“I’m not sure I can afford to move out of my parents’ house.” “I don’t know how I’ll find the time for side hustles, with a full-time job and kids.” “My side hustle is just a side project, and it’s not really worth talking about here.”
Sound familiar? These are all excuses people use when they’re afraid of taking on side hustles or extra work. But what if you could make money doing something that doesn’t require any effort?
One side hustle idea that you may not have considered is renting out a spare room. This option doesn’t require any upfront investment and can be done with little risk of failure.
In this blog post, we’ll talk about how much money you can earn from renting out your spare room and answer some frequently asked questions that we’re sure to have come to your mind as well.
How Do You Make Money?
When explaining what this side hustle is about, we couldn’t ask for it to be more straightforward.
As it suggests, it is all about renting a spare room in your home or apartment, or any property you own and have a room just accumulating dust and giving you a lot of work every time it is time to clean.
Many people in the world have many expenses to cover and make sure they are able to make ends. However, is it easy to rely on this side hustle to get the extra money you need?
Overall, the idea is simple, but it isn’t one to take lightly, considering the danger that comes with it.
It isn’t a secret for anyone that bringing someone to your home can be dangerous because, who knows, you never know someone completely, and this applies even more when we’re talking about strangers.
Now, does this mean you shouldn’t consider it in the first place? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Renting a spare room is one of the best side hustles you can choose not only because it doesn’t require too much work but also because you get the opportunity to have a better stream of income over the years.
Unless your property deteriorates or your location turns out to be a “bad” area for people, you will be able to charge more the longer a tenant stays or each time someone new comes.
However, what can you do with the dangerous part of bringing someone to your home? We would recommend aiming for friends and maybe some of your family before getting someone else.
You don’t have to consider going for strangers in order to charge more. Instead, bringing a friend or someone you trust can become a symbiosis. How is that? Simple, they will pay for the room, but you also get someone to share expenses.
There are many ways to approach this side hustle, and you’ll need to make decisions based on how you want to earn money with it and who you will bring in.
Short-term or long-term tenants? Both are great, but everything depends on how long you want to stick with someone.
All these factors must be considered to decide and remember that one can end up being safer than the other.
Do You Need More Than a Spare Room?
Absolutely.
Some people believe that having a small room without offering other benefits is good enough, and it may be for some. However, you have to consider all the elements someone needs to start living in it.
Essential services like the Internet, using the kitchen, and maybe washing clothes are benefits you might want to include when renting your spare room.
Some landlords decide to keep it simple and literally rent the room alone. Yes, you can use the bathroom, but you usually can’t cook, wash your clothes, or use any other service and space of the place.
People who accept this are only looking for a place to spend the night, and they might not be bothered by the lack of benefits that come with the room.
However, landlords have a hard time renting rooms like this because those willing to rent them are the minority.
So, where does this take us? To determine what you will offer along with space you’re renting.
We recommend sticking to the basics:
- Internet.
- Use the kitchen.
- Be able to wash your clothes.
- Add using the phone to a specific extent.
This will bring more value to your room, and if you’re worried about spending more in terms of how someone else uses your spaces or services, just remember that you have to include those expenses in the monthly payment.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to provide food or specific services that will take your time. After all, we are aiming for a way to make money that allows you to be as relaxed as possible.
Therefore, make sure to come up with the final terms based on what you feel you can offer and include and what you wouldn’t want to at all.
As for the rest, you don’t have to worry. The spare room is more than enough and, in the end, if you want to rent it without anything else but the essentials (bed, closet, etc.), you can do it, but it will mean less income and a harder time to rent it.
Is Remodeling or Renovating Necessary?
If the condition of your room is poor and you conclude that you wouldn’t want to sleep there, it does need to be remodeled or renovated.
However, if you have a ready-to-use room, there’s no need to go to such an extent.
As always, everything depends on your specific situation, but here, we will assume you have to handle some renovations in order to make this side hustle profitable.
