Would You Rent Out Room or House?

[Shelsi]

We just so happen to live near Washington D.C....we're technically about 20 mins away from the capital (of course that's with no traffic at all).

Of course all the hotels are being booked up lightening fast for the inauguration. There are countless craigslist ads of people looking for a room or house to rent. We have a 3 bedroom house and it looks like if we "rented" it out for even just 2 days we could earn our entire month's rent. We would just go down to my inlaws house for a few days...they live 4 hours away.

It's a bit weird to think about someone being in my house though. And of course they could trash it. Although I'm sure we'd only rent out to a family.

Oh and there's the small detail that it's not our house...we rent. So I'm not even sure it's legal?

[missmich]

One option would be to just rent out 2 bedrooms or something to a family/couple and then your family can just bunk together for those 2-3 nights. That way you can feel safe knowing they can't trash the place.

You can look on www.airbedandbreakfast.com and post an ad there or find someone there. I'm pretty sure that's the sight.

When I was in between roomates in August and all the hostels were booked up I made a little extra cash by renting the room for a few nights at $20 a night.

[CallMeKelly]

I'd do it in a heartbeat, but with just renting out some rooms and having someone from your family stay the night there to keep an eye on things like missmich suggested (only i wouldn't want my whole family to stay there 'cause it just seems really close quarters with strangers).

[SAHDS]

Originally Posted by Shelsi

Oh and there's the small detail that it's not our house...we rent. So I'm not even sure it's legal?

I believe it would be illegal to do so without the homeowner's permission.

[missmich]

Yeah,you could send hubby and the kids to the grandparents and you can stay behind and play hostess. You could offer a nice home cooked breakfast in the price of the room rental if you like or just have some fresh bagels,cream cheese,orange juice,etc.... left out for them in the morning and have them provide their own lunch and dinner.

[missmich]

You can check your lease and see what it says about having guests over. Sure this would be a paying "guest" I suppose but it might be ok. I can have someone "sublet" my room from me for any amount of time I want to as long as I'm still living here.

[CallMeKelly]

Seems to me that you could just have them pay for a really expensive breakfast $400.00 worth of breakfast and stay for free

[Belleweather]

I totally would. I'd put anything precious or breakable in a cheap storage locker first, but yeah. Can't beat that with a stick!

[missmich]

Originally Posted by Belleweather

I totally would. I'd put anything precious or breakable in a cheap storage locker first, but yeah. Can't beat that with a stick!

Yeah,but for just 2 days or so storage would a waste of time and money. A lot of people are doing home exchanges these days and they go through agencies that screen them. If you do find someone on craigslist (like I did) you do your own "screening" by asking them a few questions and talk to them on the phone and maybe even check out their facebook or myspace or something. I wouldn't be as worried about people coming to the capital for a couple days as I would be with people coming to celebrate NYE or to a concert or something. They probably won't be the type of people to trash a place,but you can never tell. If you do stay with them then you can keep an eye on the place a little more. I'd only rent to a female though if it were me,but you may feel comfortable with a couple or a family.

[Shelsi]

Originally Posted by Belleweather

I totally would. I'd put anything precious or breakable in a cheap storage locker first, but yeah. Can't beat that with a stick!

most of our stuff is cheap junk anyways. We do have a pretty big storage shed with a good lock on it so we could always put stuff in there.

Dh thinks it's a bad idea. But it's hard to pass up the easy bucks. I think it might be interesting.