Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
My daycare is in a residential neighborhood about 2 blocks off the main highway. My city does not have zoning laws that affect in home child care as they consider it to be a "gray" area.
Whether I actually live in my daycare home or not does not affect the number of children I can have in care. The ratios stay the same either way.
I could more children IF I licensed as a center but I haven't done that because I like my smaller group and in my state if you are licensed as a center you MUST take school age children too.....which I will NEVER do again.
The financial and legal aspects of having a separate home in which I don't live in aren't any different for me....regardless of whether I lived here or not.
The ONLY two things that would be different are my property taxes would be considered "Homesteaded" rather than "non-homestead".
Non-homestead taxes are about twice as high as regular property tax.
I watch 10-12 children age 5 and under daily. I only take 2 part time families and everyone else is full time. I charge an average of $150-160 per space.
Other than my DH who comes in and helps daily with lunch & rest time, I have no other assistance. My DH is not a paid employee.
Our state requires 35 sq ft of space per child for indoors. My child care house is approximately 1200 sq ft total. Outside we are required to have 75 sq ft per child. My yard is HUGE so I have more than enough yard space.
My mortgage on my child care home is around $600 per month. That includes the property taxes (approx. $1500 yearly) as well as my structural liability insurance. I pay liability insurance separately. My utilities are electricity and heat. They are fairly reasonable here.
I make a pretty good income and don't really see how having child care in my home would net me any more since I would have to pay for the wear and tear on my home whereas, I am probably a lot more lenient with some of the activities we do here BECAUSE I don't live here... (If you are interested in actual numbers/profit, PM me and I will help if I can).
Also, I think the mental perks are too good to beat! I don't have time off "at my work", I don't vacation "at work"...kwim? I close my door at 5:00 every day and don't think about or stress about work again until the next day when I open.
The boundaries between my personal life and my business life are separated by 7.5 miles so it's all good. 
Wow, $600 is really a low mortgage. Around here you can't even rent an apartment for that let alone have a house. A dumpy apartment here is $950. My house is paid off now but it ran around $1100 to $1200 a month depending on if taxes/insurance went up or not and that was only because we took out the mortgage almost 20 years ago. We also have a homestead exemption.
I don't really think I have much wear and tear on my house at all. Maybe we paint walls more often but that is about it. Plus we can take off a percentage for wear and tear on our taxes.
I don't really feel like I vacation at work. I think of this as my home first and foremost. Just saying... If I did feel like you do then it would bother me. If I am on vacation for a week, I put all child care things in the garage or close them up in an extra bedroom. The last time though I didn't because they just don't bother me. Also I have grandchildren so they play with things when they are here. Their grandma has the coolest house. Just the other day my granddaughter said "You have so many cool toys!"
I think you would have more monthly income doing it from home because you wouldn't be paying the $600 mortgage, the utilities/upkeep, etc. but it probably works out because you can have 10. At my home, I also pay an exterminator (Florida), grass cutting service (Florida all year round grass cutting
) and things like that. I think of things like if the AC were to go out too, etc. I'd have to also get those for a separate house so don't think it would pay me. Maybe with 10 but then I also have times that I am not full so it would worry me when numbers got low. I also charge between $150 and $160 per spot. You also have a free employee. (How lucky for you!)
I'm thinking in the short term you would be making less but maybe long term you'd make more because when you retire you either have another house to sell or rent or live in.
Well now at least I see how people are doing it. It really had us stumped.
Thanks for the info!
Laurel