In this case, you have to determine how much it costs to handle the simple steps:
- Cleaning the walls.
- Painting the room.
- Adding a new cabinet or bed.
- Include a mirror.
- If the room has a bathroom inside, create a budget for it alone.
Most people spend between $100 to $200 to remodel or renovate a room, but only when it requires some work like painting and adding new furniture.
Furniture will always be the most expensive addition to the room, and if it does have a bathroom, you’ll probably face having to clean it more than replacing something.
Just make sure that every connection works well in the bath and water can flow without issues. In other words, guarantee it is functional.
Now, what if you only need to paint the walls? A bucket of paint will cost around $15 to $35, depending on the type you acquire and how much you need.
Small ones (about 30 oz) should be enough for your spare room.
Adding some décor like paintings or maybe a lamp will help a lot, and you can find great sales at Target or Walmart. Just take a bit of time to look for options that range between $2 to $10, and don’t spend too much money on it.
Making Hundreds or Thousands?
Let’s get to the most exciting part: how much you can earn from this.
Since rent varies depending on your specific location and for how long you decide to rent the room, it is hard to bring an average that can englobe everything.
Therefore, we will go by parts and help you know how much you can make based on how you decide to rent the room and its size.
- Short-term renting.
The best benefit about this way of renting is that you don’t have to deal with tenants for too long.
For example, if someone you end up disliking because of how they are behaving, you only have to wait a few days until the person is gone.
Also, you can charge more for tenants that will still for a short period since they’re usually looking for quick yet comfortable rooms to stay in that don’t lead them to expensive hotels.
Now, is this option a good alternative for everyone regardless of the room and location? Not quite.
Most people who decide to rent in the short term have a huge benefit to offer: a stunning place to enjoy on holidays or for a weekend.
Therefore, people who own properties near beaches or touristic and beautiful places are the ones that get the most from it.
Usually, they can charge $133 on average a night, which alone pays off quite the service and space you’re offering.
However, those that decide to rent it without offering something, in particular, make less, around $50 or $62 a night.
This renting option depends a lot on how easy it is to find guests and can afford to have several people every few days.
- Long-term renting.
This is probably the most common option for landlords in cities and places that don’t have attractions near to offer.
The beauty about this one is that you’ll have a regular income stream, and it isn’t required to organize the room and handle it whenever there’s a new guest.
The only thing that can be a problem lies in how much you want to offer your occupants.
Going back to what we were mentioning about laundry, kitchen, and other services, you might not want to include them, and despite what we said about being able to rent it anyway, we are inclined to say that you will end up doing it anyway.
With short-term tenants, you don’t have to deal with these issues. Instead, you only let them stay, enjoy, and they won’t be using more of your space.
But if you decide to bet for the long-term occupant, it is easy to earn between $250 to $1.000 for your room. Of course, it depends on what you offer and how good the location and space are.
- Small and big rooms.
The size will always be crucial in this side hustle, and you will notice that, without a doubt, the bigger it is, the more you can charge for it.
Following the previous range of earnings, small rooms are usually the ones that will generate you less money.
With short-term renting, you are bound to earn about $73 a night, while for long-term contracts, you can quickly go up to $350-420 a month.
For many, renting small rooms for the short-term is more profitable, but it tends to be challenging to look for occupants.
You can expect to earn over $100 a night and $700+ a month for big rooms.
How to Rent Out a Spare Room
The easiest way for most people (and safest as well) is to rely on platforms like Airbnb.
It is pretty simple to look at the profile of your future occupants, either if it is for the short or long term.
In the past, Airbnb worked as a way to rent for the short-term only, but many people decided to use it to bring long-term tenants their way.
We highly recommend it because you will get paid, you’re almost guaranteed that your tenant won’t bring danger your way, and you can choose who you decide to rent your room to or not.
However, another alternative is to advertise your room locally. Use social media or even newspapers to bring in possible occupants.
Just make sure you are a bit selective about how you advertise it and take your time to interview every tenant before showing the room as well.
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