Would you do this?

[MSWR0319]

We have a lake house about 30 minutes away. DH got a text from the realtor we purchased from asking if we'd consider renting the house till June while this family's house is being built. DH is all about it. It's $15,000, which would be really nice considering we just bought a new boat. However, we don't NEED the money. We can afford things. We can often start getting on the water in late April/May and I don't want to lose that time. Not to mention this family has a small dog (we have a dog too, but that's different because I don't know how their dog acts or if it's potty trained well, etc). DH is living in make believe world and saying we can still go to the lake, we'll just stay on the boat all day. Um, I don't want to sit on my boat and watch people I don't know on my deck or in my house. Am I crazy to not want to do this? The funny thing is he's the one that gets all worked up when we can't go up on Friday night because of a sporting even or something. Now he's saying he's going to be fine with not going at all? Not to mention, how often do houses get built on time and that June deadline will turn into August and we lost the whole summer.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I wouldn't. You can kick them out in June whether their house is ready or not. But, I wouldn't be keen to deal with strangers in my house.

[specialp]

Not to mention, how often do houses get built on time and that June deadline will turn into August and we lost the whole summer.

I wouldn't because of this. Yes, you could kick them out, but are you really going to want to? These are people you know, even if not well, and you aren't going to want to do it. Plus, if they refuse, it takes a long time to physically get someone removed.

[khm]

$15k is a lot of $$.... but I still probably couldn't. I'm abnormally weird about people in my space tho. I'm boggled by AirBnB'ers who let out rooms in their primary residence, etc. Just not my reality.

But a cabin? Maaaaybe I could because that isn't my "real" home? We have considered buying a cabin with some friends, for example, so I do feel like a cabin is different.

The timing is poor though, as you say, a missed June deadline does essentially kill your summer. A summer with your kids at these particular ages that you cannot get back. You could set it up so that June 1 means June 1, no ifs ands or buts. If they have to go stay in a hotel, so be it. That's really the only way I'd do it, if they know 100% that they are out by June 1, new house or not.

[Kindra178]

I would definitely do it. 7k in each of your kids’ college funds.


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[123LuckyMom]

I agree not to rent until the beginning of summer because you KNOW their house won’t be ready on time. These will be your future neighbors, and saying no up front is much better for your future relationship than kicking them out when their house is a couple of weeks from completion. I’d reply that you often begin using the house in April and cannot have renters past March 31st. If they make a counter offer requesting the house until the end of March, I’d charge a security deposit for any potential damage and rent away. In that case, they’d have to secure an additional rental until their house is completed, so there’d be no bad blood in ending the lease on time. To my mind, that’s kind of free money unless you’d have to do a tremendous amount of work to ready the house for rent.


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[marymoo86]

I agree not to rent until the beginning of summer because you KNOW their house won’t be ready on time. These will be your future neighbors, and saying no up front is much better for your future relationship than kicking them out when their house is a couple of weeks from completion. I’d reply that you often begin using the house in April and cannot have renters past March 31st. If they make a counter offer requesting the house until the end of March, I’d charge a security deposit for any potential damage and rent away. In that case, they’d have to secure an additional rental until their house is completed, so there’d be no bad blood in ending the lease on time. To my mind, that’s kind of free money unless you’d have to do a tremendous amount of work to ready the house for rent.


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exactly

[magnoliaparadise]

I think this comes down to whether you need the money and how much you need it.

You said you don't need it. If you don't need that money, and it feels like a total hassle having people in your house, and as others have said, the renters might not be able to get out in time anyway, then don't do it. It's not worth your bother.

If you at all feel like you could use that 15K and you would notice a difference having it, and that would help you having it, then definitely do it.

[Kestrel]

If you decide to go forward with the rental, please make use you have a written rental agreement with security deposit, walk-through, ect. You will need it if you have to evict them. Require in your contract that they get renter's insurance and make sure your homeowner's insurance will cover it if there are renters.
Be prepared for the construction to run late, it's extremely common. We've built two homes and are about to start on a third. The first was supposed to be done March 31 and was completed April 15 - late but not bad. The second was supposed be done October 15 and wasn't done until December 23 - about ten weeks late. It sucked. (Try getting movers Christmas week!)

The simplest thing would be to say no, but this is a one-time chance. If you need/want that money, there will be other summers - you are buying it!

[BunnyBee]

If he insists on doing it, I would build in a stipulation with a HUGE increase in rent starting June 1. And a non-refundable dog fee.

Agreeing with PP that you can't just boot them in June. You would have to follow your state's eviction proceedings, which generally take months.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If he insists on doing it, I would build in a stipulation with a HUGE increase in rent starting June 1. And a non-refundable dog fee.

