Renting Your House Out

[stillmovingforward]

Yup, another 'renting your house out' thread:
I work over 1 hour drive from my house in a cute little town.  H is off work and is looking at some interesting jobs close to where I work (used to work right down the road from our house).  I've always wanted to try living in the big city.  
If he takes a job in the city, I am very hesitant to sell our current house and move.  Houses rarely come up for sale OR rent in our town and it's a highly sought after town to live in.  Plus an elderly relative lives in our ADU and she can't afford to move.  
I'm thinking that we should rent the main house and get an apartment in the city (if he takes a job there and enjoys it).  To give things a trial run.  Other than the typical 'don't do it!', anything I should/shouldn't do?  Up front, there are no relatives or friends to want to rent it.  Strangers only.

[dee27]

What is ADU mean?

[Tennesseer]

If the city you might rent an apartment has a lot of amenities within walking distance orceven a short ride, go for it.

I lived in a high rise for many years and after getting home from work on Friday afternoons via my car, I didn't get in my auto again until Monday morning. Restaurants and entertainment were all within walking distance.

[phil5185]

Strangers only.

[zibazinski]

I have some friends in Chicago that did just that but they wouldn't rent their house out. Both of them just rented a furnished apartment for a year. They want to sell so I think this is the perfect time for them to put it on the market.

[gooddecisions]

My husband moved out of his house 15 years ago, rented it furnished (to his granddad) for a couple of years, then had to empty it when a new tenant moved in and wanted it unfurnished. He finally sold that house last year.

He moved out of his condo 10 years ago and has rented it out since then. He took his personal things and left everything else. That worked for 5 years, then that tenant (a friend) moved out and the new tenant didn't want it furnished. So he got all of the furniture and dishes and such.


Then 4 years ago, we moved out of my town house and haven't sold it either. We needed all our furniture, so we rent that one unfurnished.

There have been a few hiccups, but for the most part it's been fine.

[resolution]

I hired a property manager to rent out my house when I moved out 8 years ago. So far it is working out well, with minimal trouble and expense. Eventually when we move out of our current house we plan to do the same thing again.

[Tiny]

I think it would be a good 'adventure' to rent your house and live in the city.  

That said, having had renters in my "shack in the sun" - I would advise that you put some emotional distance between you and your house if you rent. Your renters won't be as careful/loving/easy on your house as you are.  (I'm still wondering how my tenants smashed a patio door window, pulled a door of the frame, and why they keep destroying the microwave.   FWIW: if the microwave fails again - I'm having it removed from the unit.  The tenant can provide their own counter top model.   <-- these are things that have happened over 7 years with different tenants)

I'm assuming you will remove all your belongings (to storage or your new abode) and you'll possibly need to repaint/repair odds and ends before renting.

I'd also recommend a "property manager" if you can afford it to handle finding the tenant, collecting the rent, and handling maintenance issues.

Don't expect to get your house back in the same shape it started out in - not that the renters will destroy it - but it will have a year (or more) worth of 'wear and tear' that YOU didn't get to do. 

 

[Bonny]

Aug 3, 2017 13:20:50 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I think it would be a good 'adventure' to rent your house and live in the city.  

That said, having had renters in my "shack in the sun" - I would advise that you put some emotional distance between you and your house if you rent. Your renters won't be as careful/loving/easy on your house as you are. 

Don't expect to get your house back in the same shape it started out in - not that the renters will destroy it - but it will have a year (or more) worth of 'wear and tear' that YOU didn't get to do. 

 

Excellent advice and easier said than done.

Even though I've spent a career in real estate I still had a hard time with renting out our Bay Area house. My tenants didn't do any deliberate damage (ok their daughter kissing the wood doors with lipstick which they were unable to clean was on purpose). I still felt like I handed them a beautiful house and got a fixer back nine years later. Given that I had to start eviction proceedings shortly before the nine year anniversary I realize that I could have had it much worse. About the only thing that I could console myself (and probably more importantly DH) was that the total of the rent payments over that nine year period was almost the exact amount of our mortgage.

I am very glad we didn't sell the house. Since our move out date of 8/1/2003 through today there have been two houses which have come up for sale in our 20 house in-fill development. Between our ocean views and open space people seem to only move out feet-first. For sure there are better houses/neighborhoods but in our neck of the woods "upgrading" will set you back $2M.

[stillmovingforward]

Dee27:
ADU is an accessory dwelling unit.  Like a mother in law apartment.

I'm feeling better about it now.  I would need to have some of the rent to pay the mortgage so leaving the place empty wouldn't be feasible.  The rest could be horded for maintenance and such. There have only been 4  houses on our street come up for sale in the 20+ years we've lived here.  One was a fixer-upper and the other three sold for almost a million $    And only one rental that rarely changes hands.  For the past year, there hasn't been a rental in this town at all.  

I don't think I'd want to do an Air BnB.  Sounds like it might be a lot of work.  And the house isn't THAT nice.  I've missed the decorating girlie gene.  My idea of decorating is making sure the books are in the bookshelves and the place has been vacuumed in the past few days.

I'd love to live in the city!  One of my kids does and he loves it.  Lots to do, buses galore and plenty of neat places to walk to.  H could walk to work or take the bus.  I'd drive but the commute would be shorter and the traffic the same.    I'd also enjoy having a much smaller place to clean!  The only issue is the BIG dog.  But he's lazy and very quiet.  

[dee27]

Thanks for the explanation.