Does anyone rent out a room in their home?

[tinuviel_k]

The house we are looking to buy is bigger than we are used to, and we'll have a couple of extra rooms. We thought that it might be nice to sweeten our mortgage payment for a few years by taking in a renter or two.

I am curious to see if anyone rents out a room in their residence for a little extra income. We are thinking of doing this. I'd love any ideas, insights, tips, or issues that anyone has had.

[HeatherAtHome]

We have been renting a room in a house. The owners bought a new house and divided their old house into 3 apartments and half of the basement into "rooms for rent". We have a separate entrance, a tiny shared kitchen and bathroom and the our own key to our bedroom. There are 2 bedrooms in this place.

We liked it because
1) it was within walking distance of DH's work.
2) Super cheap!!! compared to a full apartment
3) came fully furnished with appliances, bed, dressers, etc.
4) we have use of the huge backyard, bordering on a river. It's beautiful. There's a clothesline set up, picnic and patio tables, bonfire pit, swimming pool.... We didn't have access to all this when we rented in a huge block. There's also so much more privacy!
5) We really got a chance to get to know the other renters and it was nice having neighbours. It felt like more of a home.

[Paxjourney]

No I have not rent out a room in my home, however my father did when he and my mother divorced (he got the house). My sister has also lived in house with others who were renting rooms.

First off check out the laws in your area prior to doing this.

I STRONGLY urge you to do a full back ground check. THese are people who will be living in your home. Especially if you have children.

Third make sure you not only GET letters of reference but that you take the time to check them.

Personally its not something I would do. If we had an appartment or guest house then yes. But just a bedroom. No.

[Porcelain Interior]

We've done it.

First thing I'd do if I was you was assess whether you're the sort of personality that can deal with such an arrangement. I discovered I wasn't.

If you are very particular or controlling of your environment (like me) you won't enjoy having a stranger living in your home. I'm very noise sensitive and can't stand listening to muffled music/TV, hearing kitchen noises at all hours etc.

People's level of cleanliness and knowledge about food safety became an issue in our home- sharing the kitchen was miserable.

I'm a law abiding person and our roomate actually started reefin it up in his room and blowing it out the side window which went directly into our neighbor's living room window. (I have no issue with anyone smoking pot, but it wasn't ok in MY house.)

Things like having people stay the night/bringing strangers into your home when you aren't there- and when you are there...

You have to think about how that effects you. It stressed me out really bad and I couldn't stand not having control over who was in my house.

Anyway just some points to consider....

I'm an introvert who will never rent a room to anyone ever again.

[nd_deadhead]

We've done it a couple of times. The first was when we housed a player for our local minor league baseball team for the summer (so he was on the road half the time). We hit it off so well that he came back to live with us the following winter. The second time we rented a room to a grad student in my DH's department for a couple of months. We got lucky, I think, with the ball player, because we quickly became friends; with the student, we had known her for years.

The most important thing would be to lay out the ground rules before letting anyone move in - including circumstances under which you could throw them out on their ear, if necessary.

If you find someone who seems like they will be a good fit, who is willing to abide by the long contract you have written up, the next most important thing is maintaining good communication. When we hired a nanny, we had regular meetings during which we could discuss what was going well and what was not working so well. Because the meetings were scheduled in advance, none of us felt like we were being put on the spot in a "We need to talk about something" situation, and we had the opportunity to nip potential problems in the bud. I highly recommend it for any similar situation, including renting a room.

I certainly think it can work, if you find the right person. Hopefully you aren't hurting for the cash, so you can wait until the right person comes along.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

We did it with a close friend. let's just say we're not so close anymore. We didn't take rent. We traded for nanny service. She got some of her own groceries (not enough) and paid $200/mo towards bills & common things (laundry soap, tp, etc.). It worked out okay, I'd probably do it again with the right person if we needed to. I just wish it had ended a little better.

[MCsMom]

We rent out what is basically a MIL suite/studio in our house. There is a seperate entrance, own kitchen and bathroom - we share the laundry. For us, it generally works, we really like having the extra money and the space would pretty much be unused if we were not renting it out.

One thing I will say though, is that it really does take a lot of respect, both ways, to work well. And, once we rented out a room in our house for a few months and that, I will not do again unless I don't have money for food. I found that I felt like I cound not relax in my home, as if I had a guest 24/7.

We have found that being willing to do a 3 month lease we can get on average about 50/100 more a month the the 'market rate' and that people who want a 3 month lease (and then month to month) generally don't really have much furnature. So the whole moving in and out puts a lot of wear and tear on the place I don't totally agree with. Also, we have found that we prefer to rent to students (with a job). Most of them are too busy to get into too much truble is what we have found.

[Noelle C.]

Never underestimate your gut instinct. References can always be faked, but it's very hard to trick the gut instinct of the person one wants to rent from.

Also never go into a rental situation with a friend or relative. It ends very bad more often than not.

[marimara]

We've done it. Rented 2 rooms, then down to one room to a close friend. This was pre children. It was nice to make that extra money towards our mortgage but in reality it was a pain and I wouldn't do it again unless I truly needed the $. He had "one shelf" in the fridge for "his food" and he had to label everything in the fridge or pantry w/ a marker. He was messier than I and I always ended up cleaning up after him. I resented it to say the least. Plus he would mooch off of us for food, when he ran out of milk or creamer for example. I wouldn't have cared if it was only a day or 2 for morning coffee, but he would consistently do it. He also "borrowed" laundry detergent and stuff. So, my suggestion is only if you know the person well and have good boundaries and rules set up first. I'm pretty sure I would NOT do this again now that I have a daughter though, unless it was a woman that I knew very well.