The idea of people living in your house for months at a time might not sound very appealing, but in the age of the Internet, you have many options to fix that. For starters, who said anything about having people stay in your house for several months at a time? You could go on holiday and have your stay partially or even fully covered by people living in your home while you’re away. The premise here is that since it’s a short term vacation rental, they’re going to pay a lot more than someone paying a traditional landlord. You will give them full reign of the room or house while you’re away. They usually have to pay a deposit that they will get back once they have cleaned up after themselves and left things in good condition.

But how do you find the demand? In the past before the Internet really got to this point, word of mouth was how people got these rooms filled. They’re not traditional hotels, so they can’t afford to pay for the heavy advertising runs that often pop up. But through online communities, rooms are able to be shared quickly and easily.

If you want to get a vacation rental, they’re cheaper than ever because the amount of inventory has increased. This means that great deals are waiting for you online, as long as you’re willing to check them out.

There are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to pulling this off that you’ll want to be aware of. A few tips for you are listed below.

First and foremost, look into any extra incentives that you can use to help lower your overhead costs. You might have heard of the Government’s “Rent a Room” scheme, where you can let out part of your property and get a tax break. You see, under the guidelines of the scheme, you can exempt the first 4250 GBP in rental income. Anything over that has to be declared on your taxes. If you have to split the rental income, you would have to also halve the credit to just 2125 GBP. Make sure that you don’t miss out, because in the next tax year the allowance is scheduled to go up to 7500 pounds!

If you use certain online sites, you can get the full cost of stay paid in advance to you before they even move their suitcases in.

Next, you need to make sure that you have proper insurance coverage. Your current carrier should be able to adjust your policy to accommodate for the change in occupancy through the year. There are also additional policies available on the market that serves this purpose. See which option will be cheaper based on your unique situation.

Finally, make sure that you price your room or home accordingly. if you’re going to give someone full reign of your home while you’re away, that’s going to cost more than if they just get one room. The reason behind this is simple: you’re giving them the ultimate amount of convenience. If they get a whole house to themselves, they’re getting a lot more room than what they would simply by renting a hotel room. They’re going to also have space to stretch out, which is really important after a long flight. Keep all of these factors in mind as you price your property online for a short term stay.

We like the idea of making extra money with this plan, but it’s important that you make plans to spend the money wisely. It might be nice to get a few things that you’ve always wanted, but it’s even more important to make sure that you have a savings account set up, and that you’ve also paid down your debts. While spending is wonderful at the right moments, it’s the wrong moments that really do us in!