4 Things to Consider if You Rent Out Your House While Traveling

Owning a home is a mixed bag. You do not have to worry about rent payments anymore, but you will still have to pay property taxes. You won’t have to wait for the super to fix a leaky toilet, but you’ll need to call a plumber and pay for that yourself.

If you own a home and travel frequently, you might make some money by renting it out. You could also do this if you own two houses, and you live in one while the other sits empty.

In this article, we’ll discuss some things to consider if you rent out your house.

You Can Use House Rental as a Passive Income Source

Many people feel like these days, passive income is great if you can figure out a way to get it. Passive income is a revenue stream that comes to you without you doing anything.

If you own a home and don’t live there all the time, renting it out can be a passive income stream for you. That’s a great setup since you can use that revenue for things you need, and you might not have to work as much. A time might even come when you use the passive income you make, and you can quit your current job entirely.

For instance, maybe you own a lake house at Lake of the Ozarks or another popular destination spot. There are several benefits of renting out your lake house. You can have that money coming in, but you can also be sure that people are running the water and flushing the toilets. You need people to do that periodically if a house stands empty for quite some time.

You’ll Need to Rent to Trustworthy Individuals

If you rent out your home while you travel, or one of your homes, you’ll need to find trustworthy families or individuals. That means you can rent the home to people you know, or else you can accept a security deposit before you allow strangers to stay there.

To make sure that people who you don’t know won’t wreck the place if you let them stay there, you will need to be sure to collect some information about them before you let them rent. You can get their full names and credit card information, as well as some additional contact info.

If you have their credit card number and a significant security deposit, you should feel much better about letting them stay there if you don’t know them very well.

You Can Go Through an Established Service

If you rent out your home when you travel, you can also decide to go through an established service like Airbnb or something similar. If you use one of these services, they will handle many of the details for you. You will have to give them a cut of the profits, but it’s often much easier than trying to find people to rent your empty house on your own.

If you use a service like Airbnb, it’s much less likely you will get a person who will wreck the house. That’s because Airbnb has a screening service that they use. They will get all of a person’s information when they sign up with the website or app. That person will not want Airbnb to kick them off the site, so they should be on their best behavior when they stay somewhere.

You’ll Need to Provide Some Amenities

If you’re traveling while someone stays at your house, you’ll want to set them up with some amenities. If you’re going to command top dollar so someone can stay in your primary or secondary residence, you should know they will want things like a well-stocked kitchen. 

They can bring their own food, but they will want a working oven, fridge, microwave, etc. They will want cooking utensils, plates, and so forth.

You’ll want to have a linen closet with fresh towels for them. They will probably want internet access, and maybe you can even have streaming services like Disney+ or Amazon Prime for them to use. If you have all of that for them, then you can advertise it, and you can charge more for someone to stay there.

If you get to the point in your life where you want to travel often, and your home will sit empty, you can definitely consider this option. It’s a way for you to generate some easy money.