Mansion becomes rooming house, spotlighted on the TODAY Show

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - UPDATE: It turns out the mansion renting rooms is not in Palm Beach, but Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach Post reports the home is actually located in an unincorporated area of the county off Forest Hill Boulevard and Lyons Road.

EARLIER STORY:

At 16,000 square feet Brian Tuttle's mansion was his dream home. Onyx from Bolivia, hand-painted frescoes and an intimate ding room for 16 of his friends. When his fortune evaporated in the housing crisis he said he had to get inventive. He now rents out six of the eight bedrooms.

"I had to make a decision, either I admit weakness, rent out the rooms and recover or give up. I don't give up. So I made the tough decisions you have to make to survive in today's economy," he said.

The rooms now belong to six tenants who pay $600 to $800 a month. Utilities, swimming pools, everything included. An unbelievable deal.

This month's SmartMoney magazine spotlights the quiet trend. From Florida to New York to Seattle, millionaires turning rooms in the houses into money makers.

"I think the trend is going on a lot more than people realize. It's not out there prominently because wealthy homeowners don't want people to know they have fallen on hard times," said Alyssa Abkowitz of SmartMoney magazine.

It was the same thing during the Great Depression. Every American city and town had boarding houses.

In Redman, Washington, one family manor includes a trout pond, basketball court and a museum. The family of four has been renting out a room in the home for four years.

Brian Tuttle, a divorced father, only rents to women. "I only rent out to girls because I have a 16-year-old daughter. She comes over a lot to spend the night."

Tuttle's take is about $4,200 a month. When he advertises that he has a room on Craigslist he establishes rules, one of which is no dating between the landlord and the tenant. You're probably wondering what about homeowners associations? Many have rules about renting out houses, but few have rules about renting out rooms in houses.