Renting out permanent residence.....

[Beach Mama]

Not sure if DH is right with his idea or way off!

We live in a very popular tourist beachside tourist town. Housing near the beach is expensive - not crazy expensive but our mortgage would need to be 50-100k bigger than we would like if we were to buy a house that doesn't need much work and that is a decent size. We are a bit fussy about where we want to be, could spend much less but would be further from the beach and the reason we moved 1 1/2 hours from family and friends was to be seaside so that makes no sense.

Anyhoooo - DH has this idea of buying a house we like, and in order to assist greatly with the mortgage that we plan to rent it out as a holiday let about 6 weeks of the year. So maybe make it available for 2 weeks over summer (we obviously want to be here for the bulk of summer!) but we already have a holiday up north planned for January for eg. and a few other long weekends, possibly September school hols etc. and we would go on holiday or visit family in Melbourne anyway.

Its the type of house and town where we could get 1600-2000 a week rent easily. He thinks we could lock the garage and pack personal stuff in there, lock most wardrobes with clothes in there and then rent it out for long weekends etc. (Long weekends could get $200-$250 a night with a 3 night min)

I am a bit torn - I think it will be a PITA moving stuff, possibly having people trash the house and stuff we do leave in there (although at those prices we are guessing most would be families/older couples sharing together) but then again it would possibly mean up to 12000k income for us, for a bit of inconvenience at times we would be holiday or visiting family in Melbs anyway.

What do you think???

[OceanPrincess]

My ILs live in a sea side town and there are HEAPs of locals who do that. When you crunch the numbers, it works in your favour.

Some of them even rent a cabin in the caravan park for six weeks over summer and then rent their house out and still come out in front!!

[wysiwyg]

I think is a brilliant idea (in the UK we stayed at places more than once where families had moved out for the summer etc - sometimes to a caravan in the garden (when we stayed on a farm)). I really like the idea - I hate it when you go to holiday places out of season and see all these beautiful houses sitting empty - so think is great when people either live there and move out to allow holiday makers in, or just rent out their own holiday homes when they are not there.

[LuluHB]

I think financially it sounds like a great idea. From an emotional point of view though I couldn't do it. All the little things around the house that are valuable to me - emotionally, not financially - that I would have to pack away. We've got hundreds of books that have been lovingly cared for that I would hate for someone renting my house to read and dog ear (sounds pretty minor but its one of my pet hates). Would they care for my crockery or break something that would mean I no longer had a full set? Would they care for the furniture? Would they respect my no shoes and no food in the lounge rule? You can only pack up so much before it becomes a major pain in the whatsit.

I look at those exchange holiday ideas where you swap homes with someone in another country and I just can't do it. Someone sleeping in my bed, in my daughters' beds, just doesn't sit well with me.