So last year I rented my house out and lived in a small
class c rv. Meh, it sucked. Four dogs, and 105f days were no fun in the cramped and stuffy space.
So I moved back in to the house in January. It's just too much space. Space to heat, space to cool, space I don't use. I'm not a collector of "stuff", so I only have basics. A queen size bed (I'd be fine on a double, but a queen is what I have/had to deal with), a laptop, a rocking chair (I haven't had a couch or another chair in the house for several years), and some essentials for the kitchen. That's it, errr, that's all I use. The house does have an armoire with a small flat screen tv that I don't/didn't use, and a bedroom set with dresser. Okay, I used the dresser because it was available, but I didn't need it.
So, I'm sitting in the house one day thinking how I can make money off of it, and still live in it. Bam, a new wall and an exterior
door is all I need to split it into two separate units. I end up with two small bedrooms, and the guest bathroom, and the tenant gets the whole rest of the house (kitchen and all appliances, screened room, dining area, great room, master bedroom, master bathroom and laundry room). I also retain the two car garage (where I easily installed a gas clothes
dryer (gas line already there for
water heater) and a washing machine.) so I still have tool storage, and a work space. The yards I zoned off with nice iron gates so the tenant gets the area directly behind the house (very nice with
trees and landscaping) and I retain the entire outside perimeter where I already have my existing gardens. One of the bedrooms I use as a prep area/kitchen to make food (I make all of my meals at home). The only thing bugging me was running
water for the kitchen. First I thought I could wash dishes in the shower.....lol, yes, I thought that. Washing them in the tiny sink in the bathroom wasn't cutting it either. Bam, I had an old stainless sink with faucet on it out in the garage that I picked up for free years ago. All I did was pull the old faucet off the bathroom sink, and plop that big old stainless unit right on top of it. No plumbing (other than screwing the water lines onto the sink faucet), the large stainless sink drains right into the small porcelain sink below.
I happen to live in a very desirable area, so rentals are in high demand around here. An entire house comparable to what I have goes for around $1,200 per month from what I've seen listed. I figured there's probably a market for singles who want the privacy of a house, but don't really need the extra bedrooms. I listed it for $900 (and stipulated they pay for my electricity, and gas of which I use very little). In less than a week, I had a dozen
people seriously interested. The first woman who came to look fell in love, and has now been here a month. Because of the way the house is situated, I can barely here anything from her side (maybe if a door slams, or thuds of some sort). She says she can't even tell that I'm here.
So the house is paid for, I'm making $900 per month, and two of my utility bills have been eliminated. I still have more space than I need, but it's utilized much better, and is probably just about right if I'm honest.
It's probably been done lots of times before, but I'm pretty impressed with how easy it really was to do it. (The exterior door was the hardest thing to do, but because I put it in place of an existing window that was framed high
enough, just simple framing was required to get the door to fit the space. I have yet to patch the small stucco space left by the window, but it
should be relatively simple. The exterior door cost $120 from home depot, and the sheet rock/studs for building the wall/partition along with s bit of insulation and other misc. materials was less than $100. For sure less than $350 total when all is said and done.
It's not "legal", I know, but it would be unlikely someone would turn me in. Even if they did, I could easily say I'm renting a room out rather than a "house".
Just jibbering about what I did. Seems like there's like minded people on this site.