All Forum Posts by: Nicole Marshall

Get a 12" W x 12" D pantry (tall) cabinet and a 60" regular depth vanity (or any combination to get you to your 72" length). As long as the whole walkway is wider than the door width, you should be fine.

I have a 4/3 with bonus room on 1st floor (so really 5/3). 3/2 upstairs and 2/1 downstairs. I live downstairs and the bonus room is currently my storage room, but I rent all 3 rooms out upstairs. In my town, I am not allowed to have more than 4 unrelated people living in the house. My thought, if I ever get to cleaning out that bonus room, is to airbnb that room.

Definitely check your local codes/laws to see if you are even legally allowed to rent to that many people in the same house.

Another thought - many people don't like sharing a bathroom. And if they don't mind, it's usually limited to only one other person. So 5 people and only 2 bathrooms? Might not work out well.

@Simon Collins Fair enough. I spent a summer there and rented a room in one of the ranch-style houses on Circle Ave. That house and most of the houses surrounding are completely gone. My point was that it only takes one storm. Wrong place at the wrong time. Better safe than sorry. And whatever other idioms are applicable here.

@Kevin Vasquez Take a look at the aftermath of Mexico Beach from Hurricane Michael. Most of those houses were stick built on a concrete slab. The only thing remaining of the house is the slab. Most of the houses that were still standing were recently (and properly) built. Sure, that was a Cat 5 and a lot of the damage can be attributed to storm surge vs wind, but why take the chance when you can find another house that's CBS?

Mention Hurricane Andrew to anyone in Homestead and you'll have the same reaction. That was the main driver for changes to FBC. I believe a builder (or several) were sued after the fact because the hurricane revealed just how crappy their construction practices were. 

I live on the east coast of FL and honestly would never buy a single story frame house. A hurricane (with sustained 100+ mph winds) will wipe that house pretty easily. Or even a strong storm with tornadic cells.

@Peter Davis is correct in that most 2-story houses in coastal FL will be CBS on first floor and frame on the second. That will likely not be advertised, so you need to make sure to verify that. I know of only a couple houses in my area that are all block both stories.

I have heard of some 2 story houses in my area getting hit by a tornado that spun off a cell from a hurricane. The second story (frame) didn't make it. One of my co-workers told me found one of their ceiling fans in his front yard. 

@Brian Edwards I went to a smaller tech/engineering school, got a bachelor's in engineering. Worked for a few years, got on with a company that paid for 2 master's degrees. Since the school I went to was local and expensive, I still had to pay taxes on the company reimbursement (IRS tax threshold is ~5000/year), so keep that in mind as well. But still, at $1300/credit hour and 45 credits (I planned it out so I was able to double-count half the credits from the first master's degree), paying taxes was much cheaper than paying for it all. I considered an MBA, as I would have that paid for as well, but one of my master's is in engineering management and I took several MBA classes as electives, so functionally it wasn't really different.

I concur with several comments to wait a few years. I definitely wouldn't have gotten as much out of the degrees if I had done it directly after bachelor's. Work experience is helpful for learning and perspective. I have used the degrees to my advantage to get a higher salary. Higher salary = more money to invest.

Edited to add: There is a payback period for the tuition reimbursement. Industry standard is now 2 years, generally 100% year 1 and tiered year 2. When I changed companies, part of my negotiation was to ask for a sign on bonus to cover what I owed my previous company for the tuition reimbursement. I live in a tech hub, so the competition between companies is pretty fierce.

@Shiri Manor Nisenbaum A couple things I notice from the listing photos - the floors are dirty/dusty. The blinds in the bathroom are crooked. The shower tile was used as a kitchen backsplash - no one wants to think about the bathroom while they're cooking. It might seem nitpicky, but if you aren't detail oriented in your photos, what else was left out in the actual renovation?

