Students have several options for living in Ames.

Options include, but are not limited to, apartment complexes, houses, dorms, trailers and for the select few, living at home and commuting. One style of housing does not quite fit into any of these categories, however: conversion houses.

A conversion house is a house that is split into multiple units. Commonly built for one family to begin with, these houses are restructured, or converted, into multiple units.

Although less common than apartment buildings or traditional single-family houses, this style can be found throughout Ames.

These houses can range from two units up to over 20 units. A house at 233 Sheldon Avenue has 26 single-room apartments, for example.

“There is only one kitchen, on the first floor,” Taizhong Huang, a senior in software engineering living in this house, said. “Fortunately, I don’t cook much.”

Property owner Ed Hendrickson, Jr. has worked in rental property in Ames for over 30 years. He currently rents out two duplexes. He said that a reason these houses began to be converted was because of a law.

“[The City of Ames] had a law that you could not rent to more than three unrelated people, but most students are not related,” Hendrickson said. “So if you had a five bedroom house, you could convert it into a two bedroom and a three bedroom duplex, and then you could legally rent to five [unrelated] people.”

Although this law skewed how property management companies and home owners rented out their houses, converting a home has brought a benefit.

“The advantage is that you can legally rent to more people,” Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson added that another benefit to renting out converted houses is generating more income.

There are not only benefits to landlords, but tenants as well.

“A lot of the utilities are already paid for, because you can’t break it into units” said Logan Cooper, a junior in finance who lives in a house with six units. “That’s one of the best [advantages].”

Okay so I know this is a very, very rough draft and I’m sorry. I should have a few more interviews between now and early next week and I will learn more about the city laws.