2 rental units versus 3 - how to renovate?

I fear that this may have been discussed already but I remain confused. We have just learned that our house is most likely a legal 2 not a legal 3\. From what I have been reading it would not matter even it was at one time a legal 3 – I would still have to put in sprinklers and make it ADA compliant and in fact, we would want to do this from a safety standpoint anyway. I am trying to figure out if the cost of doing it as a three would be recouped in rent anytime soon or if I am better off just making a garden floor/parlor 3 bedroom duplex with the top floor a 3+ separate rental unit. I know that a 3 family requires sprinklers, another meter, another kitchen, another bathroom but what else would it entail. I see lots of warnings that it goes beyond the sprinklers but I am wondering how far beyond. The house is in Stuy Heights. I was figuring that as a 2 family: Garden and Parlor Duplex – 3-4 bedrooms plus 2 baths $3,500-$4,000 Upper floor – 3-4 bedrooms 2 baths $3,000-$3,500. As a 3 family I thought: Garden level 2 bedroom 1 ½ bath $2,000-$2,500 Parlor Level 2 bedroom 1 ½ bath $2,000-$2,500 Upper floor – 3-4 bedrooms $3,000-$3,500 AM I totally off base here? BTW – we would likely want to move in to the house in 3-4 years when the kids are off at school….

firsthouse

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 6 months ago

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Augustiner | 10 years and 6 months ago

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the top floor has a lot of room because there is no hallway. Do yourself a favor and listen to resident2\. Your ideas are delusional. The idea of lots of tiny bedrooms is outdated in prime Brooklyn. Build something great not something based on a contractors opinion.

resident2 | 10 years and 6 months ago

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Firstly do not even waste your time, money or brain cells trying to convert a two family to a three. It is not worth the delays and aggravation, expense and the huge increase in Real Estate taxes for the “improvement” after your contractors and architects have left you shell shocked from the experience. Secondly you have to think about what kind of tenants you want. The four bedroom with only skylights for the living room and kitchen in the middle is only conducive to a revolving door of room mates that use it more as a “rooming house”. Also do you really want all that much traffic over your head? For an owner occupant I always think it works best to live above your tenants and have separate front door entrances from the street. Also this layout has a much better re-sale value if it is done right. The garden floor only looks smaller now because a lot of space is lost to shared hallways, entrance ways etc. If you build it as a garden rental, there is no lost space to shared space.

firsthouse | 10 years and 6 months ago

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The top floor is really wide. The place is 55 deep and for some reason top floor has lots of extra room. 3 different contractors and an architect friend have told us we could get 4 bedrooms with windows up there and a nice size open plan kitchen living dining with skylights. That is why I think we would combine gardrn floor and parlor because gardrn floor is waaaaay smaller than top.

NeoGrec | 10 years and 6 months ago

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I’m also confused as to how you’re planning a 3-4 bedroom unit on the top floor. Do you have an enormously deep footprint or a huge rear extension? Most rowhouses have two large rooms and two small hall rooms per floor, and sometimes a small room like a bathroom in the middle of the floor.

Augustiner | 10 years and 6 months ago

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make the upper floor a duplex and a separate garden rental. You win a lot of space by integrating the hallway into the duplex. Given that you could maybe make 1000 more per month on a 3 family rental situation, you would recoup the cost for the c of o reconfiguration in 10-15 years. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially if you want to move in yourself in 3 years. … I wonder how you are planning to get 2 bedrooms into one floor if it’s a 20×50 building or less.