All Forum Posts by: Tracy R.

 Thank you.  I was just mentioning the age since Greg M had asked if she was homebound (which an older person would be more likely to be, but I understand, not always the case).  Anyway, that's the only reason I mentioned her age.  I'm sure she goes out into the world to get things like food, gas, etc

 I do get top dollar rent for the area, and she's been there 3 years, and pays thru an auto deduct platform, so it's been good in that sense.  The difficulty in dealing w her has gotten to be too much, though.  

 thank you.  yes, I only have 1 other rental in this state, but it also has a quarterly inspection clause.  And yes, she can walk, she drives, she is only about 36 years old.

 Thanks, yes, I have that 24 hr notice in the lease, and also require renter's insurance.  good points, i just didn't mention earlier!

Hi, has anyone dealt with tenants who claim they are immuno compromised?  Is this a "protected class"  (rental is in Virginia)

This tenant has had a minor electrical repair issue over the past year, but when I send someone there (at her request), and they wear an N95 mask (at her request, and I make sure they have one), she either won't let them in, or she balks at letting them in.  

I've also needed to go inside a couple times over the past 2 years (minor HVAC issue), and she's done the same with me too.  The one time I was in there, I noticed the 2 rooms I went through were extremely messy also. 

Her lease is up soon, and I just sent her a new one, with a new clause about LL doing approx quarterly inspections, with min of 72 hrs notice.  

And that's when she said she is immuno compromised, and quarterly is too often, and if anyone comes in they have to wear an N 95 mask, sanitize their hands and wear gloves, wear booties, and if they've been in contact w Covid in the past 14 days, they cannot come in


So now I worry, if a bigger issue happened (leaking pipe, etc), would she even tell me, since she obviously doesn't want me or anyone else inside? And is she hiding something else too?

Would love to hear any thoughts/feedback - should I just send her a non-renewal letter at this point, since she has refused to sign the lease w the new clause?  Or did I shoot myself in the foot by giving her a chance first by sending a new lease?

Glad it's helpful.  You have a lot to consider, but you also have an opportunity to really do it right if you're going to build something new.  

You will be so happy once it's done - I wish I'd been house hacking my whole life now!  Just this first one has changed my life.

Good luck, and if you have any other questions as you go along the way, please reach back out!

HI @Ashwin Metpalli, I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply.  Sorry to say that someone passed away in my family back in July, and I'm just now getting back to my msgs.

I'm glad my replies have helped.  I've actually advised several people about doing this sort of house hack.

If you can find a way to close off the areas where you'd like to keep for yourself as storage, then this could work.  

I'm in Marietta (west Cobb), and my rent is $1,400/mo, fully furnished.  I could probably get $1,500/mo or higher, but I'm good with keeping it under market rate, have a great tenant who loves the space, we have a good thing going.

On another point, not sure how far along you are, but there are 2 things you need to know about for this type of living set up.  No one ever told me about this, and had I known, I would have done it differently if I could.  So I'll tell you now in case there's still time to do something about it:

The problem I still have, that I can't solve (but maybe you still have time), has to do with the HVAC system.

When you have a single house, and you're renting out the basement, you are asking the house to do what it is typically not designed to do in terms of the HVAC:  

1. Temperature control:  It's always naturally cooler downstairs, and in the heights of summer and winter, I just cannot get the temperature regulated for both me and my tenant to where we're both comfortable.  So, if you can (or maybe you already have this set up), see if you can put in separate HVAC units for upstairs and downstairs.

2. Also related to single HVAC:  smells.  When they cook, I smell it, and vice versa.  But if you had separate HVACs, you wouldn't have this issue.  Maybe not an issue if you aren't sensitive to smells, but I am, and I hate smelling when they heat up their chinese takeout, and I'm sure they hate smelling when I cook fish!  We just deal with it and make it work, but if I had it to do over again, I would try to separate the HVAC units.

I'm still so glad I have done this house hack, but if I had it to do again, I'd separate the HVAC if at all possible.

One other thing to think about is parking, make sure all cars have enough space to park without having to shuffle.  No one will be happy of you have to move cars to get in /out.

I hope this is helpful, and again, sorry for the late reply.  

I'm not positive, but I don't think an attached basement rental space would be called an ADU. You'd just be renting out the basement space. An ADU is typically a separate dwelling space.

On your question about renting out the basement, it depends.  I do this, and when I called Cobb County where I live, they said you could rent out space like this, but only to 1 unrelated person (unrelated meaning, not a family member).  So, officially, you couldn't rent it out to a couple or 2 roommates, or a family.

For mail, I have one mailbox for the property.  We just each check it and get our own mail out, and leave the other's mail for them to get.  It's no big deal.  If one of us is out of town, we pick it up for the other and put it in a basket in the garage.

If it's within a city limits in those counties, you'll also need to call the city, to see what their rules are.  

Also, if I were you, I'd stay away from a neighborhood with an HOA. Or if you do build in an area with HOA, double check the rules for renting. For example, mine originally said it was ok to rent out but not on Airbnb, only 12-month. But now they've changed those rules and there's a limit as to how many homes in the n'hood can be rentals.

Now here's what you really need to think about:  if you're going to build something, if I were you, having done the basement rental, I would not do it the way I'm set up.  I've made mine work, but there are issues that I cannot solve with renting out my basement.  But YOU can bypass these issues, if you're building new:

The issues with renting out the basement, which NO ONE ever talks about, are temperature control, and smell control, all related to the house having one HVAC unit.

So if you still decide to rent out the basement, I would strongly advise you to make sure there are 2 separate HVAC units, one for upstairs and 1 for downstairs.  I have found it impossible to regulate the temperature upstairs and downstairs.  It's either too cold for them, or too hot for me.  In both winter and summer.  But if you had 2 separate HVACs, the problem would be solved.

Also smells, when they cook, I smell it, and vice versa.  I hate this!  And trust me, when they bring back smelly takeout and heat it up, you will hate it.  I'm sure they hate the smell of my fish cooking!  Again, 2 separate HVACs would solve this.  Also, if you go this route, make sure you have a separate entrance, and enough parking so cars can get in and out without having to shuffle around.

The other option, if you have enough land, would be to build a completely separate dwelling on the property - an ADU. Honestly, I WISH I had this for myself. Then, there are no temperature of smell issues at all, and no shared floor/ceiling, etc. They have their own separate dwelling, it's still on your property, but you can be more apart in living space. This would work for either 12 month or Airbnb. But you'd need to make sure the land is large enough to support 2 dwellings on it, per the zoning. So check with the zoning dept in the town or city.

As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider.  But if you're building something new, you can really do it right, and once you get it rented out to the right person, and it helps pay the mortgage, you will love it.  

I am so glad I did it, even with all of the issues with the air control above.  But if I had it to do again (and hopefully I will someday!) I would try to find a property that has 2 separate dwelling units on it.  Live in one, and Airbnb the other if possible, or do monthly, or long term.  Whatever seems like it would work best for that area.

Good luck!

Hey BP!  Any suggestions on best phone service to use?  I saw some posts in forums, but they were several years old.

I am currently using google Voice, but there's no support, and also for 2 days, they blocked my number for no reason.  I was able to get it reinstated, but that made me nervous.  I'd like to move the same number (local, not an 800#) to a new service that lets me do incoming and outgoing calls, texting (individual, not mass), and some sort of way to store contacts, CRM capabilities a plus.

It's just me, so don't need multiple lines or a lot of bells/whistles.  And trying to keep costs low, since I don't have a lot of volume here!

Any suggestions of services you like? Thanks.