@Logan Beckner Depending on your market, it may be best to furnish the rooms. This will also help for photographing the room for your advertisements. I rent out 3 bedrooms in my house and have found the rooms much easier to rent once I furnished them (basically 0% vacancy). You don't need to go crazy. I bought nothing new - all used furniture that was either in good condition or had the ability to look nice with some elbow grease and paint. Mattresses are another story - I was lucky that my parents live close by and they were looking to get new mattresses, so I took the old ones off their hands. I also bought another used one, but make sure you ask the seller about bed bugs, etc, and when you go pick it up, take note of the condition of the house (nicer house generally means the mattress was well taken care of).

Nice furnishings for common areas - again, no need to go crazy with expensive new furniture (unless that's what you want). Recommend TV for living room, as it's not feasible to have them in every bedroom (unless tenant provides their own). My roommates don't use the TV, they either brought their own or use a tablet/laptop. I provide all of the kitchen amenities, including things like trash bags, paper towels, etc. However, tenants are responsible for their own toilet paper, toiletries, etc.

Make sure you have enough parking spaces! This is something that is very easily overlooked. Since this is a townhouse, I'm thinking you may not have much (if any) street parking. Probably a 1-2 car driveway. Is there an extra parking lot in the complex that your tenants will be allowed to use?

Also make sure that amenities that you advertise can indeed be used. For instance, if your complex has a pool, can the tenants actually use the pool or is it strictly the homeowner?

As far as screening, this is really an art form. Experience is the best teacher. Create a list of questions that you want to ask your potential tenants. Ask basic screenings questions during the inquiry stage - what kind of job do they have, what's their work schedule like, etc. Those questions should be made to weed an undesirables out. Then you can have a separate list of questions to ask when showing the house/room. These should be questions like, do they have guests over often, do they have a significant other that will be there a lot, how long do they plan on renting... you'll come up with your own that are tailored to your needs. I prefer people that are single so I don't have someone else in the house all the time. And the parking situation as well.

I try to find people with similar professions and work hours around the same age. Since this is an "intimate" living situation, you can legally ask about their age and screen based on that. You cannot advertise anything with a discriminatory angle, but when you screen you're allowed to rule out.

You'll get the hang of it. We all get "duds" sometimes. Even the best roommate can turn into an a-hole. And sometimes those that look good on paper and interview well, end up being inconsiderate and rude (ask me how I know...). Stick to your guns - if someone is violating the lease terms (i.e. always loud during quiet hours), confront and if they keep doing it, give them notice to vacate. Be nice but don't put up with anyone's crap. I'd rather lose out on a month's rent than get a crappy roommate.

Good luck!

@Heather Russo I rent 3 bedrooms, but I also live in the house so I am a live-in landlord. I imagine being off-site would be a bit different. I have my own bathroom, but for the other 2 bathrooms in the house, I stock cleaning supplies and if a tenant just moves in, I'll leave two rolls of toilet paper (moving is hassle enough without having TP the first few days!), but after that it's up to them to buy their own TP. If I wasn't living in the house, I would still stock an initial supply of toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies, and then say it's up to them when they run out. People that rent rooms are usually used to living with other people, so they understand the nuances of sharing spaces/responsibilities. They can figure out how to split the cost of cleaning supplies/paper supplies.

If this is a SFH and you are renting out the other bedrooms, you can ONLY count what is exclusive to your roommates. So the kitchen, living room, dining room, etc, are not counted. You can include improvements that are made to your roommates' rooms (paint does not count - that's considered standard turnover, not an improvement). I totally remodeled my roommates' rooms, including new flooring, baseboards, light fixtures, etc, so I counted these improvements for that tax year. If you go on the turbotax site, you'll see a lot of forum posts regarding this. Turbotax will for the most part split it up for you with the percent you input into the site. So in your example above, if your roommates only use 200 sqft/1000 sqft then it is 20% rental, 80% personal. Shared areas do not count. I split it based on square footage, but turbotax does call out where you can count based on number of rooms as well. For me, sqft is easier to justify if I'm ever audited. You can also count a bathroom if that is exclusively used by one of your roommates (i.e. a master bathroom).

This is solely my interpretation. You should contact a tax professional for help for your first time reporting this type of scenario. Good luck!