Can it be this easy?

 

How often in life can we say this?  I quit my miserable job last September taking a leap of faith that if I followed my instincts I could creatively make up that income without the misery and aggravation.  So with that I took an unused space, the basement guest room, and slowly converted it into a self-contained rental unit.  It started with whatever I had.  I ran around the house “shopping” for the unit.  I took the items that were in good shape and rarely used to first set up the rental space.  It turned out to be an eclectic, comfortable space with an artistic charm all of it’s own.

The unit itself is a good size, about 900 square feet; it has mostly an open floor plan which allows me to reconfigure the space to meet my guest’s needs.  I only had spare twin size beds.  I thought this would be a weird deficit to the unit but so far it’s turned out great.  It offers my guests a very flexible space that they can alter to meet their needs.  Guests can choose a king size bed or 2 twins in the master bedroom.   The additional twin can to be used to establish another bedroom out in the extra open floor plan space. 

With each guest stay I reinvest a portion back into improving the unit.  In the bare bone beginnings it was simple items like a new decorative shower curtain then matching towels and rugs.  Last week I had a plumber come in and install a kitchen sink.  I had been providing a large 5 gallon water container for drinking, cooking and coffee as well as a bin to place dirty items in which I would later come down into the unit, retrieve and wash.  This turned out to be a lovely service I could provide and more interactions with my guests but this set up discouraged long-term stays.  An investment in the sink will improve the unit’s rentability as well as my home equity, money well spent.

I also found it beneficial to listen to my guests.  If someone suggests a larger mirror in the restroom, more pillows, air freshener or whatever I invested that item back into the unit.  It serviced to improve the next guests experience.  Happy guests lead to great reviews, great reviews lead to establishing reliability, ensuring the next guest a similar type of stay.  Review will make or break your success.  March and April I made more with Airbnb doing 75% less work than my last job and I am happier.  I have a peaceful quality of life that is priceless.  

Grateful to live the life I want to live.

M