All Forum Posts by: Summer Chen

 I asked my insurance company. They said landlord insurance is required for any type of rental. Homeowner insurance will not cover any incidence during a rental period. However, once you switch from homeowner insurance to landlord insurance, you cannot switch back to homeowner insurance at the current market because many insurance companies in Cali are not taking any new clients for homeowner insurance. 

 Thank you Zachary. I'll take all into consideration. 

 Got it. Thank you so much.

 Thank you so much. Is a handyman sufficient to install mini splits? 

Thank you Jamie. 

I can rent out the house as 3 separate units, each with its own full bathroom. Two units upstairs and one unit downstairs, each at decent distance from each other. All rooms have smart locks. Common area is downstairs with shared living room, dinning room, and kitchen. Laundry in garage. Surveillance cameras outside and also in the indoor common area. 

When each unit has its own smart TV, how do we manage the noise issue? e.g. what if one renter turns on high TV volume while another one is sleeping? How to manage taking out the trash in the common area while being remote? What if a renter does not wash the kitchen appliance after using it? 

And also questions regarding pet policy as mentioned in another post. I understand many people would recommend to allow pets. If we rent room-by-room, should we not allow any pets? The risk of one renter's pet attacking another renter is always a possibility even if it is prescreened as a "good pet". An insurance agent mentioned that a landlord paid high price when this happened in his property. Also, how to deal it when an emotion support animal is requested when there is no pet policy? Is it illegal to turn down the application when ESA is requested? A landlord reported that a renter committed suicide and said he should have been more alert when an ESA was requested.

As a newbie, there is certainly a lot for me to learn. I do want to practice in a safe manner and provide satisfying customer experience. I have been retrospectively reviewing MTR posts and am very appreciative of all the shared experience in this awesome forum. 

Thank you all. 

 

Thank you all for the insights. 

@Richard F. I'm very appreciative of the helpful details. If we rent room-by-room, should we not allow any pets? The risk of one renter's pet attacking another renter is always a possibility even if it is prescreened as a "good pet". An insurance agent mentioned that a landlord paid high price when this happened in his property. Also, how to deal it when an emotion support animal is requested when there is no pet policy? Is it illegal to turn down the application when ESA is requested? A landlord reported that a renter committed suicide and he should have been more alert when an ESA was requested. 

Thank you.

 Yeah, that's what I have been thinking of. I don't feel there would be much for the property manager to handle, but at the same time, I am afraid that I may not know enough to make the move. 

How do you pay your pm? A rate per room, per guest, per issue, or a flat rate per month for the entire house? What if the manager is out of town for vacation? thanks

I am thinking of starting MTR with my SFH in San Diego. This is a beautiful house with 5bd/3br in a safe area, nice front and back yards of decent size, plenty of driveway and street parking spaces. It is in a convenient location, close to many restaurants, business centers, highway, downtown, airport, hospitals, seaworld, zoo, etc.

I prefer to rent it out room-by-room to traveling professionals. Since I'm familiar with the medical field, I may place tenants by myself. Regarding the rest property management, what should I expect? Is it something one can manage remotely or a property manager is definitely needed or I can pay my neighbor who has some pm experience to take care of issues that need local assistance? 

Or I should completely avoid room-by-room rental and do whole-house renting?

Thank you all for your insights. 

Hi Matthew, 

May I ask how you manage room-by-room rental in California remotely from Ohio? Do you hire a MTR property manager? I'm in a similar situation but need more inputs to figure out if it is feasible for me. Thank you so much.