Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: building rentals

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

In our neighborhood mother in law apartments have cost much less than the
figure Lynn used and some of those that have them find the extra income to
be important in helping them make their monthly mortgage. 

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah [mailto:welcome [at] olympus.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:36 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_ building rentals



On Feb 16, 2010, at 3:16 AM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:

> Do people build homes in projects where they anticipate designated 
> rentals? Like a Granny House or make an apartment out of the basement? 
> It might not be something people would like to do, but it makes things 
> possible.

In my experience,  a rentable part of one's house is not an overall
financial advantage. I have a daylight-basement rental apartment in my house
and it works for me, but that's because my dad paid for the building of the
house, and I collect the rent. Building a 450 sq ft ADU in the basement,
with its own bathroom and kitchen appliances, own entrance door, lighting,
heating, soundproofing, windows, and all that, probably added $40,000 to the
cost of building the home. I rent it for  $360 a month, which covers the
additional heat, phone line, water, and electric utilities, and maintenance.
The actual "income"  
above that isn't much, and would take decades to pay back the additional
construction cost. So, while it might be possible to reduce overall costs by
building in a rental, it's not a given.

For people with kids, it's helpful to think ahead to when the kids move out.
I could have planned my daughter's room to be a more suitable housemate
rental space, had I kept that in mind. (And it has been rented out, as
well.)

Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend WA
www.rosewind.org
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