Hi y'all!
I will be closing on a home in a few days and plan to spend about 6 months working on the house (nothing major, but I'm doing it on a budget and am a single person, so even things like painting rooms will take me a while) and then begin to house-hack by taking advantage of being a homeowner.
None of this is "necessary" as my budget now is working pretty well for me, but I DO want to take advantage of owning a home by helping this brick-and-mortar make me some side money...Here are a few of the numbers (not all, but enough to get a clear picture, I think) and options.
Just wanted to get some opinions.
Rent Vs. Buy- with a few of my costs going down, and an estimate of the new utilities (again, I haven't moved in yet) this seems to be ABOUT a wash.
Estimate for rent + utilities (not including monthly stash away emergency funds for the house, my general emergency fund, etc. etc... this is JUST rent + utilities): $750-$800/mo.
Options (in order of preference, not income generation):
Doggy Daycare Weekends: Estimate $360/mo assuming 2 dogs at $30/day booked three weekends out of four each month or half that if I did every-other weekend.
I already have one client for every Sunday of March, up to now, I'd kept it at one dog, one day per weekend since I was in a rental and not actually supposed to be having a doggy daycare there, but now that I'll be the homeowner, and my pet-sitting insurance covers doggy daycare, I can care for more more dogs, more often. I'd cap it at two dogs since I already have my own old somewhat grumbly dog.
Pro: I love dogs
Con: I will always be tied to the house on the weekends, can't even go to the store, etc. I do get some pretty good cabin fever.
Air BnB 2nd bedroom: Estimate $210/mo assuming bookings three weekends our of four each month at the area average here of ~$35/night.
Pro: Easy to manage- somewhat hands-off.
Con: Strangers in my house with my stuff and my dog.
Roommate: Estimate $450/mo, including all or part of utilities following area average.
Pro: higher and consistent income.
Con: I really hate having roommates, love my alone time, and it's a 750 sq ft house.
Smaller, additional tiny income generation options (that have not been available to me as a renter):
>Use 2nd bedroom or large shed to flip craigslist furniture.
>Go all-in on my current Etsy vintage flip shop and use the whole 2nd room for storage and still host occasional doggy daycare (with that door SHUT, of course, lol).
>Use land to maintain vegetable garden (I've been somewhat successful with container gardening to supplement my groceries in the past) but am not sure I would be able to slow myself down enough to commit to a garden.
>Turn 2nd bedroom into work out room and cut my gym membership down to 2x/wk (cheaper than my current 'unlimited classes' package, but I'd still go for the social aspect, it's my only social outlet).
^If I took this one a little further I could renew my PT certification, get insurance, and use this space to offer 1:1 personal training. But that's a bit of a stretch... my certification has been expired for 2 years and I'm not necessarily looking for a 4th job, but would do it if I found the clientele- I did like being a coach/trainer.
That's it! Just wanted to throw this out there into the universe to see what everyone though and if anyone had any additional ideas.
Thanks ahead of time for your kind and thoughtful responses- and for reading my post! :)