My house has a relatively large number of bedrooms in it considering how many of us live there. In the past, I went through Craigslist and rented out the bedrooms to people. That always comes with its own set of problems, such as drawing up leases, collecting rent, and then when rent doesn’t go through, going through the eviction process. When I was pregnant with Monster, I had all my roommates move out and converted the house into something more conducive for raising my little one. I turned one of the rooms into a guest room, since I had so much family visiting for awhile. Now that visitors have settled down, I have turned to AIRBNB for a little bit of supplemental income.
AIRBNB is an online website where you can rent out a room, a floor, or even your whole house. I have heard of people traveling the world by staying in AIRBNB homes. It is generally less expensive than a hotel and certainly comes with a lot more amenities.
As a host, I make sure the entire house is clean any time we are going to have a guest. We have empty cabinets and a space in the fridge for their food. They receive a key to the front door and their bedroom and I check them in, providing a tour of the house and setting down house rules. If I know I’m going to be away or I have something going on and I don’t want people in my house, I just tell the calendar that those dates aren’t available and people can’t book them.
You are also able to ask for deposits to cover any potential damage. Even without a deposit, AIRBNB has a claims center. Overall, I find AIRBNB much more reliable than renting to a stranger on Craigslist. Using the site is easy and commitment free. You don’t pay anything to host. The site takes a small cut of what you would make when someone rents your space and you receive the rest. It’s all done via Paypal, so no playing around with checks that could bounce or worrying about those details.
I would definitely encourage anyone that wanted to make some extra money and had extra space in their home to use AIRBNB.
