Making Your McMansion Pay

I bet McMansions would make good boarding houses. They usually have extra bedrooms and even bonus rooms that could be let, and their large kitchens make cooking for a group a breeze. Let's say you have a five bedroom house in a high end subdivision. You put your kids in one room and yourself and your mate in another, and you let the rest to strangers. I bet you could get $750 a pop if meals are included. It's hard to get an apartment for that little in the Hudson Valley, and solitary folks would be so much more comfortable in a family atmosphere instead of comng home to an empty flat. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Would the neighbors have grounds to complain? Only if your boarders made nuisances of themselves. The neighbors would probably thank you for giving them the idea to take in boarders themselves.

If you got to know some Honduran landscapers, you could probably fit 10-15 boarders in your three spare rooms at $500 a pop. That would go a long way toward paying your jumbo mortgage.