Make $ Renting your Personal Residence when you are on vacation

[Vanessa Peterson]

Hey guys! I'm looking to earn some extra cash to help us continue to save for a down payment on our first sfh investment (we are 2/3 there to our goal!) I'd like to rent out our personal home when we are away for weekend and holiday vacations up to 14 days per year so that we can get a few thousand dollars of tax free income each year. We live in Portland...looks like we need a permit, business license, and I'm planning to call my home insurance to check if we need a rider. We are planning on using air bnb which also provides $1 million liability coverage. I'm thinking we can make about $1400 the first year (after approx $800 start up costs (locks, sheets, towels, permit, toiletries, etc and air bnb's cut is taken out) and about $3000 the year after that. We'll lock our stuff in the garage and our office so only the bedrooms, bathrooms, and living room/kitchen is available.

Anyone doing this and have any advice on things they wish they had done when they were getting started?

Thanks!