How to Successfully Rent a Room in Your House

Published by julia | Filed under Listings, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Shout Outs

In this economy, most people want to make some extra money any way they can. One rather old-fashioned method that’s coming back into fashion is renting out a room in your house. Our grandparents and their parents often turned to this technique to make ends meet, especially during the Great Depression. Now, renting out a room in your house is making a comeback. If you’ve got extra space, such as an actual bedroom, a garage apartment, an attic or basement, or a separate guest house, you’ve got the potential to make some extra bucks by renting it out.

So, you’ve got the space, you’ve got the desire, how do you get the renters? Here’s how to do it and make it work.

First, make sure your rental space is clean and in good repair. This will make it much more enticing for potential renters. Dust it, vacuum it, paint it, and try to make it look like a comfortable home. You don’t have to spend a fortune to do this, but adding a few inexpensive features, such as new lights or faucets can help you attract a better quality of renter for your property.

Also, when a place looks nice upon rental, the tenant is much more likely to keep the place looking nice on his own. He’s also more likely to pay rent on time. If you’re a flexible landlord and allow your tenant to make small, personal changes to the space to make it seem more like home, your tenant will treat the place as his own. If you take the extra step of making yourself available to your tenant for any questions or concerns they may have, your tenant will feel loyal to you and want to make a good impression on you by keeping the place nice. You can facilitate your availability by responding to questions from your tenant as quickly as possible and not wasting any time in making any necessary repairs (or in hiring someone to make those repairs you can’t do yourself). Keep open communication with your tenant on the progress of any needed repairs, and your tenant will feel that you care about him.

The more your tenant feels cared for in a professional way by you, the more smooth your landlord experience will be. To make everything legal, simply find some rental forms that are appropriate for your state online. You can have an attorney look over them if you like. Once you’ve got everything set up, simply put an ad in the paper or online, and choose the best tenant for you.