Agreeing with PP that you can't just boot them in June. You would have to follow your state's eviction proceedings, which generally take months.

But couldn’t they just sign a rental agreement that ends on June 1 or whatever?


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[BunnyBee]

But couldn’t they just sign a rental agreement that ends on June 1 or whatever?


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You can, but there's no guarantee they will move out on that day. People know how hard it is to evict.

[jgenie]

Nope. There are too many ways you end up getting inconvenienced. If it was a place you could use year round maybe but really if you have a vacation home it’s because you can afford it. My answer would be different if you bought the vacation place as an investment and we’re trying to get some of your investment costs back quickly.

[khm]

Yeah, will there be tax implications? Insurance? $15k probably isn't really $15k.

[AnnieW625]

I would definitely do it. 7k in each of your kids’ college funds.


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Yes to this. Could you negotiate the time that they are there for?

For me it is a no brainer to earn income from property you aren’t using. Does the $15k include a security deposit?


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[specialp]

But couldn’t they just sign a rental agreement that ends on June 1 or whatever?


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You can, but there's no guarantee they will move out on that day. People know how hard it is to evict.

:yeah that:
The rental agreement ends their legal right, but if they remain in possession, you have to follow state laws to evict and have them put out and to put you back into physical possession. You can’t go in there and physically put your hands on them or their things even if it is June 2 in our state. People do this ALL the time, especially when they just need to buy a little more time and they know eviction is going to take months.

[lovingdenver10]

I would..a little extra for savings!

[mom2binsd]

Do you not like to go up at all before June??? What if it's a mild spring, I'd want to be able to access it whenever. Plus, you're going to see a lot of wear and tear with people living there 24/7 for 6 months. If money isn't tight I would not do it.

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[AnnieW625]

Imho if someone is willing to pay $15k in rent for a place they will be out of the place when they are supposed to be.


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[TwinFoxes]

We have a lake house about 30 minutes away. DH got a text from the realtor we purchased from asking if we'd consider renting the house till June while this family's house is being built. DH is all about it. It's $15,000, which would be really nice considering we just bought a new boat. However, we don't NEED the money. We can afford things. We can often start getting on the water in late April/May and I don't want to lose that time. Not to mention this family has a small dog (we have a dog too, but that's different because I don't know how their dog acts or if it's potty trained well, etc). DH is living in make believe world and saying we can still go to the lake, we'll just stay on the boat all day. Um, I don't want to sit on my boat and watch people I don't know on my deck or in my house. Am I crazy to not want to do this? The funny thing is he's the one that gets all worked up when we can't go up on Friday night because of a sporting even or something. Now he's saying he's going to be fine with not going at all? Not to mention, how often do houses get built on time and that June deadline will turn into August and we lost the whole summer.

I was kind of on your husband's side until I saw that ($15,000 is nothing to sneeze at). That's a big chunk of time to miss out on. And missing out on Memorial Day weekend would suck. I do think your DH is living in fantasyland where you would drive up and happily spending all day on your boat, and seeing other people in your house.

For anyone who thinks you can just kick them out when their lease is up...don't become a landlord. :) People know how to play the system. Especially realtors. Not saying they would, but you never know.

[MSWR0319]

Do you not like to go up at all before June??? What if it's a mild spring, I'd want to be able to access it whenever. Plus, you're going to see a lot of wear and tear with people living there 24/7 for 6 months. If money isn't tight I would not do it.

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We do go up, even if it's just for the day. The kids like to ice skate and wanted to try ice fishing. We just got the fireplace cleaned because DH wanted to go spend Sunday's there watching football in front of the fireplace. For me, this house was bought to spend time with the kids and friends & family. A place to make memories. And that's what I want to do there.

It's kind of funny. I am usually the cheapskate in our family. Always doing everything I can to save money and being a tightwad when it's not necessary. Selling things that DH wants to throw away. DH is the frivolous spender and doesn't worry about money. He knows how house building goes. We built our house and of course it wasn't done on time. We had to live in the kitchen because our lease ran up and we were kind enough to move out.

Yes, the money would be great but I'm not a money person. It's not important to me more than spending time with family. I would rather get a part time job than rent out the house. The kids' educations will be paid for from profit we have from selling land, so not doing this isn't going to harm them. It's just so hard!

[mom2binsd]

Enjoy your cabin, this isn't money you were counting on, winters at a cabin are wonderful! I'm jealous you have something so close!

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[Snow mom]

Imho if someone is willing to pay $15k in rent for a place they will be out of the place when they are supposed to be.


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I don't know about this. Renters paid $5k+/mo upfront for a full year of rent and then ended up needing evicted at the end of their lease for a luxury condo a friend owns. In this case the renter was screwing their STBX by paying the rent upfront so it shouldn't have been a shock when they screwed the landlord as well.

