The minimum down payment is 5% and no bank will give a 0% down payment. However a bank will look at the basement rental as an additional income which might allow you to receive a higher mortgage then your income allows.

If your house has 2 legal units as recognized by the city then your rental income from the basement can be used in a mortgage approval. You would know if it was when you purchased the property or if you have gone to the city and made arrangements to have it legaly converted to 2 units. Otherwise it is not legal to rent your basement, and the banks will not consider it as income.

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I rented a basements two bedrooms 1000 a month--no lease i was a good tenants. pay my rent on time for a year. he was the shittiest land lord. when i rented it he fail to mention the septic tank is backed up where sometimes when you flush or plunged the toilet stuff comes up in the shower drain. the drain in the front when you come in is clogged. when it rains the water overflows into the hallway, i did without light to one side of the house for 5 months, stove was broken, mold within the walls ( didn't know these things. this is my first apt in a house. lived in a building all my life). his vicious dog that he refused to put on a leash and walk. let him run free in his backyard witch was my place of enter and exit ( also when doing laundry in his house). one time late from work his dog chased me (when i was entering) onto a car. left him on a orange phone wire tied to the gate more than once because he is cleaning. plus i have 2 kids too. been there for a year trying to move but it is a little hard. he decides to tell me 1st the bank is taking the house from him in two months and i told him i have to save money to move so i can't pay him, his says ok 5 days later he comes for the rent. then he tells me he is selling the house and he is still paying mortgage and untiles so he will take 100 off a month. that not we agreed. now he is say i can use my deposit for 2 weeks when i payed 1 months rent plus sec (of one extra month) i'm to the point i'm not paying him for at least one month i should be paid off:& angry face

You can't simply not pay rent unless you want to face an eviction. If there is a vicious dog loose, call animal control or the police. If there are sewer problems, call the health department or building inspector. They take care of those types of problems routinely. Write out a repair request for any other repairs needed and mail it by certified mail, rrr. In the meantime, continue to pay rent as long as he owns the house. Otherwise he will file an eviction against you and it will be on your court record. As a public record, any future LL can see this and will deny you housing for it. You can only use the deposit as rent if the LL agrees to this. That money is not supposed to be used for rent.

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I own a large home and i rent part of the home to a single tenant. i live in that home and pay a mortgage and i also report earned income from the collected monthly rent. i am considering using the basement of the home for a single proprietor business. given that i rent out part of the home, could i also write off the portion of the home that will be used for the home-based business?

For the rented part of the home, you will report income and expenses on schedule E (Form 1040). Home home based business, you can take home office deduction on schedule C or C-EZ.

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This is my primary residence. mortgage was for around $82k, owe about $75k, but the repairs will cost at least $40-50k (major basement repair, new kitchen, bathroom, new flooring throughout, etc). i was aware of kitchen replacement, etc, but the basement issues i just discovered and that could easily be $25k to fix living in mi, the house, even after repairs would probably only sell for $100k. should i do the repairs and try to sell, taking the loss, or should i stop making payments, save up what i'd pay monthly and find someplace to rent until i can buy again? i really don't have the $ to make major repairs, and don't have the credit to get a heloc or other loan. i do not currently have a reason to move, such as a change in my job. however, i feel like i'm just dumping $ into a money pit, even by paying the mortgage. i could pay rent and not have to worry about maintenance. plus with the foundation issue, i'm worried the whole house is going to collapse. then what? i was considering taking that house payment, banking it until we are foreclosed on, and then finding a rental and still be up many thousands of $. a short sale probably wouldn't work since the foundation is crumbling; i'd only be able o sell for maybe $30k due to all the work needed... wow rodney, that was extremely helpful. i thought the purpose of yahoo answers was for people to be helpful, not have an outlet for their need to be a jackass .. or did you miss that part of the equation? i fail to see how my mortgage would have an effect on your taxes. why don't you try to get information to back up your rantings before you post. next time someone wants you to take a $50,000 loss, let's see how you feel about it. stan, thanks for your thoughtful advice. smiling - i didn't say i had done it yet. i said i was considering it. hence the asking of the question. if i had already decided to walk away, do you think i'd be asking the opinions of posters on this site? you could have simply stated that i should look into a homeowner's claim to fix the basement issue, not be a jerk about it! you're just another keyboard cowboy, apparently, with nothing better to do than insult people and hide behind your monitor. what for? the sake of gathering "points" on here? grow up!

If you stop paying your mortgage, then eventually the taxes that I work and pay for will go towards bailing you out, so I'm going to say no. Walking out would be a scumbag move on your part. Suck it up and take the loss. That's life. You win some, you lose some.

