In my location it is pretty standard for the renter to have to pay for their own cable separately (contract directly with the cable company). Sometimes this even includes paying for the installation of the cable, if the cable is not in the unit or in the location they want it.

Where I live it's the same as palimpsest - cable is virtually always the tenant's responsibility. A cable connection (meaning having the plug in the wall) is a nice marketing point, though, and when/if you do go to sell the house a connection in each room is a nice little detail. If you do intend to share a wireless network - not something I'd recommend, personally - have a geeky sort ;-) set up your router with individual firewalled accounts requiring passwords. (Actually, your wireless network should be encrypted/firewalled anyway - if your network is "open" anyone can hop right on it. There's actually a gadget where you can drive around neighborhoods and it will find open wireless networks to piggyback on.) But if this were my situation, I'd just have the wiring put in, one jack in each room would be particularly nice, and if people want to sign up for cable TV and internet that's their own deal. Ditto for an ordinary phone line. BTW, it's a lot cheaper to have an electrician do the actual wiring in the house - all the cable and phone companies have to do is the hookup from the pole to the house, if that doesn't already exist.

Don't accessorize/decorate. If they want to decorate (within limits you set, including things like providing specific picture hangers you'd like them to use to minimize damage to the walls etc.) they can do so. Use the furniture you already have, and if they don't like it, they're welcome to arrange for it to be stored safely and bring in their own furniture. You're trying to raise money, not spend it! :-) If you have room to store the other bed - at least the frame - you can give the boarder the choice between the double or the twin/daybed. (Make sure you have waterproof mattress casings. There are some good ones out there that are breathable so you don't get that sticky feeling.) Hit up Freecycle for as much as you can for things like the mini-fridge, dresser, desk/table (gateleg tables are great), nightstand, lamps, blah blah. So what if the stuff doesn't match? You can always paint everything white if it really bothers you, but IME furnished rooms in college towns tend to be a bit on the hodge-podgey side anyway.

It may look a little weird but having had WAY too many housemates over the years who seemed lovely at first and turned out to be a little hinky I do suggest installing keyed or keyless-entry doorknobs on the bedroom doors (yours and theirs, although of course you keep a key to theirs). One of the dumbest things I ever did was lease a large townhouse and sublet rooms to other people without doing this.

Oh, and if you have a working landline telephone in the house, most telephone companies have a service where a PIN must be entered to make any long-distance calls. One boarder I had left me and other tenants with thousands in overseas telephone calls; we had separate lines in each room but she just plugged into other people's jacks when they weren't home (another reason for locking doors).

You already know to put everything - and I mean everything, right down to the silliest little detail - on paper. Make sure there's a clause permitting you to inspect the rooms for cleanliness on the minimum notice allowed by your state's landlord/tenant regulations (usually 24 hours), since you are permitting food storage and preparation in the "suite". In the same house as the phone thief, another tenant left food and unwashed dishes in her room which caused a nasty roach and ant problem. Her security deposit barely covered the cost of the exterminator.

"But am I ruling out an older person renting if I put in that type of a bunk system?"

Yes, I think it would.

"That system would maximize space utility though, and provide sleeping and lounging and a place for an overnight guest to sleep for the lodger."

I would not allow "overnight" guests for a lodger. You have no idea what kind of people they would be, or even if the tenant knows them really well, or even if they just met them the night before. This is your home. This is not an apartment you are renting out. You have the right to make any rules you wish.

You may want to consider if children are going to be allowed too. Lots of divorced people are financialy strapped and rent furnished rooms until they can get their life back in order, and may have visitation rights with their children. Just something to consider also.

"Second, how important do you think it would be to have cable in the room?"

I think that having both a phone jack and a cable connection in the rooms would be very important to a renter. They are most likely going to have a computer and need an internet connection and there should be the option for broadband, DSL or dial-up. They may want cable TV too. They should have their own account though. You do not want to have it in your name or you could get stuck paying for thousands of dollars in 'pay-per-view' programming. Or long distance calls. Even if you tried to sue in small claims court it would be hard to prove who made the calls or ordered the movies, if it was a shared account.

I have my in home wireless network firewalled. But I never thought about phone. I live so much in the cell phone age I forgot about land lines. And I didn't think too much about anyone using my phone since it is set up to only make local calls. I use a calling card when I want to do long distance on my land line.

I like the idea of a cable jack in the room and then let the tenant decide if they want just internet or internet and cable TV. And it would probably be somewhat of a selling point for my house if I ever sell it. I have a cable in the master bedroom, just not these two back ones. I'll have to check on the prices of it. And to see if it could be kept seperate from my cable Internet and phone service.

And now that I think about it, I agree about the "no guests" issue. I'm not sure how flexible I can be. I mean I don't mind if a college student wants to have a friend over. My best friend rented out a room in his house and he ended up living with his lodger and his lodgers Peruvian fiancee in the end. I dunno. I lived there too for a while, they weren't too bad, pretty quiet clean and nice. But they could have been horrible.