[JElaineB]

Just say no. You don't need the money, you bought this place to enjoy. Clearly it is usable year-round, so why not make this winter the winter you start using it more? And no strange dog messing up your house.

[trcy]

I would, because we could use the money. Savings, retirement, college fund for the kids, ect. But you don't need the money, so I don't think you should.

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[jacksmomtobe]

It sounds like the trade off for you isn’t worth the extra income. You want to enjoy the house and not be a landlord. Both of which are completely understandable. We have a carriage house/garage which has standalone living quarters in it and we get asked a few times a year whether we ever consider renting it out. We have always said no because the the thought of being a landlord and the lack of privacy (access is off our driveway behind our house) just hasn’t appealed to us. We had one friend splitting from her spouse stay there when she wasn’t with her kids as the spouses where rotating in and out of their house. We didn’t charge her rent and she was the perfect tenant as we barely knew she was there. She was exceptionally considerate.

[Mommy_Mea]

I wouldn't based on what you have said, and my reluctance to ever be a landlord for all the reasons stated above. Think about it this way: you have invested a certain amount of money to have this special place available to you, by renting it out you are essentially sacrificing that money. And $15k wouldn't be enough of a compensation for that.

[Liziz]

Definitely no. I hate the concept of renting out my space. I know it's fine with some people, but I'm not one of those people. You probably don't have the house set up like a rental b/c you don't do that, so it would require definite effort on your part to get things put away you don't want random people messing with, etc. The fact that it will interfere with time you'd spend there is another no-go for me. I'm with you -- even if I was okay doing day trips, I would not be okay going somewhere I normally have my house and not having access to it/potentially seeing other people using it. And despite the fact that I own dogs myself, I would not be willing to have another dog in my space. The only way I'd be willing to do this is if we were in a financial hole and needed to get ourselves out. Just say no!!!!

[mommy111]

Nope. If you don’t need the money, why would you ruin your chance at winter and summer recreation?

[magnoliaparadise]

I once rented my home when I was going away for the summer and someone approached me. I only charged the family my rent, but it felt like a great deal since I would have had to pay that rent anyway and lost the money. This way, it felt like I could leave my home for 'free' for the summer.

And I DID appreciate getting the money. However... I found it to be a total PITA as well.

First, I had to do a ton of cleaning and get a lot of stuff out of the way before the tenants came. That took longer than expected and was logistically exhausting.

Second, when the tenants left at the end of the month, they took a couple of little things - the only thing that really mattered was a stuffed animal Curious George that belonged to one of my kids - I knew that the family took it because they wrote that their kid liked it so much and asked if they could keep it. I said no (nicely), but probably not emphatically enough. And it was gone when I returned. I have heard a lot - from friends and on this board - that when you rent out a house, you should expect that some tenants take things. My parents rented out a summer house and had to replace a ton of stuff over the years.

Third, before my tenants arrived and while I was focused on getting the place cleaned up for them, my kid got very sick (mysteriously high temperature that kept oscillating up and down). The ped evaluated my kid and did some tests and said everything was fine and it was just a flu that would pass quickly. In the perfect world, I would have stayed at home a few more days so I could see her pediatrician again. However, I didn't have that luxury - the tenants wanted the home immediately and I didn't have the money at the time to stay at a hotel because it was a VHCOL area and I didn't know how long I would need to stay.

So I left my home and went about my summer plans to another state... and my kid, then 2, took a turn for the worse. It turned out later that her ped had missed a urinary tract infection (she tested for it, but the results were negative), but by the time we all figured it out, it had scaled up to a kidney infection. It was a mess, honestly - a couple of antibiotic tries before we got the correct one, some other complications, and t hen there were the blood tests, searching for all kinds of nefarious diseases that tore my gut out worrying, and my daughter was 105 degrees off and on more often that I'd like and we were running back and forth to new/unknown doctors from the out of state summer house where I was staying while the tenants were in my home... It took probably 3-4 weeks to get to a better place and was really scary. We were on our way to the emergency room several times, but a family member with medical knowledge would talk me down last minute - but my DD could easily have been hospitalized for it. My ped was calling me 5-10x a day for awhile while DD was sick, it was so up and down and confusing.

I am CERTAIN that had I just stayed in my home a few extra days and gone back to my DD's ped again, instead of leaving town and going out of state, the ped would have figured out the problem and my DD would have been spared what became such a big illness. It's ultimately my fault because it was my choice to leave my home state when I did instead of find a way to stay at a hotel (DD had periods of being fine with no temperature, so it was very confusing and I didn't get how sick she was), but... in hindsight, that month's rent was not worth the money. I'm beyomdgrateful that she recovered and is ok, but if I could have spared her that, I would.

