Kasey and I have been seriously thinking about starting this up as a passive income stream. We are in the process of evaluating the space and the impact to our lifestyle, but with each discussion we inch closer towards making this happen. I want to make sure we dot all of our i’s and cross all of our t’s. Here is what we need to understand before we would have our first guest:
- Decide on a nightly rate (I did this in the last post): It looks like we can round up $60 per night with an average of 54% occupancy rate. This means we could make $1000-$1500 per month. Our mortgage is currently $729, not bad.
- Local Laws for Short Term Rentals: Pittsburgh is currently (as of 2019) airbnb friendly. There is no city occupancy permit required for airbnb
- Update Homeowner’s Insurance policy: It i important to include specific insurance endorsements for short term rentals. This could be done by adding an endorsement to your current home insurance or by purchasing an umbrella policy to cover everything. Apparently it depends on your insurance company and you may need to shop around a bit. It should also be noted that Airbnb has a host guarantee for up to 1 million dollars. However, it does not cover cash, collectables, rare artwork, jewelry, pets, personal liability, or loss due to wear.
- Convert the space! The longest task on the list. I will follow up with before pictures and progress reports.