How to Set Up a Room Sharing House (common areas)

A room sharing house is a great way to maximize cashflow in a rental property. Here I talk about how I set up the common areas (living room, kitchen, utility room and outside).

[@ronstan3064]

Great video. I’m closing on my first rooming house tomorrow and it’s going to be a nine bedroom house. The housesitter was a great idea, laundry basket I would’ve never thought of, you’re the second person that talks about getting a second refrigerator, and the concrete sitting area with the wicker chairs was a great idea. I was getting ready to spend $7000 on a deck for eight people and I think this may be much cheaper. The backyard with the rocks was also brilliant.

[@rjjohnson6507]

How's it going with rental by rooms? I'm about to start wit a 3/2 large yard

[@tracy3066]

New sub! I've watched 2 of your videos so far and they were exactly what I was looking for now that I have gotten into room rentals. I plan to binge watch your videos! Thanks for doing them. And here I thought I was the only one getting into room rentals LOL

[@labellt9717]

Wonderful tips especially the house sitter!

[@betterhoodproperties]

Just the kind of video I was looking for 👌🏽

[@tracy3066]

Nice house! I love how you work to keep your costs and maintenance down. I went a bit nicer with my furnishings because I just started doing a mix of short term and medium term renting. The short term renting I use in between longer term tenants. I can make even more throwing in short term guests. I'm trying to squeeze as much money out of the house as I can. LOL

[@Lisa-nt7wt]

I enjoyed watching this video. It felt like you was mentoring me on organizing a rooming house from start to finish. I took lots of notes and I thank you for the awesome tips ! I needed all this info :)

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

I'm glad it was helpful! I'll have more videos very soon on this subject

[@jindo24]

Really great video Devon. I think you could become an influencer in the real estate investment industry

[@4joylem788]

Very nice, great video. thank you.

[@LisaSoulLevelHealing]

Great video 🙂

[@tielmanesterhuizen4548]

Great video dude. I can't believe this doesn't have more views. You have a great way of presenting and full of good info. Keep going! :)

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

I'll post more just like this. It probably isnt doing better due to something I'm doing wrong according to the KZbin Algorithm.

[@firesign4297]

@@DevinMorenoInvesting GREAT! Video🤗👍🏿👍🏿 P.S.... Tip for the back yard... Everyone Likes... Privacy....so a ..Taller...WOOD ...or PVC ...Fence installed in front of the existing fence would be COOL👍🏿👍🏿😊

[@tracy3066]

@@firesign4297 Great tip! I agree that would be way better making that more private back there. The hard next door is on top of the backyard.

[@thechubbypuertorican917]

Dude keep these coming. Great advice thanks

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Thanks, will do! I will certainly keep bringing out more rooming house videos

[@Lia-Miya949]

Very Helpful

[@fritzcharles9177]

Awesome video

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Thanks! We are going to be putting up more videos on not only room sharing houses but also other styles of house hacks! Should be a lot of great information for others to start their own investing journey!

[@midnitqween8609]

Gr8 info

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Thanks

[@tracy3066]

So my BIG question is do you allow tenants to have visitors? Seem like that wouldn't be a good idea. I'm not allowing it because I don't want any extra noise in the house. People could be sleeping.

[@Austin-ui8in]

Very useful and thorough guide for setting up a room sharing property for max cash flow. A video on how to set up an Airbnb property for short term rental would be much appreciated!

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

This will be coming soon. I just started my first Airbnb and I'm building another one right now (as well as trying to buy two more outside of Maryland)

[@mellaoreshaw9543]

Good information. Thanks. Have you thought about Airbnb?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

I've absolutely thought about it! Unfortunately Baltimore law makes it illegal to run an AirBnB outside of your primary residence, but its definetly something I'm going to experiment with in other areas

[@marie3503]

Question did your bedrooms for the tenants have key locks in order to lock their bedrooms when they leave?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Yes absolutely. I would recommend key locks for all the bedrooms. It makes the tenants feel much more comfortable. It is more keys to manage but the Key Hero app from Home Depot helps with this a lot

[@higherspirit1]

Great ideas. Keeping the constant paper towel supply could be time consuming and add up over time - seems a little more AirBnB. Do you find this approach worth the cost and hassle of restocking especially when some people use wads of paper tows for the smallest things.

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Well I only stock a set amount of paper towels per a period of time. So my costs don't fluctuate very much on that. Another alternative I have done is to stock white utility rags and have my tenant manager wash them once a week.

[@tracy3066]

I only provide a starter pack of items for a new renter. Usually a couple rolls of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels. One thing I do supply is cleaning supplies.

[@rjjohnson6507]

​@@tracy3066smart

[@shejo3505]

Great video! Question, I’m guessing at least 3-5 cars for this house hack. What do you do for parking?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Yes it is usually about one car per person plus any cars of significant others. So you certainly dont want to have a house hack in an area with an extreme lack of parking or else they would leave pretty quickly. However as long as there are reasonable places to park close by (street parking) then tenants wont mind. You could even use that as an opportunity to charge for a private spot if you have that available.