I know your circumstances are different, but this is just to say that you just never know how or what exactly will be affected by having someone stay in your other home. In your case, you don't need the money so I'd just not go through the hassle. If you needed the money for college, retirement, vacations, anything, that's a different story and may be worth the sacrifice of not having access to your second home. But if you don't need the money, my suggestion would be to not do it.

[specialp]

Imho if someone is willing to pay $15k in rent for a place they will be out of the place when they are supposed to be.


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It happens a lot regardless of price point because people get stuck when they need a bit more time, but not enough time to justify a lease. It is virtually impossible to find a house or even an apartment here for anything less than 6 months in a safe area. I’m sure there are month-to-months in areas I wouldn’t want to be. Say the person needs 1- 2 more months and like OP, the LL has no desire to extend the lease. The only option is to go to a hotel or jump around VRBOs (I’m assuming they already have their items in storage since it sounds like OP's bakehouse is furnished) or find another rental and sign another 6 month lease and be on the hook for the extra months of rent there. Compare that to if they stay put, the LL has to give notice requirements before he can even file an eviction suit. So by the time LL files an eviction suit and the tenant needs to respond, the tenant is out and the issue is over. The Tenant only has to pay a little more than the rent he would have, but nothing compared to the expense of the other options.

BTW, I know it is all relative, but 15k for approx. 6 months of rent for a lake house sounds very reasonable.

[JBaxter]

How often does a home promised to be done actually IS done. If you like to be in the water in April/ May you could be out half the summer if there is a delay in construction. Nope let them find another place.

[TwinFoxes]

Imho if someone is willing to pay $15k in rent for a place they will be out of the place when they are supposed to be.



Because only poor people breach contracts? :shake: One of my coworkers rented his house out when he was on assignment in London for a year. His tenants refused to move out his house in an upscale Maryland neighborhood. It took him three months too get them out of his house, meanwhile he had to rent another place and get attorneys involved. It was a nightmare. Also, $15,000 for 6 months of rent at a lake house isn't even that much! That's $2,500 a month. That's less than the going weekly rate at most vacation homes.

[AnnieW625]

Because only poor people breach contracts? :shake: One of my coworkers rented his house out when he was on assignment in London for a year. His tenants refused to move out his house in an upscale Maryland neighborhood. It took him three months too get them out of his house, meanwhile he had to rent another place and get attorneys involved. It was a nightmare. Also, $15,000 for 6 months of rent at a lake house isn't even that much! That's $2,500 a month. That's less than the going weekly rate at most vacation homes.

Oh man that sucks. I was just thinking that if someone had a plan to need somewhere to stay while a house was being built and had pre budgeted and have a plan set in place now then maybe they wouldn’t be the type of person that couldn’t be evicted and what not. I guess I am just an optimist and think on the bright side.


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[HannaAddict]

Oh man that sucks. I was just thinking that if someone had a plan to need somewhere to stay while a house was being built and had pre budgeted and have a plan set in place now then maybe they wouldn’t be the type of person that couldn’t be evicted and what not. I guess I am just an optimist and think on the bright side.


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The higher the rent, the more likely the person doesn’t really care if they breach and knows they can play the system vs someone who is not wealthy and afraid of being sued. If I didn’t need the money and the house wasn’t already set up for renters, no way. Our vacation home is definitely not for renters. Furniture and art and level of finishes are not something we would rent out to someone else. I wouldn’t want to arrange to have furniture, rugs and art stored and have someone’s dog pee or more. And here, rental houses are $700-1,000 a night so $15k would not be worth it. You also need to change your homeowner’s insurance and premiums will increase, though not that much. If my place was one set up for renters with easy to replace stuff and used to wear and tear and I wasn’t going to be around, then I would consider a long term tenant as they can be easier on property than nightly or weekly renters.


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[California]

If you were going into this with a stress-free Plan B for construction delays, I’d say go for it. But it sounds like delays would really mess up your summer.

Just this last year we had tenants extend a lease twice because their new home construction kept going longer than expected. Fortunately DH and I were fully expecting those delays. It worked out just fine for us (very tight rental market here and turn around time is quite tight.)

I think if you aren’t okay with construction delays, and don’t have a solid Plan B, and delays are going to cause stress and friction between you and your DH, why do it?

[lovin2shop]

I think I probably would, but would also plan to use a small portion of the funds to rent a place for weekends in the spring when you want to be on lake. Say you spend $2 to $4k of the $15, you still have a nice amount to pocket for minimal inconvenience if it is possible to get another place nearby.


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[mom2binsd]

That seems awfully cheap for a 6 month rental. In our lcol 4 bed homes rent for about 2400 in nice areas. But a lake house monthly rental should be much higher.

I just can't fathom giving up access to a lake house for that amount of time.

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