A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Every now and then on MTStars someone (usually someone who works for one of the Big Two) will say she's in imminent danger of living in her car… and, of course, we MT/MEs are certainly not alone in that regard these days.
Whenever that comes up, I come back around to an idea I've been considering for a long time now. I have a few acres out in the boonies in Western Washington and a big house. I divided the house and rented the downstairs to (by pure chance) an ex-ME who carries the scars of our sweatshop "profession's" slow demise (IRS debt, medical bills in collection, wages being garnished) and is now scraping by working in a clinic -- 40 minutes from here -- for $12/hour.
The rest of the house, though, is still considerably bigger than I need.
I've thought for a while that it would make sense to get one or even two RVs or travel trailers to park on my acreage, hook up to water and electricity, and rent out (cheaply, of course). However, when I consider living in an RV/TT myself long-term, the only things I really dislike about the idea are a tiny tub/shower and an RV-style toilet (with a tank that has to be pumped).
In chewing on the idea with a friend the other night, I realized that it would actually be pretty easy to divide my part of the house and put in a door directly outdoors on the side of the house where the RVs/TTs would be anyway… giving the folks renting the RVs shared access to the kitchen, laundry room, and one of the house's two bathrooms. (I would keep the master bedroom, master bathroom, and living room as my own private space with all of us sharing the kitchen and laundry room, and as a bonus the swim spa.)
Of course, it would still cost some money to do this, especially when you consider that I would probably have to convert an electric item to propane for each RV/TT (choosing between hot water heater, swim spa heater, and clothes dryer) to create their electrical hookups.
One risk, of course, is the possibility of choosing the wrong person, especially since this would be some hybrid between housemate and neighbor/tenant.
The other risk lies in the fact that it's technically against zoning to occupy an RV/TT as a home except in an RV or trailer park… though my place isn't visible from the road or any other house, and with folks sharing part of the house, I'm not sure whether they would be exactly considered to be living in the RVs/TTs anyway. (And it's a very common practice, of course, out here in the boonies. The only case I've heard of where people were told to stop was one where they had run a hose to the neighbor's water spigot without permission and were stealing water, in addition to having loud, drunken all-weekend parties most weekends every summer.)
Thoughts?
;