Buying a Duplex, to rent 1/2 and live in the the other 1/2

Do you think it is a good idea to buy an old duplex and fix it up? You can live in half of it, while renting out the other half to help pay your mortgage? I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

From a purely financial point of view I think it's a good idea. I'm away a lot so I even though of buying a house and renting it out room by room for students and just keeping one room for myself.

But if it's actually a good idea or not, that really depends on your personal preferences and how you want to live.

 

Yes, I think that's a great idea if you are a student or single. Once you have a family, you'd like the whole house to yourself. This would be a good way to earn some un-taxed income to pay off your mortgage.

 

Financially I've always thought it was a decent idea. And even had plans (albeit just for a very short time) to check into doing just that. But then it changed when I rented half of a duplex for a short time.

When I was downstairs doing my laundry, I could hear *everything* the people on the other side were saying... every noise, every word. Ugh! So of course I knew they could hear us, too.

And when the lady next door "cooked" (for lack of a better term) and I heard smoke alarms from the cooking smoke she caused, I realized that people in the other half of a duplex had the power to destroy MY side with theirs if they were careless.

If I'd ever buy a duplex now, it would always be for two rentals... never myself living there.

 

I personally wouldn't do this, like Kate says, even if the two halves are separate there is never any real privacy.
The best option when buying a duplex would be to rent it out, either to two families or to a single one.

 

Yes... or even three. I live near an area where the price of a duplex is often ridiculously low... and two or three monthly rent payments would pay it off rather quickly, I'd think.

The place where I had to rent for a while was a duplex originally... the owners kept one who side, but turned the second side into an upstairs and a downstairs apartment, so doing that would pull in three rents instead of two. Still not sure I'd want the headaches, though.

 

At the end of the day you need to decide if it is worth all the effort and time. I agree with you and think that it would be a nightmare to try set everything up and manage the place.

 

I would do it and rent the other part to an elderly person or couple. They won't be partying until all hours of the night and since they're on a fixed income, you know you'll be getting your rent payment every month.

 

If you can stand living in a duplex, it's a great idea. I don't like sharing walls with neighbors. But if this sort of living arrangement works for you, it's worth a shot.

 

I guess you are right in that it boils down to the adage that "to each their own". Meaning that whatever you want/can put up with, is what is right for you.