I own a single family 3,000 sq ft ranch house -- 1,500 sq. ft up and 1,500 sq ft down. The downstairs has a "bedroom" (no window so technically not a bedroom but that's how we use it), a huge living space with a wood stove, and a kitchen (yes, second kitchen in my house, though small). There is also an unfinished laundry room with a 1/2 bath, utility sink, and washer/ dryer. The basement has French doors that open onto a mulched courtyard area with a table and chairs. This would be the tenant's ingress/ egress and s/he could also use the outdoor living space.
We live almost entirely upstairs. I only go downstairs to feed the dogs or do laundry. Laundry could easily be duplicated by adding a w/d set in my garage, found used on Craigslist of course!
For roughly $800-1,000 I could add a shower to the basement laundry room, paint throughout (essential), install a door at the top of the stairs with a deadbolt and rent out the space as a furnished 1,500 sq. foot "apartment" with private entry and shared outdoor living space. If I include utilities, I think I can get between $800 and $900 a month so this feels like a no-brainer. We are 10 miles from a major Army base that serves as the Army's logistics-training university so there are lots of officers or senior enlisted coming and going for 6-month stretches of course work. I'm also 15 miles from my mid-sized city's downtown core and major university.
I think this is a great plan for extra income.
Any advice? Pitfalls to avoid? Do I need additional insurance coverage? Has anyone broken through a concrete subfloor to tap off the house's main drain in order to add a drain for the shower? I'd need to do that but it seems like it should work well as the toilet and sink in the unfinished laundry room are already using that drain so it is low enough to accommodate the shower too.
Thanks, in advance!
Oh, fwiw, there is no HOA for my neighborhood and though zoning is single-family no one really pays attention and I have a 1/2 acre lot with one neighbor on either side and a forest behind me. I don't anticipate this being a problem.