1x5 bed or 2x2 bed

If you are planning to buy a rental home, or you're thinking about what to do with one you have just acquired, this is the place for any questions about starting out in the rentals business.
Esther Thirkelow
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:52 pm
Location: Peak District

1x5 bed or 2x2 bed

Post by Esther Thirkelow »

I am new to the forum, although I have been reading around a lot. We are building from scratch, planning permission has come through and we are lining up funding.

Looking at local prices, it would seem that renting out our property as a single 5 bedroom unit might bring in more money than our original plan of 2x2 bedroom cottages.

What are people's experiences of the ease of letting out smaller versus family sized properties?

The design of the building is flexible with interlocking doors so we could offer both options, but if a 5 bed is going to be better then we could (at least for now) save the cost of putting in a second kitchen and a few other things. The second kitchen would then become a second sitting area in the 5 bedroom setup and the 5th bedroom would normally be sold as be an accessible, downstairs room (it is currently designed as an option of lounge or 5th bedroom if the building is rented out as one unit).

We are in the Peak District if that makes any difference.

Thank you for your thoughts.
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ianh100
Posts: 598
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:37 pm
Location: Sherborne Dorset

Post by ianh100 »

Hi and Welcome.

I think you will get a variety of answers to this one. We have a 3 bed 2 bath and a 2 bed one bath. in our location there is way more 1 or 2 bed properties than 3.

How many bathrooms will you have? We get 2 people booking our 3 bed as they want 2 bathrooms.

I would use the filters on listing sites to see how many 2 or 5 bed properties there are in your location. You can also sometimes get a view for how booked up they are.

In my experience the larger property gets booked up further ahead as there is much less competition.

Are you looking to take short breaks (More people seem to want that now). What are your changeover costs going to be for a 5 bedroom? Will you manage to get short breaks?

We do get people asking to book our 2 properties together (they are attached) so that could still be an option.

Sorry there is no simple answer.
Esther Thirkelow
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:52 pm
Location: Peak District

Post by Esther Thirkelow »

Thankyou, Yes, there are definitely less larger properties listed, and with more limited availability during school holiday times certainly, but we are wary of reducing our options.

All five bedrooms would have en-suite bedrooms.

Do you think turnaround time on 2x 2 bedrooms would be less than one 5? Especially if there was only one kitchen? I imagine both would be similar. We will be doing the cleaning ourselves at least initially and we are on site.

We would consider short breaks, but I don't know if that would be a popular option with a larger property?

So much to think about.
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greenbarn
Posts: 6146
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: The Westmorland Dales, Cumbria

Post by greenbarn »

Would all the bedrooms have space for 6ft wide zip/links so that you can offer the option of twins, thus hitting the market of a mixed group of couples and singles, or all singles? The single beds need to be 3ft wide for adults, hence 6ft wide zip/links.

What do you see as your target market? Identifying that and then providing what that market wants is critical.

Changeover times - a 2-ensuite bedroom place will take about 4 hours, I’d estimate a 5-ensuite bedroom place at about 8 hours.
Esther Thirkelow
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:52 pm
Location: Peak District

Post by Esther Thirkelow »

We are hoping we can fit the full size beds in, well we need to to be honest because one of our options is running courses in an attached studio for which we would want to offer single beds for friends attending together who wouldn't want to share a double...

It's not going to lead to the most generous of room sizes however. That's why we're trying to reassess now while we're getting builders quotes in. (rather expensive ones so far).
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Giraffe
Posts: 410
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2016 10:10 am
Location: Cornwall, England

Post by Giraffe »

Esther, welcome to LMH. I can't advise whether you go 1x5 or 2x2, but I can offer some of my experience.

I have a large 4 bed, 2 lounge house which sleeps 7. This is our family holiday home, so for letting I ran with what was already there. The layout of the house does not lend itself to subdividing. Changeover costs, including linen and towels are £200, also including "welcome tea" and consumables.

I am in west Cornwall and I find it difficult to fill the winter months except for Xmas. You are nearer to a number of northern cities so you may not have this problem. Also you may be offering courses which will impact on your bookings.

Out of peak season I often get just couples booking, and this year even a single person booking. Out of school holidays my norm is a 4 person party or less. I find it difficult to compete on short breaks due to my high changeover costs. There is fierce competition in Cornwall for all types of accomodation.

If I was starting from scratch in my location I would go for as much flexibility as possible, possibly one large house for school holidays, dividing to 2 smaller properties for off peak. Also as you are doing, ensuite for all bedrooms, plus a downstairs cloakroom for each property. But as Greenbarn suggests, you need to identify your target market and provide for what you identify, taking into account your competition.

If you go for 2x2, don't forget about the design of the garden (if you have one) so that your visitors have a level of privacy. If you go for 1x5 there are different fire regulation requirements to consider. Good luck!
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