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Alright, so my family and i have moved into a new 2 yr old house about two months ago. of course now we have to pay mortgage! so, we rented out our two bedroom basement to a lady who has 2 kids. we re only charging 700 dollars, and honestly that is cheap compared to other basements here, because where i live its a rich type of neighbourhood, new, and big basements! anyways, first two weeks she moved in was ok, she didnt pay the rent on time but we got it .. later. my mom and dad gave her so much respect, by giving her extensions and all! so, then she complains that the fridge is dirty and we apologised .. my mom said you could have told us, before hand .. instead she took pictures to scare us. now third week ..she doesnt pay the rent .. its way overdue .. and she says she will not pay us until we fix one of her plugs that isnt working, and we refused saying she must pay us first. she said no. and called my parents scum landlords, then my brother came down to her, telling her nicely that yelling isnt the smartest thing, and if we re scums your most welcome to leave.. but she slammed the door. we left her alone, and turned off her heat. its been 4 weeks still no rent, so we decide to turn off all the breakers, so she gets nothing. now she came to our door saying .. everything is turned off, and my mom said well, i dont know. your not giving rent. she replies saying, this is illegal - and my mom shut the door on her, just like she did on us. again, my mom never yelled she did. so now, she has nothing and i was just wondering whose fault is this.. whose right or wrong. i believe she must hand in the rent, in order for us to supply anything for her. if you wondering, yes we told her to move out .. but shes stubborn she wont, but now i think she will! btw, she also beats her kids in the morning time, during the day, and at night. ones in grade 5, the other is in grade 2. she hits them, swears at them, and she forces them to do dishes. poor kids cry there eyes out. how would i know.. we ve seen it, and heard it! she is one loud women. i told my dad we should call social services... but thats a different story! anyways thats it ...

your family is the ones breaking the law......you cannot turn off her heat or electric, you guys can get arrested for that....you have to go to the sheriffs dept and get her evicted...this process can take 3-4 months and if she has kids.....even longer.....so she can live there rent free ........ so your first issue is .....illegal eviction crime on your part by shutting off water and heat.....your second violation is that im sure your house in not zoned as a two family home......that is a second violation....our court here fines people 100 per day for this offense....if she contacts your towns building inspector....you guys will have huge fines

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We are moving to the other side of the country, after our down payment, what we have put into the house, capital gains, realtor fees and all of our payments to the bank minus what we would have paid for rent elsewhere, what we have paid down on mortgage and all of the rebates we got we will end up with at a 14,000 profit- that is the bottom of the pool of similar homes that have sold in the last 6 mo. there is about a 25,000 difference between the lowest priced one and the highest similar home in my neighborhood so we could but most likely wont get up to say 35,000 in profit. would i be better off trying to rent out of state? will my mortgage on the house we buy in wa's rate be higher because it is a second mortgage? what do you think? please dont tell me i dont know what my house is worth- the "similar houses" are all missing second bath, updated kitchen, most donthavewood floors new bath, newer windows, new roof, new water heater, sump pump, fin basement new hvac and appliances

You really don't want to be an absentee landlord. Also, the capital gain at this point is tax exempt. It may not be if you rent the house foe an extended period.

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*i moved about a year ago to this house and i used to pay the rent to the father of the owner, who lived in the basement and was in charge of the property. ok, so today a man came to the house and notified me that the house is in foreclosure, apparently it's been a year since the owners stopped paying their mortgage, but i didn't know that and i had been paying rent every month until april 2010 because the father of the owner died and no one came over to pick up the rent or to tell us about the house being in foreclosure. until this day i don't know anything about the owners, i don't even have a phone # to call them. in the notice i received it says to contact some lady(i'll call her tomorrow) before july 24 for the possibility of them giving me cash to move out and avoid the risk of eviction. so does that mean if we don't agree on something before that date, that they will evict me right away? if they do give me some cash will they still kick me out right away? help please!!!!!!!!

Relax. Foreclosure is a long, slow process and your lease is valid and binding until the end. And even at the end you are given some time, some notice. Since you haven't been paying rent for some months you should have money saved up (waiting to pay LL) to make a deposit on a new place. Plus, they're apparently offering you Cash for Keys, Cash to move out without them having to go to court to evict you. They can't just throw you out, they have to go to couret and a judge orders it and gives you a date, and Then, if you don't get out, the sheriff throws you and your stuff out. Move out date can be negotiated, along with the cash, not months, but weeks.

