Would You Rent Out a Room?
So a good friend of mine is in the precarious situation of owning a home that 1.) has lost value, and 2.) she can’t afford by herself if her fiancé looses his job. She called me up the other day and asked me what I thought about her renting out one of the spare rooms she has.
My first question to her was, “Why?”
Frankly, I think they should consider other options prior to renting out a room in their house. First of all, while the benefit of having a little extra income is nice, I feel like the cons on this situation far outweigh the benefits.
Cons
Let’s consider the cons of this move, shall we?
1. You don’t KNOW the person
I mean, this goes without saying, but how do you know you’re not letting a total psycho in the house? Of course, it could be argued that anyone you meet as a potential friend could be a complete psycho and that’s true, but it’s a little different when you’re letting the person you haven’t gotten to know live with you. And, let’s look at the examples of dead wives whose husbands were a little bit crazy and they had no idea for many years. You just never know.
While this idea is crazy for people without kids, you’re almost asking for trouble with kids. I just couldn’t imagine inviting a stranger into my home if I had kids, I don’t care what was going on. I’ve heard the stories about boarders trying to sneak kids into their rooms in the middle of the night. And, while it’s all conjecture, as I have no actual proof that any of that was going on, the idea alone is enough for me to say no.
2. There goes your privacy
Now, neither my friend nor her fiancé are ones to go walking around their houses in the buff, at least, from what they tell me; however, having someone in the house is a little limiting. I mean, they are getting married so there’s the coital relationship to consider. And what about bathroom mannerisms? Not to get all potty-humor on you guys, but seriously, are you comfortable doing the number two with someone in your house? I know I’m not when I have friends over, I couldn’t imagine having a stranger in the house. And contrary to what you guys may think, running the water doesn’t help. We can still hear you.
3. Groceries
You can set rules on this all you want, but there’s really not much of a way to police this. You have two options. You can cook their meals for them – which seems even more limiting on time when you have a job to get to as well. Or, you can require that they buy their own food and drinks. That may mean you need to supply them with a mini fridge in their room and a microwave, or allot them space in yours. Either way, this issue could be a deal breaker if you get someone who likes to eat you out of house and home.
4. Trust
I know there are perfectly nice people out there, but I just don’t trust that they wouldn’t make off with my stuff and pawn it. My friend has a lot of nice stuff. Things she normally leaves lying around she’d feel compelled to lock up because a lot of it is irreplaceable. That doesn’t seem like a good way to live in your own home.
5. Coming and going
They would have the right to come and go as they please, and they may not have the same schedule as you. My friend is an extremely light sleeper and I just think having a tenant coming in at all hours of the night would grate on her nerves…and she can be pretty crabby already.
6. Unwanted guests
You could have rules on this, but if you’re going to rent the room, there’s not much you can do about them having one or two people in their room – unless you forbid all visitors unequivocally. My friend isn’t so much a tyrant that she would restrict a few friends being invited over, but I think she would worry about what those friends would be doing or thinking.
Pros
To be fair, I think it important to discuss the pros in this situation. Although, honestly, I’m a bit biased having had numerous roommate situations that didn’t work out.
1. Extra income and/or reduced bills
Depending on how you charge for this room, it could produce you with a nice income and/or reduced bills. Though to be fair, the bills could increase so much that you don’t actually profit from this…ok, ok. I said I would look at the pros. No more cons.
2. Company
This type of arrangement could work for the socially awkward that don’t like to go out and meet people. This gives them someone to talk to at mealtimes and on the nights when the individual is home. In my friend’s case, this isn’t exactly a pro as she doesn’t really like people…in fact, she’s a bit of a hermit. I really wonder how her and her fiancé ever made their relationship work!
Those were all the pros I could come up with…like I said, I’m probably biased in this case. So for me, it’s not worth it and I would never consider it. My friend and her fiancé have been mulling it over. I told her she should do whatever she thinks is best, but that I don’t advise it. I think there are other things they could first. She asked what and I was all too happy to tick off the items.
1. Sell the big, expensive truck for a reasonable car.
2. Sell the big screen TV and stick with the 42 in. in their bedroom.
3. Get rid of cable.
4. Go with one vehicle instead of two – they carpool anyway.
Those are just four things they could do to cut their expenses, and in reality, if I sat and looked at their expenses, I could probably find more. I will give her credit that she’s pretty good at not eating out and limiting what they spend on entertainment; however, the drawback to that is that she limits her fiancé so much that when she gives an inch, he takes a mile. She limits what he can spend on fun, but she doesn’t limit what she spends on things for the house. They’re struggling in debt because she had to have the new dishwasher, refrigerator, stove, and several other costly appliances. It’s understandable why he gets upset.
