Should You Air B and B Your Home? Our Personal Tale of Why One Might Consider this Option

“The young writer should learn to spot them: words that at first glance seem freighted with delicious meaning, but that soon burst in the air, leaving nothing but a memory of bright sound.”
— E.B. White

October 27th, where did October go?  It’s almost time for the ghosts and ghouls to come looking for candy; turn on your light and make your local dentist happy!  As a young kid, my friends and I were out for candy, we went to one home, and they answered the door and said they don’t believe in Halloween, and I remember asking, “can you do that?”  I didn’t understand at the time, but they had religious reasons for not supporting the witches and ghosts, to each his own, I guess.  My ten-year-old self thought, “how rude!”

So how are you today? Did you sleep well? Do you have a big day planned?  I don’t; this is an off day, a down day, a day of rest and recharge; I need to work on some planning for our company; I suspect I’ll walk the dog a couple of times, maybe sneak in a nap and finish the book I’ve been reading, nothing earth-shattering, it’s nice to have a down day now and then.  I will be setting up several appointments next week, so I guess I’ll be working a little, but when you love your work, you never really work; you simply live.

I’ve had a few conversations with people asking about our Air B and B’ing of our home.  We now spend two months in Colorado and one month in Indiana; our Indy home is vacant for eight months a year.  We had talked about opening it up but thought it might be a hassle. So last year, at a Synergize event, I asked one of my fellow members if he had a person that managed Air B and B’s.  He referred me to “Tom,” and we did a walkthrough of our property.  

We went back and forth on the benefits, the downsides, but in June of this year, we officially listed it on multiple sites, and I thought I would share our experience thus far.  But first, let me share the story of my friend Phil who has a home in Colorado and for a few years offered up his residence on VRBO.  When it was occupied, he and his wife would go camp, live their everyday life, and make some extra scratch on the side.  They now have a baby, I don’t think they offer their home anymore, but one can list their residence online and make money using their asset.

I guess this little word soup is for people with multiple homes; if you own a couple of places, here’s your Wednesday morning idea.  Rent your home when you are not using it!   In April of this year, we began moving our “personal” items into our master closet; believe it or not, we don’t have a lot of personal things, most of our belongings are more communal.  We’re not sentimental folks.

Before deciding to list your home and a house-sharing site, I strongly recommend you find a local manager. You do not want the calls in the middle of the night about the toilet not working or the door that won’t lock; it’s more than worth it to give a few points of your income to someone else to manage the space.  Many individuals and companies now specialize in this operation; our company has 42 units in our area.

We began our listing in June of this year with no expectations; we list it for an average of $500.00 a night, although we have a much lower price for our friends and family program.  The cost includes cleaning, maintenance, and anything that needs attention.  Before listing, our provider had a photographer come in and shoot the essence of our space, giving the traveler a good idea of where they would be staying.

Our location is critical; we are within walking distance of downtown Indy; you can get to a pacers game, colts game, or concert with a nice walk or very short UBER ride; it’s also close to the convention center.  We have three bedrooms, three and a half baths, a nice kitchen to prepare big family meals; it’s a lovely spot for a couple or large family to use when visiting Indianapolis.

We earn some nice income from the property; we have the money deposited into the new account we set up expressly for this operation. Our idea was to try this for a year and see if the income was worth it and how much damage our home would sustain.  Well, here we sit in almost November; our house has been rented multiple times, and we did spend most of the summer in Colorado.  It was rented most of the summer.

We returned home in June; the key to our system is blocking the time we will be home which is easy; we tell our property manager what dates to block, and the house is not available when we are home.  We arrived in September of this year after many folks had used our home, we didn’t know what to expect, but our house was cleaner than usual.  It does not hurt to have a commercial cleaning team manage your home when away.

I think we will continue leasing our home on a short-term basis; we have learned that Indy is a convention town, there are many opportunities to provide a perfect space for those visiting, and many come for multiple nights. However, we do have a three-night minimum, and we set our price point so we would not have people that just want to have a party in our home. 

We are happy with our decision; I thought it might be good to share if others think about this as an additional income stream.  It makes owning a second or third home possible, and you can even add to your top-line income if your home is in a place that people like to frequent. Of course, if your home is not in an area that people frequent, you still might consider listing it; we travel across the country quarterly and have stayed in places like Colby, KS, and Russell KS, places one might not usually think about having travelers.

Well, that will do my little story about our Air B and B or VRBO experience; we are avid users of the service when traveling, so we do have a basis of understanding of the process. However, if you are new to the idea, pack your bags and do some experimental travel to see how others manage their homes; hell, if ever in Indy, use our home, you will not be disappointed, and we have many five star reviews to back up the quality, location, and positive experiences of our guests.

“The young writer should learn to spot them: words that at first glance seem freighted with delicious meaning, but that soon burst in the air, leaving nothing but a memory of bright sound.”
— E.B. White