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So i have a one family house and fixed up the basement with a shower, kitchen and living space for rent. i got a tenant about a year ago, but recently (4 months) he kept delaying the rent payment and now i want him out. however he doesn't want to leave, and threthnens to call the police saying that he will tell the police how unlawful it was for us to rent him the place in the first place. what do i do? should i call the police myself? i really don't want him living in my basement anymore because he doesn't pay the rent (which is a part of what i need to pay off my mortgage which is $3000). i need some advice. thank you

If there is no contract or lease and his name is not on any of the utility bills then hire a couple of guys and move his stuff out, then change the locks. Let him call the police, you simply dealt with an unwelcome quest who overstayed his welcome and wouldn't leave.

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We will be selling our commercial building and business. the buyer is getting financing for the building so we will get that money in one big chunk, but will make payments over 9 months to pay for the business. my husband and i are undecided what to do with our living situation; what's your opinion? we are dave ramsey fans and strive to, above all, be debt free. after paying off debts, we will have $70k from the sale of the building to put towards our house mortgage (currently around $135k and it appraises at $145k). no argument about that. we can't agree on where to put the $55k from the sale of the business. he wants to put that towards the current house as well. i want to use it as a down payment towards another home (from $90-110k) and rent out both parts of the current home (refinanced at 15yr mortgage). this would be enough rent to pay for both home mortgages. we currently rent out our basement and live in the top half of the home (we've been doing this for 6 years). it is 850sqft with 2 bedrooms. we have two boys that share a room and various large and small animals. and, we have another baby due in 6 months. we are out of room! even if we didn't have a renter and spread into the basement, i wouldn't feel comfortable separating myself from the kids. to get to the basement, you literally walk out the door to an (enclosed) outdoor stairwell and then into the door of the basement. it's like a completely different structure that happens to be underneath. i don't need a bigger/nicer home, just one that has a different layout (like a ranch). my husband acknowledges we're out of room, but is zeroed in on paying off the house and says we need to rough it with 3 kids in one tiny room. he can't, however, give me a timeline for how long we'll be living like this. he, by the way, has nothing to do with the house. he doesn't do any of the care taking of the kids or home and has no idea the stress this cramped home gives me. i know my husband just wants the peace of not having a mortgage. i know that's a good thing. my plan, though, is to continue to rent out the home until the market gets better and then sell this current home (within 5 years?) leaving us 100% mortgage free, and maybe we'll have enough to get a car younger than 15 years old! unless, of course, we're able to pay off the mortgage with my husband's next business adventure then we'll keep it as an income property. if you were in our shoes, what option would you be leaning towards? thanks for taking the time to read!

I commend you on your responsible thinking. It is good that both of you agree on the first amount of $70K. Payoff a mortgage is one of the better ways to have peace of mind. In today's poor economy and low interest rates, it is also one of the better ways to get a better rate of return ( you are, in effect, investing the money at the rate of your mortgage ). My own opinion is to follow what your husband wants: apply the $55K to the mortgage. Once you are mortgage free, you can start planning for the future without the concern of falling behind on payments and the like. I followed a similar route. I paid off my mortgage early; this really became a blessing when I was laid off and took 18 months to find another job. Not having to worry about the next mortgage payment really gives a feeling of freedom. And if you own your property free & clear, most banks will give you a home equity loan against your equity with little problem, even in today's climate.

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This is our case: were a family and are 4 adults 1 child living in a 2 story small house. when we moved in there wasn't lease because my mother's husband rented the house to us. we didn't pay a deposit but agreed to pay anything we damaged or broke. he asked for $1,200 a month and we pay all bills. now our sister wants to live in the basement with her boyfriend and pay $300 which the landlord wants $200 of it. we will be uncomfortable a bit but willing to sacrifice to pay less rent and don't want to give over the extra $200. he says that he only gets enough to cover the mortgage and does not gain any money out of it. so he needs money to fix improvements which the house needs much. the garage door does not work (we did not break it), the door screen door etc. but we think that is his responsibility not ours. on top of that he keeps a truck in the garage so we can only use one side not that we do anyways since the door doesn't work. then they complain we don't cut the grass. is it fair? the house is not in a great neighborhood and the house is not in great conditions. we don't think we should cut the grass and water the flowers and clean the property when we don't even dirty it, i thought it was his duty. if we do maintenances on the yard then we waist time and money with all that the bill water would go up for us for the watering etc. we never agreed to keep the property clean and neat but we do not dirty it we do not even go out side we only have one child and she goes to a park.

The rent is whatever a willing rentor and a willing landlord agree it is, when it comes down to it. If you're not willing, you can try to negotiate, or you can start looking at other places. You can learn how to negotiate by reading the book, "Getting to Yes" to learn how to ask for what you want. "Fair" doesn't really have anything to do with it. Ask if he can make the same or more from other people, to understand if he has options or not, and ask if you can get a better place for the same or less money, to see what your options are.