I plan on reusing most of the stuff or getting it at garage sales, etc. I have most of what I need--beds, chairs, shelves, dressers, etc. Just the fridge, studio bed frame and computer desk I don't have. I had a computer desk but my dad is using it now. I've been checking CL but the desks there are not that cheap and even though I could probably get them for much less, I'd have to drive to wherever to get them. Since I have to go to IKEA anyway this weekend I'm thinking of just getting something cheap there. I'll have to see what they have. I passed up a dream table and chairs on CL last month but I was too busy to go look at it at the time. That's why I'm asking for advice now, in preparation for the trip to IKEA. I don't mind spending a few bucks for these small items, probably under 300--if it means I get a nice tenant and some privacy for the investment.

Thanks for all the tips. GREAT advice, I'm a newbie at this. I once rented a room when I did my student teaching (not a good experience, the landlord only heated the rooms she used in the dead of an icy winter and I was stuck huddled next to an electric heater that didn't quite do the job.) And I've stayed for a while with friends who were renting rooms in their houses. Not too many bad experiences that I've heard of but it all depends on who you get in as a lodger I know. I also rented out my house furnished for 9 months to fabulous tenants so I got really lucky.

Thanks again for the tips. And I will keep the double bed for a while since it will take me a while to sell it. But I really don't have the storage for it. That's the tricky part. The bed's the only thing from my two guest bedrooms that I'm taking out that I can't store or reuse in another part of the house.

Make sure you put a lock on your bedroom door and use it. Keep everything valuable and personal in there. Even the nicest of people can be curious and/or have sticky fingers.
Don't give them any temptation.

"And now that I think about it, I agree about the "no guests" issue. I'm not sure how flexible I can be. I mean I don't mind if a college student wants to have a friend over. My best friend rented out a room in his house and he ended up living with his lodger and his lodgers Peruvian fiancee in the end. I dunno."

Put in the rental agreement that overnight guests must have prior approval of the landlord (you). You can also set what amounts to a "reverse curfew" - for instance, guests must be gone by midnight, since after all you need your sleep too! I have rented rooms in people's houses a few times and it was not uncommon to have designated quiet times, like 10pm-6am (this is what headphones are for!), right on paper in the rental agreement. Although it does vary by state and you'll have to look into it very carefully, owner-occupied rental situations like these are often exempt from the standard landlord-tenant laws, meaning you can set just about any weirdo :-) rules you like within the bounds of ordinary laws.

Yes, the cable and phone can be wired in such a way that the services are kept separate. DH had a home office in our previous house with its own cable and telephone lines that his employer paid for, and then we had the separate house cable and telephone (although the landline wasn't hooked up).

I am confused though. You said at first that you already had both a double bed and a twin/daybed. Now you say that you have to buy a "studio bed frame". Huh?

Also, why do you think you need to spend money on a "computer desk"? A simple table works just fine (I don't think I've ever owned an actual "computer desk" despite being a computer user for nearly 30 years) and has much more flexibility, especially if your lodger has a laptop rather than a desktop - not to mention being more readily available free or nearly so! If you really feel the need to buy something, a gateleg table with storage like Ikea's Norden (hope that link works, they usually don't) would be a practical multipurpose piece of furniture for a small suite.

Join Freecycle and post a request for a mini-fridge (most groups have a policy that you must offer something before you request anything, but surely you can scrounge up something you need to get rid of). They're pretty widely available. No need for you to drop a hundred bucks on that when they can be had for free - between that and not buying a desk would free up money for that electrician to do your cable and phone wiring (at the same time, have the electrician check that the circuit(s) serving those rooms have the capacity to run a TV, a computer, a refrigerator and a microwave all at once without tripping a breaker or causing a fire) and get yourself those good door locks, which are far more important.

Oh, and I just remembered - call your insurance agent ASAP because you will probably have to make some changes to your homeowners insurance.

Thank you thank you everyone for all this fantastic advice! It's so helpful and I appreciate it so much.

When I said "computer desk" I just meant a small desk for putting a computer on, the cheapest, easiest thing I can find really, does not need to be something made for computr, just something that will work with whatever type of computer they have. And I've been combing Craigslist for furniture and I will hit up Freecycle too when I have time.

I am converting two guest bedrooms into these accomodations for a lodger, so I currently have a double bed frame and mattress and a single bed frame and mattress. The single bed frame doesn't lend itself very well to being a studio couch but I'm not going to buy something very expensive to create a studio couch so unless I find something cheap I will just probably use the twin bed but keep the double bed in the basement until I can either sell it or ask the lodger if they's prefer it to the single. The reason I'm thinking the single studio couch kind of thing will be better is because neither room is very big so I'm thinking I can offer more accomodations with the rooms if I don't take up so much of the space with the double bed. One way or the other I'm taking two bedrooms and converting them into a bedroom and a lounge so I'm going to have to take one bed out of commission. So much to do! I'll be working on it some this weekend and next week.

Thank again for all these great tips. Didn't even think about insurance either! Will have to check on that too!!