room rental/AirBnB - did they NOT work for you??

[scrubbyfish]

For several years, I have been living in very small places with 1-4 other loved ones at any given time. I'm considering renting a larger place and renting out a room, either to someone I believe would make an awesome roommate, or sporadic nights via AirBnB.

Thoughts so far:

My son LOVES people, and would love having a roommate or guests.
A 3-bed, 2-bath with one room rented out calculates cheaper than a 0-2 bedroom.
I'd prefer to have space to put up my three closest friends when they each come for their visits.
I have loved living with others, especially three specific roommates over the years (but I also wonder if I'm too set in my ways now to repeat such an experience).
I really want to live in a detached house, and many of these are 3-bed and up.

Has anyone tried this method of income-generation and found it NOT to be a fit? If so, what didn't fit for you?

Although I'm looking for stories about pitfalls/struggles/things to consider, I'd be happy to hear success stories, too!

[arandomdude]

one pitfall is that airbnb for short term rentals is literally illegal in a lot of cities and against the terms of many people's rental agreements and could get you evicted or in serious trouble with your city/town/municipality.

one of my biggest pet-peeves about the recent MMM blog post hailing some one who used airbnb to rent out an extra room: it might actually literally be illegal for them to do so but they never actually checked the laws or lease.

i cannot airbnb my apartment when i am traveling because it is actually illegal for me to do so, so i leave it empty when i'm gone.

check your lease agreement and local laws before proceeding.

[scrubbyfish]

Hi arandomdude, thanks for that. Yep, totally hear you that airbnb is illegal in some areas, and could be in violation of some rental agreements.

I guess my question presumes it is legal in the area I'm looking at, and that the landlord agrees to the arrangement. Has anyone in *this* situation regretted renting out a room (sporadically or ongoing)?

[Daleth]

How old is your son? If you're bringing strangers to live with a child or teen, much less with yourself, be prepared to do criminal background checks and get *extensive* references on your tenants before renting to them. You could also do whatever background check your state has for people wanting to work in schools or other places kids are--it's a child abuse clearance to make sure they have no history of child abuse, molestation etc.

I also would not mention up front that there is a kid living there--wait until the prospective tenant shows serious interest, i.e. fills out an application and pays you the $30-$40 you will need for the background check. I would tell them literally at that moment--before you cash their check--so that if living with a kid isn't what they're looking for, you can give back the application and check.

I would not tell sooner because on the off chance you run into a bad guy (which is very rare but obviously the consequences are so devastating that it's easily worth taking such sensible precautions), knowing a kid lives there could make them apply just in hopes of getting that opportunity.

[scrubbyfish]

Thank you, Daleth! Very caring of you!

Yes, I don't leave my son with strangers, and at this point in my life would only invite as roommate someone I had gotten to know first. I leave my kid (9) only with established friends and family members that I expressly trust. (His disabilities leave him even more vulnerable than other kids are.) So, he would never be alone in a house with an airbnb guest, regardless of the guest's gender or even a background check (because those only provide info on a fraction of abusers, i.e. those convicted, and provide no info on how aware a person is about general kid safety stuff).

I am also too scaredycat to even have a stranger with just me! So, my airbnb idea is that I would only book a guest on nights my male friend could stay, too. This would serve well in many ways: my friend likes to stay with us regularly, and wants a place to stay in the region we're moving to; my friend is already an airbnb host and loves doing it and is a "host with the most", just loving to meet strangers, help them with whatever they need, cook and host a great meal, etc. So, I wouldn't host alone. I would only host in partnership with my large, friendly, intuitive, gregarious, male friend :)