Lease your Own Room

Are you not completely comfortable with the idea of a stranger staying in your home? Make sure to meet up with the lessee, have a phone conversation with them, or give them the opportunity to write a short introduction about themselves before agreeing to the lease. That way, you can be at ease about leasing your room.

Know your target audience. Do you want to lease to families, business people or couples? Be sure to make it clear in the ad. Try to look at it from their perspective, and write the advertisement with them in mind. Keep thinking: “What would I want?”

According to Airbnb, 40% of all bookings are made by business people. Some small enhancements, such as offering a printer and a place to work, could make your offer a lot more attractive to those audiences.

Treat your house as if you are trying to sell it. Your goal is to sell your place to as many people as possible.

Try to have as many beds as possible in the space you are trying to lease. There should at least be a big double bed, and if possible also another (smaller double) bed in which a child or two could sleep. More beds mean room for more people to sleep and a higher asking price.

Remove any personal decorations. Do you have hundreds of pictures of your family, friends and children on the walls? That could be uncomfortable for someone leasing your house. Be sure to take personal decorations down before the lessee arrives.

It’s better to take a lot of pictures than to write an extensive description of     the way the couch feels or what kind of table is in the room. Pictures allow people to see at a glance what kind of place they would end up with. They really don’t care if that couch is a little less soft than what they are used to.

Ask your lessees to write a review about the space you offered. Only people who actually stayed at your house can write reviews. This prevents a situation where fake reviews are published.

Keep the price of your accommodation low when starting out. As soon as you receive some reviews, you can always raise your price again.