple of questions around property managers. I have a property in DC that I am renting out by the room and the rooms are all in the middle of their leases with one becoming vacant. For the one room that is ready for rent, I am looking to have someone do showings for the room, so I am wondering: 

- Are there any PMs or companies in the Washington, DC area that would be willing to do showings for prospective tenants if I cover the other management of the property?

- Are there and companies that specialize or work with the rent by the room strategy?

- Are there alternatives to using a PM company for room showings? I have asked my tenants to do so, but found that they are unreliable. 

I have called several companies, and most seem to only rent the entire house, so any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

We ended up in Silver Spring, close to downtown. Silver Spring as a whole spans a large area, but the neighborhoods within the beltway have a mix of young professionals and families. Downtown itself has a decent number of breweries/food options, grocery stores, and things to do, while still being a short metro/Uber ride to downtown DC. Depending on the ZIP/neighborhood, some of the houses have really good value add opportunity. Would be happy to talk more about it and our process if you want and more options on the Maryland side. 

Hey, Neil. My fiancé and I went through a similar search process recently when looking for a house in the DMV to house hack. In my experience, rents are higher in DC and its a bit easier to find/convert a basement into an in-law suite (since you want to avoid sharing space with potential roommates). $800k can get you some decent row house in DC where you can easily create an English basement that would be great for AirBnB or a long-term tenant. Some neighborhoods that come to mind are Brightwood, Takoma, Manor Park, and even parts of Fort Totten, Brookland, and Michigan Park. All of those neighborhoods are relatively metro and public transit accessible and can attract great renters. 

However, if you're set on staying in VA the two key questions are what is your potential exit strategy and how much effort do you want to put into that? To address all your options above:

1. I think this is the best option, since Del Ray/Old Town is an excellent location and attracts good tenants. If you're not looking to share space with roommates, its definitely still a win that you can lower your housing expense while building equity in an excellent neighborhood. However, I don't think a ton of properties in those neighborhoods would rent for $4k+ a month if you were to move out. So your exit strategies are to rent by room after you move out (higher effort than traditional whole house rental) or to sell the house, but that might mean you need to stay there for several years to ensure you can make money on the sale or do improvement (potentially medium or high effort). 

2/3: Huntington and Falls Church are also solid options and a SFH is definitely attainable. I think that strategy is okay and might open you up to being able to rent the whole house after moving out, since price points are a bit lower. Renting out the entire dwelling is definitely lower effort than rent by the room, but you are correct that rents are typically lower in those neighborhoods, especially when not close to a metro. The WFH/Uber trends might be changing that, but metro access and DC proximity are still selling points for now.

4. I am personally not a fan of condos since it seems like you'd have to put a decent amount down for them to cash flow. And you have to deal with HOAs which can be hit or miss. But they are typically in prime locations and might be less headache, so if you're choosing to keep it as a rental after you move, thats a plus. 

The DMV is a tough market for sure right now, but you definitely got this and can figure something out. Best of luck with your search! 

@Russell Brazil a $50k increase above the 2022 value

Hey all - I have a property in Washington DC where the 2023 assessed taxable value is ~$50k from the 2022 value. My questions to the group are:

1. Has anyone experienced such a rapid increase so quickly? How have you dealt with it?

2. Has anyone had success with a property tax appeal? What does the process look like or what other strategies are there to reduce property taxes paid to the city?

I'm new to the process in D.C. so any insight would be appreciated. Thanks for the help!