All Forum Posts by: Lisa Barnes

This the OP. I reread the HOA documents that I have more carefully and I found that I don't think they are complete, so I'm working on that. Thanks to everyone for making suggestions.

I'm looking at a condo to potentially use as LTR that faces a huge pond with no fence. I hate the idea of renting to tenants with children because of the danger. If I buy it, there is no practical way I could mitigate the danger by building a fence because of the HOA and the size of the pond. I guess I would just need to carry very high liability. Maybe try to put some sort of a liability waiver, or some restriction on children playing outside unsupervised, in the lease which probably wouldn't prevent a lawsuit but would be better than nothing. Thoughts?

I'm in Columbus Ohio and I'm looking at a SF which will need some work that I need a budget for.  I'm thinking $12K as an estimate but very unsure because this will only be my second investment property, and no contractor is going to walk the property with me when I don't even own it yet.   Do you think $12K's a decent estimate for this:

1.  The bath will need complete demo and new framing, fixtures, door, lighting and new LVP flooring -- see diagram.  Beneath the existing bath is unfinished basement.

2.  Just a refresh in the kitchen -- tear out the old ceramic 12" tile floor and replace with the same LVP as the bath.  Paint the existing cabinets white, new pulls, and new ceiling fan.

The house was built in 1996 and in good mechanical condition.  I want it as a B+ rental.  I plan to hire all the work done and will have it permitted. 

If you rent only 1 or 2 rooms out long term (30+ days), you don't need any license.  If you rent them out short term (under 30 days), you need to get the short term rental license and collect the excise tax.

So in Columbus you need a "rooming house license" if you're renting by the room and rent out 3 or more rooms in the same house. Of course lots of people do it illegally, but that's what the law says. There is no exception for owner occupied houses, so even if you occupy one bedroom in a 4 BR house you can't rent out all 3 of the other rooms without this license. Or if you have a 3BR that isn't owner occupied, you can't rent out all 3 of the rooms. But a requirement for getting a rooming house license is the parcel must be zoned appropriately. We found a SFH for sale near downtown and contacted Columbus zoning and gave the address and asked if it was zoned for a rooming house licence. They said that this particular house was zoned R2 residential and a rooming house license requires AR3 AR4 or AR0 multifamily zoning. Which makes it almost impossible to rent a SF by the room legally in Columbus because there are almost no SFs that have multifamily zoning.

But in Columbus you can get a "short term rental license" if you're renting by the room and rent out 5 or fewer rooms in a house out, so long as they are offered for a rental term of less than 30 days.  The law says specifically that a short term rental license is different than a rooming house license and that a property can only have one or the other.  There is no mention of zoning in the Columbus law about getting a short term rental license.

So it seems to me that under the current law you could get a STR licence and rent out up to 5 rooms pretty much like a rooming house without having to jump through the multifamily zoning hoop. I'm thinking you could rent short term for an initial period and then offer month-to-month or longer. There is a 5% excise tax you have to collect and remit, but only on short term rentals, so if a tenant does go month to month you could stop collecting that. Some complications to be careful about to get and renew the STR license annually, but nothing as uphill as trying to get a zoning variance.

I got a son who wants to start college downtown at Columbus State, and has just enough money to buy a SF nearby as his first investment property.  We're thinking this house-hack strategy has very attractive numbers and it seems within the letter of the law.  Thoughts?

I'm looking at a 3BR SFH built in 1996 to hold as LTR or possibly flip. It currently has two finished rooms in the basement, neither of them with a proper egress window. The larger of the two rooms is pretty big and would naturally make a good 4th bedroom, so if I buy this property I would probably put in an egress window in to make it a legal 4th. The other finished room is pretty small and best use would probably be a laundry area. If I put in laundry hookups, do I need an egress window in this room as well? What if I market it as a den or office or storage area? I'm concerned about liability if I put tenants in. I only have one other rental property and it doesn't have finished basement space.