A great way to make extra money each month is to rent out a room in your room. If you have a spare room, a separate apartment (such as above your garage), a finished basement, and so on, then this may be a money making option for you.
Renting out a room in your home for extra money is great because if you already have the room, then it’s probably just wasted space right now. Why not earn some money and stop wasting that space?
I know some people who are able to make $400 each month with a long-term renter, and I know others who make $200 a NIGHT by renting out their spare room to tourists.
Here are my five tips for successfully renting out a room in your home for extra money:
1. Make sure you can even rent out a room in your home.
Obviously, before you rent out extra space in your home, you should see if you are even allowed to do that. If you are currently a renter, your landlord may not allow you to sublease extra space. Better to figure this out now rather than later when your landlord is telling you that the person has to move out immediately.
2. Do your research on what your extra space will rent for.
I have seen some places that have affordable prices, whereas others really make me wonder where the landlord got that monthly rent number from. You should do your research to see what you should price your place at.
If you price it too low, people might be wondering what is wrong with it. Pricing it too low also means that you are losing out on money. Pricing your extra space too high may mean that everyone just overlooks it as well because they think you are being unreasonable.
In order to do your research, you can look at websites like Craigslist or Zillow to compare your place to similar rooms around you.
3. Will you be paying for any of the costs?
Some rentals include everything and the renter just pays one flat monthly rental fee. Other rentals split everything. This is something that you will want to think about. Some of the costs you may need to think about include:
- Parking.
- Utilities such as water, sewer, gas and electricity.
- Extras such as cable and internet.
- Will the room be furnished? Or will the renter be bringing all of their own stuff?
4. Always interview possible renters.
Before you just select the very first person who shows interest in living in a space that is so close to you, you definitely want to check them out and interview them. You should interview them, see if you get along with them, and make sure that the both of you are on the same page.
If the interview goes well, then the next thing you may want to do is to do a background check. This way you can know if they are dangerous beforehand instead of after you trust them with keys to your home.
5. Have rules.
Once you finally have a renter, you should lay out the ground rules. This is to lower the possibility of arguments later since everything should be talked about beforehand.
Some of the things you may want to talk about include:
- Are animals allowed?
- What about overnight guests?
- Who pays for things like toilet paper and trash bags?
- Who washes the dishes?
- Will food be shared?
- How loud can the renter be? What about music?
- Where will they park?
- Can they have people over? What about parties?
Have you ever thought about renting out a room in your home? Why or why not?
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