We just rented out our house for the first time for a football weekend. We live in a college town and have a five bedroom. Since hotel rooms often go for $400-500 per night, we were able to get quite a sum for a two-night rental (almost $3,000, to be exact). Some general thoughts.
It was stressful! We started remodeling our kitchen back in May. About the time we were almost finished a water line broke under our bathroom. So we decided to gut the master bath. We finished the remodeling with plenty of time to spare, but there were still a few little details that we were ironing out through the end of October. And for the last week we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off cleaning, scrubbing, and straightening. And we had an attack of ladybugs that we never did fully solve. I just kept vacuuming the ceiling on the second-floor landing, which is where they seemed to like to congregate.
In order to get everything ready we had to wash all of our bedding first thing Friday morning. And of course, we had to wash everything again when we came home Sunday night. We have three refrigerators, so I was able to completely clean out the kitchen fridge for our renters.
Our renters seem to have been great folks. They left the place nice and neat, with only a few dirty dishes in the sink.
I have never, in my entire life, lived in a house that is as clean, neat, and clear of clutter as my house is right now. Of course, in some cases we just swept stuff off of some of our counters and put it into boxes in order to make everything clean and tidy, but it sure does look nice. It could be in a magazine!
My wife says she doesn't want to rent the house again; too much stress. I don't think anyone would want to rent it before the next football season, so I hope I can change her mind by then. I really don't see how you can turn down $3,000 for a two-day rental.
If we do rent again I'm going to buy a set of dedicated rental linens, so that we can just strip the beds of our personal linens and make them up with the rental linens. It's not convenient trying to get everything washed the morning people are supposed to arrive.
We did have some expenses in getting ready. I hired a couple of people to help us clean up, and I bought some cheese and other snacks to stick in the fridge. Overall I spend about $150.
We're giving each of our children $150. They had to give up their rooms, so they ought to get paid, too.
I will not deny that there is a huge nervous factor in leaving your home with paintings on the wall and pottery on the shelves and so forth, but everything turned out fine. Despite the rare horror story, most people have good luck, and I'm glad we were among the lucky ones! Oh, and the money was in my Paypal account before our renters had checked out.
One question: Where did your family put itself for the weekend?
One thought: Use some of that money to take your wife on a lovely, luxurious, weekend trip (a spa maybe?), and she’ll be more inclined to re-up for next year.
My brother put an addition to their home for the purpose of renting it out. The suite has its own entrance and can be closed off from either side. They have few sets of linen just for the rental. They hired a cleaning service that could come and clean the place at very short notice. The cleaning service knows how to put the place into a rental state without my brother or wife being there. so they could rent it out without even being there.
They plan on renting it for a big football week for 10k+. For that kind of money they are going to a nearby resort town for the week.
What a great thing to trial. So interesting! That seems like a good chunk of change for 2 nights -even with your expenses and paying your kids you made off well.
Renting out our primary residence would not work here. Too many personal items, fragile pieces and the time I’d spend securing it all, plus restoring it to “home” would more than eat up the profits. I’d have taken a different approach to setting up a home if it was for rental as well.
Glad it worked out for you. Never easier than when you are newly done with construction projects. Fun to have a good return!
Interesting. I also live in a college town, where this sort of thing is increasingly popular but the borough is busily pointing out it is a violation of zoning code and you will be fined a hefty amount if you are caught. (They monitor airbnb and craigslist during football season, and send officers around to see what’s up at the address). Neighbors are complaining of loud groups of partying strangers, but I’m glad your experience was positive.
Several years ago, Tiger Woods rented my SIL neighbor’s house for a full week during a big golf tourney. Tiger’s team brought in his bed, a recliner type chair and a hot tub. They got $20,000 for the week.
You and your wife might get used to the prep and clean up and it should become less stressful - especially if you can hire some of it out and use the designated bedding. For that much money, it is very tempting.
H keeps suggesting this for us too, renting out two back bedrooms, but I’m reluctant because he works at night so I would be home alone with the renters. I also worry about liability issues. I don’t think our insurance would cover paying guests.
I can’t imagine renting out my house like this to strangers and hoping that nothing disappeared or was damaged. I hope that you checked with your insurance company about what happens if the renters burn the place down or slip and fall and decide to sue you. And also with your accountant to see how much tax you’ll have to pay on this income. Not worth it, in my opinion.
My son has used this service. As hotel prices in Cambridge have soured, he suggested I do this too. There were grad students renting a room for $150 a night. Their pictures showed a very messy place. I opted for the hotel.
Perhaps with more time to plan, this could be a fun alternative.
We have quite a lot of silver flatware that I purchased off of eBay back in 2009, when the price of silver was $9. I took this out of the house.
When I showed our renter our bathroom she immediately noticed that I had some Walter Anderson prints. They are actually watercolors by his grandson, only worth maybe a hundred bucks apiece. But I showed her a bunch of Anderson pottery that belonged to my grandparents, and I confess I did worry a bit after I left. A couple of the pieces would probably cost a thousand bucks to replace.
I just figure for three thousand bucks, even if they break a few glasses or whatever, it’s still profitable. And virtually everyone reports good luck with these types of rentals. The higher the dollar rental, the better the renter, generally.
