Renting out my summer home

B'Syata D'Shmya ↓

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 12:55 am

amother OP wrote:

How would anyone find out?

Are you an honest person?
If you are renting out your home, you need to do it legally , have insurance, pay taxes on the income.

If you do decide to do this, you need to hire a manager who will deal with the cleaning crew, the maintenance, etc. So it wont upset you each time someones 3 yr old wets the mattress or breaks a lamp or leaves the fridge door open all night, or ruins the garden etc etc.

amother

Orange

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:00 am

I did this for a year and found that frum renters have no problem leaving the house a pig sty bec they assume you have cleaning help. Once when I explained to someone that I did their cleanup myself because I thought it was a chilul Hashem to bring my cleaning lady in (and therefore I wasn't letting him return) he was aghast and said he would have left it much cleaner had he known. Eventually I started leaving cleaning instructions (all garbage must be taken out, floors must be swept, no dirty cups etc left behind) and took a refundable cleaning deposit of 500$
Prior to buying my own vacation home I had been doing Airbnb for years and even with my very large family we always left the house exactly as we took it.
All in all I made over 40,000$ that year, after expenses. But I wouldn't do it again. It was way too stressful.

↑ B'Syata D'Shmya

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:01 am

amother Orange wrote:

And if you had a manager, would that be less stressful?

amother

Tuberose

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 1:30 am

We've stayed at lots of Airbnb's, usually in the range of 300-400$ a night for our family of 7. Many of these properties had entertainment as part of the rental- a pool, a lake, kayaks, bikes, a game or movie room, extensive and beautiful property with hiking trails or views. Recently stayed for a bunch of nights in the old city in Jerusalem, prime location in the center of the Jewish quarter just steps from the Kotel, for 500$ a night.

At a bare minimum, for these prices (less than half of what your hoping to charge) these homes are absolutely spotless. Kitchen, bathroom, floors, carpets, linens, towels, are all immaculate. Usually the kitchen is stocked with disposables- cups, plates, cutlery. Usually the bathroom is stocked with toothpaste, soap, shampoo. Often the hosts leave a gift of some sort- a basket of fruit, wine, candy. We can't always eat it (kosher), but we always appreciate it. Hosts are generally available for tips and conversations about things to do in their area, and we've often got excellent recommendations about area attractions from hosts.

The most we've ever been asked as paying guests is to strip the linen and put garbage in an outside bin. That's it.

We try to respect the homes and their owners and consider it important chinuch to apply the same rules we have in our own homes to the homes we rent (food at the tables, shoes at the door, feet off the couch, put away what you've played with...).

That having been said, we have caused normal wear and tear. A few notable mentions: one of my kids had a massive nose bleed in his sleep. He woke up with blood smeared everywhere. We contacted the owner (who was incredibly gracious and refused our offer for extra payment). I imagine that set of linen went straight to the trash. We broke a drinking glass. We broke a couch leg once (just sat down and it collapsed under me!). One of my kids had a wet accident in bed once. We had a kid accidentally break a toy. We've never had an owner make a big deal about any of these mishaps.

Based on your comments, I really really really don't think this is the business for you. Your expectations are unrealistic and your attitude is very off-putting (I'm sure your a very nice person. I mean specifically as a rental property hostess.)

Do some more research. It will probably prove very eye opening.

amother

Stoneblue

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 2:11 am

We’ve stayed in many LUXURY air bnbs for $3-400 a night MAX. We’re talking about properties with amenities such as pools, hot tubs, large outdoor spaces to enjoy, game rooms, many bedrooms and bathrooms and more. When renting a house for 1K I would expect it to be a gorgeous, luxurious mansion that is spotless, fully stocked, doesn’t expect me to do more than basic cleaning like throwing out trash and has many many amenities- is that what you are offering? If yes, go ahead. If not, I suggest you rethink your idea and/or your asking price.
If you rent out your house, expect to be deep cleaning and sanitizing after every guest, have wear and tear and broken or missing items, needing to restock basics like tissues and toilet paper and constant maintenance. Think why it would be worth it for a guest to stay in your property versus a hotel where there is room service and they don’t have to clean and it would cost them significantly less.
I would suggest seeing what other property owners who do this have to say before getting into it- you can find Reddit threads, Tik toks, blogs… definitely do your research because it sounds like you have no idea what you’re in for

amother

Floralwhite

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 2:32 am

amother OP wrote:

Why, is 1k a lot? I feel like that should be grateful that I let them use my house! For 1k a day it sounds like it’s barely worth it!
What if a child has an accident or something?
Can I charge the family?

You're not doing me any favors renting me your house.
If this is how you see it, don't do it. Not worth it.
If you're doing it, it is as a business.
You have a commodity that I need. I pay you to use it, you get money, I get commodity. No favors either way.
When you go to buy somehting in a store, do you feel they are doing you a favor selling it to you? After all, they went to the trouble of sourcing, importing, setting up in the store?

amother

Honeysuckle

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 5:51 am

Op, are you sure the home is worth $1k a night? Just because your mortgage is high doesn’t mean people will want to pay extra to cover it.

I was looking to rent for 2 weeks. Something with a pool. Someone asked for $5k without a pool and he told me this was a discounted price. He can charge whatever he wants but not going to work for me. Another asked for $500 a night a tiny 2-bedroom but their was a nice pool. The next day she called me back begging me to take it for $300/night. In the end we went with a 4 bedroom with a pool, for $250/night.