At any rate, my vote was ‘no’ on the renting out the room. As I understand it, her fiancé agrees with me. But, for some reason, she seems to think it’s a great idea and the benefit of the extra money will outweigh the cons. We’ll see what happens.
What do you guys thinks? Are there any other benefits to this type of arrangement that I’ve missed in my biased assessment? Would you consider this sort of arrangement, or would it be a very last option?
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I wouldn’t. But then again, I don’t have to, and I have the luxury of extra cash to avoid that situation.
I’m going to have disagree on this one. Sure, there is an element of risk with renting out one of your rooms to a stranger, but I think if you’re a reasonable judge of character the risks are fairly minimal.
I have a friend who just finished renovating his house, and now his roommates are paying his mortgage!
Have you seen the movie Primal Fear? It is one of the biggest reasons I’m no longer studying to be a lawyer. You can be a fairly decent judge of character and still get it wrong. Take Charles Stuart for example. Happily married man, or so his wife thought, until one day he goes off and shoots her in the head. After “attempting” his own death, which he lived through, he tells a fictitious story to get himself off the hook. Years later he finally fesses up and tells authorities that what he really wanted was to take the money from the insurance settlement of his wife’s life insurance and open a restaurant. Oh, and the wife was pregnant at the time he shot her. Then there’s David Magraw who strangled his wife to death to avoid a six-figure divorce.
My point is, no matter how well you think you know someone, you really just never know. It’s the same reason I don’t pick up hitchhiker’s on the side of the road. It’s the same reason I don’t stop at night to help people. It’s the same reason I don’t open my door to strangers. I’ll call for help for any of them if they need it, but I’m not providing that help personally. Now, the difference between you and I, of course, is that you’re a guy and I’m a girl. The likelihood of something happening to you is less than my chances, just by nature – not that it couldn’t, but I’m just saying. I like to believe in the good nature of most people, but there are those out there who prey on it and we just have to be careful. Not that I don’t trust people, I do. I’m just extremely cautious and I don’t think I could ever rent out a room to someone I didn’t know.
I have rented rooms to others on numerous occasions. At this point it is just my husband and I, but we are missing having so many different personalities and experiences in our home. We have had roomies from Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Austria, Canada as well as locally. I find that it makes me more open to the world, we try different foods, see different movies… in short, we get ourselves out of our ‘only living by ourselves’ and ‘only doing things our way’ North American rut.
We have also had parents with young children as well as older children, students as well as professionals… We love every bit of it, and right now, miss it dearly.
I have never had anything go missing, money or otherwise. I would rather go through life trusting the goodness in people and learning more about myself and the world, than shut myself up with only my small experience of the world. I drink more wine and eat great food and always have interesting and engaging conversations. We have made so many wonderful friends and miss them all desperately. We have even gone to see some of them in their homes now, giving us the opportunity to travel overseas much cheaper.
Will I sometimes get burned? Do I sometimes get tired of people in my space? Yup… But in general people want to be good and happy in their environment… and in mine.
By the way, my husband and I are in our mid-30’s and are both professionals.
@ KC – That’s fantastic that it’s turned out so well for you! I think it’s great that you’ve turned it into a positive experience for yourself. That said, I don’t need people living in my house to experience the things that you talk about. I travel a lot, I visit other cultures as much as possible, and I actively engage in meeting new people through various activities that I do. I simply chose not to invite them in my home to live, at least I wouldn’t do it on the basis of them being a stranger. Now, over the course of a friendship, that’s a different story. But complete strangers I would have a hard time with.
If i needed the money, then i’d do whatever it takes – which means time to rent out that room baby! but if it wasn’t a def. necessity yet, i probably wouldn’t. unless i was in college again, in which case i’d love it :) or if i were single – always need a good wingman, right?
In your friend’s position, I wouldn’t be rushing out to find a stranger – after all, no one has lost their job yet! If she just lets people in her circle know she’s considering it, they tend to remember and hook you up if they run into someone in need of a room.
Last month, I blogged about making money off your home in ways that don’t involve a long-term commitment to a full-time housemate:
http://moneymatekate.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/4-ways-to-put-your-home-to-work/
My situation is a little different because I rented out a whole floor of my house (sort of an in-law apartment with two rooms and a bathroom) to two friends right after we bought our house. I posted about the pros and cons of the arrangement here. It benefited me and my partner by lowering our bills, and our friends saved a few hundred bucks on rent for a year. We also traded petsitting services so we never had to hire anyone to watch the dogs and cats. They’re moving out this spring, and while I’ll miss the income, I’m really looking forward to having the house to ourselves.
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