Short term apartment rentals

[cdttmm]

Our house was originally built with an attached 2 car garage with a mother-in-law apartment above it. Since then the house and garage have been renovated several times. What used to be a 2 car garage and apartment became our (very large) home office for 7 years. We no longer have a need for a home office of that size so are weighing our options as to what to do with the space. This area of our house has its own entrance and is separated from the remainder of our house by a series of 2 doors with an area about 5' x 5' in between. When you enter the space the stairs to the second floor apt are immediately in front of you, so the access to the apartment is very straightforward. We're thinking about renting the apt, but are debating whether we need to do some renovations or make some changes first. The apt is a studio apt. It has a large full bath that includes a shower stall and a separate jacuzzi bathtub. The kitchen has a full sized refrigerator/freezer and regular sized kitchen sink. However, the kitchen currently lacks an oven/stovetop and a dishwasher.

Is it feasible to simply purchase a countertop microwave/convection oven and an electric 2-burner hot plate to make this a usable kitchen? I don't think a dishwasher is a necessity. And, sure, anything is feasible, but do you think anyone would actual rent such an apt? We live in a small town that is about 8-10 miles away from 6 area colleges. Apartments are priced at a premium here. We would be looking at renting it for short-term rentals, primarily, versus year-long rental as we think that suits us better, although that could change.

I'm sure there are many aspects that I'm not considering, but I would love to get some feedback from others on this board as to how much work we should expect to do to make the apartment rent-ready. I'd like to invest a minimum amount and rent it to see if we can even tolerate tenants (we're quite private and bought a house in the country so that we could have space to ourselves). But renting the apt would likely cover our (very high) property taxes, which would be great and would cover about 25% of our total living expenses for the year.

[AmeliaJane]

Personally speaking, I wouldn't rent an apartment without a full stove if I had other choices. But people who are not big on cooking might be fine with it. You could always try and see how it works out. The other thing that I was wondering about is laundry facilities. I may be reading between the lines but it sounds like you are out in the country? In the past I have rented apartments w. shared laundry facilities, but I would not have picked a place where I had to take laundry into town.

Good luck with your project!

[Mrs. Hermit]

With college students as renters, I would guess the hot plate and microwave would work. Most college students don't do much cooking.

[Float On]

You could rent it as is, setting aside a portion of the rent to add a stove/oven at a later date. Keep your eyes on craigslist, I see stoves on there quite often. I know I used it to sell a perfectly fine electric basic white stove for $50 when I got my new one.

[SoSimple]

I'd rent it. Consider people in "commuter marriages" (like me) who might appreciate a quiet, secluded space during the work-week. Almost all my cooking is done on the stove top or in the microwave, so it wouldn't make any difference to me. However, in-apartment laundry facilities (a small washer is fine) are a big deal for me. I often work long hours and if I get home at 8pm I really don't want to spend the next couple of hours in a communal laundry of any kind (and I'm often not here at weekends, so it's not something I can leave until then).

[cdttmm]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I had not thought about how the lack of access to laundry facilities could be a deal breaker. I think we will try renting it for short term rentals (1-3 months) for folks who are in need of that type of arrangement, which is hard to come by here as most landlords want a year commitment for obvious reasons. There is a laundromat in our tiny town (4 miles from us), which might be okay for short term situations but for a long term rental situation that would become a hassle very quickly IMO. I've seen several postings on Craig's List for professional people looking for short term rentals while they wait for their long term rental to become available or while they are waiting for their condo/house to be built and that would be the market I would likely want to target.

[Float On]

Would you be willing to allow them access to the house washer/dryer once a week for a set aside day?
I've rented a room before on long term basis and only once asked a person to leave before they were ready. Along with the room rent they had access to the kitchen (one shelf in the fridge was theirs as well as one cabinet), access to the laundry 1 day a week.

Having a laundry 4 miles away isn't bad. I haven't had to do my laundry outside the home in over 25 years but I know when I was in college I chose to drive a few miles to a laundry instead of using one of the campus laundry facilities.

[Miss Cellane]

For a short-term rental, I think a microwave/convection oven and two burners would be fine. I love to cook and would never live long-term without an oven, but for 2-3 months, I'd put up with it, if everything else about the apartment worked for me.

For that length of stay, I'd consider renting the place furnished, with a small amount of kitchen stuff already there. It would be a hassle for a renter to move in everything just for three months. My last landlord had some "corporate rentals" which were furnished studios and one-bedrooms. He provided linens, kitchen ware, phone, cable, wi-fi, and laundry. For the laundry, you should check to see how far away laundromats are from you. If you rent to people from the colleges, there are probably plenty of laundromats in that area. When I was in grad school, I had a cheap apartment out in the woods, and took my laundry to campus with me once a week to wash it.

[Selah]

Be sure the space is zoned correctly and you have the appropriate occupancy certificates, or else you can land in very hot water with the city or county, with your insurer, and any rights you may try to assert as a landlord (like evictions) may be nullified if you don't have the legal permission to rent out the space. You will want to look at insulation, soundproofing, fireproof doors, sewage requirements (particularly if you are on a septic tank), fire code compliance, and, if applicable, handicapped accessibility. Your property may be reassessed for tax purposes if it has a legitimate rental income unit on it.

I have been both a renter and a landlord, and second the thought that a working washer-dryer unit is really a deal-breaker or deal-maker. Students might tolerate not having a washer-dryer, but many "grownups" are past going through that kind of hassle and time-wasting activity. Getting an oven shouldn't be such a big deal...used ones are fine and not too expensive, but it adds to the homey feeling of a rental, even if it is short-term. Who knows, things may change with your short-term renter and they may decide to stay even longer, which is an ideal situation. Good luck!