The home we rented was left immaculate. They left us shampoo, soaps and brand new towels, they cleared us drawer and hanging space, they gave us full access to their kitchen and pots. Worth every penny for us but it’s hard work and I hope it was worthwhile for them!

amother

Petunia

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 7:03 am

I rent out my house sometimes. Generally only for chagim so not back to back people. Yes of course the house needs to be deep cleaned before they get there. All your stuff needs to be emptied or in locked off closets. Yes it's a tremendous amount of work.

One thing you might consider is having a minimum number of nights. It might not be worth the deep cleaning that's required if you are getting $1000. But if you are getting $4000 the percentage of the profits that same deep cleaning costs is more worth it.

amother

Arcticblue

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 7:14 am

I rent airbnbs a lot, since we travel extensively and often. We were in Europe for the summer and rented 7 different places in 3 countries. I paid 1k+ a night but that was for a 4 bedroom apartment in Monmarte, Paris. Another one was for a villa in Chiani, Italy. The villa was entirely private, 6 bedrooms, beautiful swimming pool... you get the idea. In Switzerland, we rented an apartment 45 mins outside of a major city with an unreal porch and view. 3 bedrooms, top floor. But the place wasn't very clean and it cost me 900 a night. I was livid. The host sent a cleaner over because apparently he and his wife did the cleaning themselves and their dog left fur everywhere. Lovely host but I was brutally honest that the views were the only thing worth staying for. One airbnb review about the amount of your personal stuff all over the place, the level of cleanliness not being good enough and it'll be hard to get people to stay. If you really want to rent your home out, put away all your personal photos, knickknacks that can be easily broken, replace your cutlery and pots with new, generic ones, buy guest linen, convert a closet or two into personal locked closets to store your stuff when it's being rented out. Charge half or a third of what you wanted to (so 375 to 500 a night instead of 1k) and rent it out more frequently make it work. No one is paying 1k for your basic home and stuff everywhere. I have a vacation home that I could rent out and tons of people in that homes community do airbnb their places but I don't want people touching my stuff or being in my space. My friends used the place for a week (for free, as a favor!) and I deep cleaned it before they came. When I next went, I saw they left tons of food in my freezer, towels hanging all over, a toilet was stuffed and gross... never again. So yeah, it's not for everyone.

amother

Snapdragon

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 7:33 am

We rented a whole 4 bedroom house for 10k for a month in a great neighborhood in Catskills. There are outdoor things for kids to do but no pool. The place seemed cleaned when we came. But there was a lot of their things around, like pillows and toys. I vacuumed and realized the vacuum was clogged which we pulled out mounds of dust and dirt and fixed ourselves. After vacuuming , we realized how dusty the place was. We brought our own towels and linen and blankets. There were some pillows around which we used some of. My kids got to the nerf guns that were in an open toy closet (no one lives here currently). I don't know where any bullets are. Either they broke or got lost. I encourage my kids to eat in the kitchen which doesn't always happen. Some curtains got pulled down. They eat and drink on the couches at times. Yes bed accidents happen bit I take care of it like in my own house. The cabinets were not all empty and were not clean when we came. The fridge wasn't perfect either. There were shampoos and soaps in the bathroom. The owner said we can use the grill and basically what we want. For 10k I plan to clean like I leave a bungalow. I will vacuum the place, clean fridge, take all my stuff, not leave any garbage if I can, wipe counters and clean bathrooms. I thought 10k was a lot but I guess that's the going price....

amother

Seablue

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 8:03 am

I dont own an airbnb, but do rent them in non jewish areas.

The people saying 400 a night with a pool.....are you in orlando/ Phoenix/ utah? In non jewish areas, Where summer is not their high season and rentals are a dime a dozen -- and often even cheaper than that?

I know people who rent out their houses in toms river w pool, or central catskills, and while I dont know exactly, its much much higher than 400. I don't know about 1k or how nice your house has to be for 1k but op.shoulr do research.

Op, you hire a cleaning service to do the cleaning, and either charge a seperate fee, or that is part of the costs of doing business.
Also, expect a grandparent to be hosting several of their children and many grandchildren in your house..and the wear and tear is part of the cost pf doing business. And they will be much less careful because its not their hime and they are paying dollars to relax.

amother

↑ Dustypink

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 8:34 am

1k is reasonable depending on the house and area a decent house can get $800 a night in Hunter/tannersville/Fleishmanns area. Gorgeous homes in Toms River are in that price range.

There are limits on number of ppl and they don’t necessarily let you stuff in many ppl.
I was looking at 7 bedroom house in Hunter this Shabbos. It was $900/night for max 10 ppl. Each person you added up to 20 it went up significantly.

If walking distance to shul the homes are worth much more on Shabbos bec there are so few.
Really large and beautiful homes in catskill similar.

Houses not walking distance to shuls are much less - like poconos - even if nicer. Those are the ones in $400 range. Homes you can walk to shul or have kosher food are way more.

amother

Acacia

Fri, Aug 23 2024, 8:45 am

Op - are you maybe playing devils advocate having recently rented a home for 1k and the owner demanded that you clean it and it wasn't in good condition to begin with? Just wondering if this is a joke- of course 1k is a fortune and the home must be cleaned between uses spotlessly. I can hear that people pay this money but for that price it must be large, with a pool and perfectly spotless - of course the appliances must be wiped down.