Suggestions needed on sharing my house with a tenant. (Austin: 2015, apartment)

[ea0337]

Hello Everyone.

We are a family of three (plus our golden doodle) and have been living in our 4-bedroom house located in Central Plano (75023) since 2015. Due to employment reasons, my wife and daughter will be moving out of state for a while. Being a pseudo-bachelor again, I'm considering sub-leasing 1 room in our house to a tenant on a short / medium term basis (2-9 months).

This is going to be a first for us and we're looking for this as a middle-ground instead of outright selling the house.

I'm looking for any suggestions on how to go about doing this / do's-dont's / any tips whatsoever. Look forward to hearing from all of you.

Have a good day.

(P.S.: Selling the house is not an option for us currently due to my employment situation.)

[CCCyou]

I have a friend (in Austin) who did this - rented rooms to university/college students, maybe even foreign college students.
Not sure if she signed on to some program for this, but it has (and continues) to work out very well for her, and she has NEVER had a problem with the people, payments, or a vacancy. A financial lifesaver for her as she gets a limited pension/SS, and has been able to keep house in very nice condition with this.

Not sure if any higher-ed schools near you, but something to consider.

[ea0337]

Thank you for the info. I don't think Central Plano has the same demographics (college students) as Austin, but will look into it. Similar to your friend, I'm hoping to generate some income to pay towards the mortgage, since I won't be needing so much house for myself.

Hoping to hear from some people in the Richardson / Plano area who've had prior experience with this.

[UnfairPark]

1. First check with your HOA about any rental restrictions.
2. Rent out whole house and get yourself a studio somewhere.
3. Find a family who will be okay with you staying there if rent is lower than the market for similar homes.
4. Some single/divorced/widowed colleague or friend may feel interested in sharing a nice house instead of living in an apartment.

[Katana49]

I'd be really surprised if the OP has an HOA in 75023. Or if there is an HOA, it's probably voluntary and has no teeth to enforce anything. Renting out a room shouldn't be a problem.


I'd stick to the plan and rent out a room, doesn't make sense to rent out the entire house only to pay rent to live somewhere else, I doubt you'd be better off that way when you crunch the numbers. That way, you're also on site to guarantee the house isn't trashed.


There are standard rental agreement contracts you can find online, definitely use one of them rather than draw up your own, as that could lead to increased liability on your part if your contract is missing some clause or legalese.

[esk1]

I did this for 4 years when I bought my first house about a decade ago. I used a standard online rental agreement that had clauses for this sort of scenario with details about common living spaces and other things that wouldn't be an issue if you weren't living with the renter. Bills were the tricky part because its impossible to split fairly, It might be easier to do a flat rate if the tenant doesn't abuse water/electricity. At the time I was always able to rent to friends of friends and never had any issues whatsoever. For awhile I was renting out two bedrooms and paying about 90% of my mortgage. Like most rental situations I think the success will probably come with tenant selection that is compatible with yourself.

[ITinCC]

You have to realized what are you leasing to the renters.


Do you allow them to have access to the other parts of the house (living room/TV, kitchen, other bathrooms)? If so, who will be doing the cleaning?


Also, what about guests? Will you limit the number of guests they're allowed to bring? How would you feel if they give the house key to a friend? How would you feel if they have loud sex in your own house?

[WorldKlas]

Since its short term, perhaps just rent out the master bedroom via Airbnb to test drive how you feel about sharing the house.

[ea0337]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

@UnfairPark, @Katana49 : 75023 is an older neighborhood, so there's only a voluntary HOA. Since this will be a first for me, I'll be more comfortable renting out a room than the whole house. Appreciate the info about standard rental agreements online, will look into those.

@esk1 agree with you on the complexity of splitting utilities etc., a flat rent should be just fine. As you said, tenant selection will be key.

@ITinCC all your points seem valid. Maybe drawing out a set of basic house rules should help with that. Can't control the loud sex though!!

@WorldKlas Was thinking of listing on AirBnB myself. Do you know of any other sites to post such classifieds (excluding craigslist)?

[yjc281]

Originally Posted by ea0337

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

@UnfairPark, @Katana49 : 75023 is an older neighborhood, so there's only a voluntary HOA. Since this will be a first for me, I'll be more comfortable renting out a room than the whole house. Appreciate the info about standard rental agreements online, will look into those.

@esk1 agree with you on the complexity of splitting utilities etc., a flat rent should be just fine. As you said, tenant selection will be key.

@ITinCC all your points seem valid. Maybe drawing out a set of basic house rules should help with that. Can't control the loud sex though!!

@WorldKlas Was thinking of listing on AirBnB myself. Do you know of any other sites to post such classifieds (excluding craigslist)?

As far as I know one big competitor to AirBnB is booking.com. However the fees are much higher and it is mostly dominated by commercial properties.