Anybody rent their house out?

[Slaket13]

I recently bought a house in a mountain tourist area in California, and I'm considering renting this out for a few years while I continue to operate my business in the city. Of course I'm a little hesitant since buying the house was a big investment but it seems like I could get a pretty nice rent for it per month and it would save me from having a maid go there monthly, pay for someone to shovel snow...etc.

 

I guess my questions are:

 

Would I need to report this rent as income?

 

How would my insurance work if for example my renters would burn the place down?

 

Does anyone have stories good or bad about renting out a place?

 

What is the key to finding a good renter?

[Outlander]

Yes you would need to report this as rental income. Your insurance should cover but you would really need to know what kind of coverage you have or talk to your agent. Also need to consider if you have coverage or enough coverage if your renter gets hurt or something happens to a guest. I listed my place on craigslist and the first person that looked at it was great and has lived there about three years so no horror stories from me yet. Probably need luck on your side, can't really profile as it may lead to a potential lawsuit against you. Can have general requirements like no pets or smoking but once you start asking about gender, race, marital status, age, children you are opening yourself up to discrimination.

[LouisEly]

Have to be very careful about California and long-term rental. If someone is there for >30 days it is very difficult to evict them (or is it on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe?). You may want to think about VRBO if it is in a touristy area, especially a ski area. You can find a local realtor who will handle everything (keys, cleaning, paperwork, etc.) for a commission if you don't want to or have time to deal with it. You can make good rental income and still keep some days open to allow you to visit occasionally (and you can write off up to four trips per year as "property inspection"). Also, if it is in a ski area, you can rent it out for the season. My friends in the Bay area did this for years until one of them bought a place in South Shore.

 

But if it is in CA, do not do an open or month-to-month rental. Make sure it is for a defined period of time. You can't profile, but you can set a minimum credit score. A credit score >600 (set 650 or more if a really nice place) will keep the riff-raff out.

[GAME05]

My parents rent out their house near Phoenix (15 minutes from Maryvale!). They hire one realtor-type person who tells them who is applying to rent and also takes care of the insurance stuff. Then they have to hire someone who shows up to clean it when people leave who also reports damage.

 

I know they've learned their lesson on renting to people from town, because the cleaning lady found 100 lbs of marijuana in the bathtub once.