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

To further elaborate, if the house has a lack of parking for my house hack, then I usually wont buy it. But if the deal is so good that I would risk it, then I would make sure there is plenty of public transit around or make sure its in an area with lots of walkable locations (like downtown). If that's not possible then really the deal might just be a bad one for room sharing

[@lulu-915]

@@DevinMorenoInvesting how much can I change for the parking space???

[@GlennRogersJr]

I'm at work, so I can't search through the vid. When it comes to the water and heat, do you pay that or the tenants? If u pay the heat, what temp do u keep da house on?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

I pay the water and electric bills in my rooming houses. I usually keep the house temperature at 67-71 depending on the season and layout of the house.

[@ShayDPotter]

Do you purposely screen all tenants to ensure they are compatible together or do you just hope it works out?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Yes I absolutely screen them for compatibility. One bad tenant and your whole house wants to move out. This might seem like discrimination of a sort for Fair Housing Laws, but actually a primary residence is exempt from those laws. Even if you have a room sharing house that is not a Primary residence, then you still should be cautious about who you put in there

[@actionpartners6682]

In Maryland, i heard has a law no more than 5 unrelated people living together, is that correct ?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

There are certainly limits that change from county to county. Definitely make sure to look up your local laws before buying for a rooming house. In Baltimore it's 4 people. Though also note that there are ways to apply for exceptions

[@actionpartners6682]

@@DevinMorenoInvesting thanks Devin, that's great insight !!

[@charlesstokes6138]

You can apply for “recovery housing” in order to circumvent the law in Baltimore City. They just are mitigating against slum lords and folk living on top of one another like in the past.

[@higherspirit1]

Anyone have ideas on how to charge for damage done to common area? No one will claim responsibility.

[@charlesstokes6138]

Yup no furniture in the common areas shouldn’t be over 1k I like the “discount furniture stores” that are giving items away

[@firesign4297]

@D.M.I. 🤗 QUESTION ❓ ....My Aunt Has Been Renting Her Upstairs Rooms (4)... With ..Bed /Dresser /Small closet/.... Also.... Everyone has a Tall Floor Type Mini Fridge And Microwave In their individual rooms... And they SHARE The Bathroom....👍🏿👍🏿 But... NOT... Her Kitchen....😊 and people LOVE! The Tall Mini Fridge And Microwave in Their Room... because hardly... ANYONE! .. "COOKS"!😳 ... Anymore...😳 It's an UBER EATS😁 And Reheating Left Overs😁 Ect...Type of ..WORLD! NOW!😳😅 P.S... Thoughts on Doing It That Way ... Anyone ?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

The microwave and minifridge are a common strategy in some lower end rooming houses where they eliminate the kitchen entirely and just make it another room. This strategy can certainly work. You mother lives in her house, so imposing rules and restrictions is a bit easier since she is always there to monitor it. However in these rooming houses, we are often renting houses with kitchens, so restricting them is a bit difficult (and would make us look pretty bad since no one would be using it then in that case). But yes most tenants will be fine with the basics. This is actually a fact we rely on to make sure the kitchen is not too crowded. However there are a lot of young professionals who do cook as well and we just simply will have the flexibility to rent to them as well. Therefore our renter pool would just increase by allowing kitchen use.

[@betterhoodproperties]

I like the functionality and practicality of it, I just don't like the investment part. $100 per mini fridge. Especially for someone starting out. It would be something I would do overtime after building my Capital up. 👌🏽

[@firesign4297]

😊👋🏿👋🏿👋🏿☺️ P.S.... Craigslist Also has ..a .. Free Furniture Ect...Section....😊 Again It's...FREE!😁 👍🏿👍🏿😊

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Free furniture on Craigslist, Offer Up, etc is also a great option. Often the issue with those is they are not free delivery. But if you have the means to pick it up and deliver it, then certainly do so to save money! :)

[@mt-nv4jd]

I do not supply dishes, cookware, or towels.

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Certainly a viable strategy. I just feel for a minimal cost, i remove one of the pain points of living in a house with roommates

[@mt-nv4jd]

You said make sure they have enough counter space, but all your counter space is covered with stuff. Put that stuff away in all those cabinets!

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

The cabinets are being used. Each person takes up about 3 cabinets. There are 5 people in this house. So 15 cabinets are spoken for and that is not including trash can cabinets, or any with common area items. So it is common in houses with more roommates for items to be on the counter. Especially blenders or large dry food items

[@marie3503]

Question did your bedrooms for the tenants have key locks in order to lock their bedrooms when they leave?

[@DevinMorenoInvesting]

Yes I install key entry door handles on all the bedrooms