This is a collaborative post by Ellie Jo.
Owning your own home can sometimes seem like a burden rather than a blessing. As well as the mortgage, you have property taxes and utilities to pay, then there’s the cost of DIY and renovation to think about – it can be a bit of a black hole for your bank balance at times, even though most of us would consider homeownership to be worth it in the long-term, especially since most of us are hoping our homes will shoot up in value over the years.
Turn Your Real Estate into Riches
The good news is, you don’t have to wait for property prices to rise to make a profit on your home – you can do so right now. Here are just some of the ways you can make money from your home now:
Create a Rental Suite
This isn’t always possible depending on local regulations, but if you can do it, creating a rental suite on your property is a great way to have your real estate make you richer. In order to do this, you could build an extension, but you don’t have to – you can convert a basement or garage, and it will do just as well for your purposes.
Of course, if you are thinking of doing this, you will need to first sit down and do your sums. Work out whether the work you need to do to create a rental suite will enable you to make enough money to make some profit and how long it will take you to break even and get into profit. If the figures add up for you, go ahead and do it, if not, try something else on this list instead.
Get a Roommate
If you like the idea of creating a rental suite, but you don’t have the space or resources to do that, but you do have a spare room in your home, you might want to think about getting a roommate instead. At the very least, they will help you to cover the bills, so that you have more money left over at the end of the month, and if you live in a desirable area or a place where there are lots of students, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find someone to move in with you.
If you do decide to go down this route, it’s a good idea to make some ground rules so that you and your roommate know where you stand and what is and is not acceptable, and it’s a really good idea to carefully vet them before they move in – the last thing you want is to be stuck with a noisy, lazy roommate who never pays the bills on time!
Grow Your Own
If you have a sizeable garden, then it should not be too difficult for you to start growing your own fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme because it will take time to transform your garden into a growing field, but once things are up and running, you will be able to sell your own fresh produce for a profit and make your garden really work for you. Local farmers markets are always looking for quality produce, and if you can deliver, you could earn more than you might think.
Become a B&B Hostess
Okay, so this one isn’t for the faint-hearted because running a bed and breakfast, allowing lots of strangers into your home and working very hard to keep them happy is not easy, but it is a great way to make money from your real estate.
Obviously, you’ll need to have lots of space and a hospitable manner to pull this one off, but if you’re looking to turn your home into a lucrative venture, there are few better ways to do so than by turning it into a bed and breakfast, just make sure that you do your homework before acting.
Offer Storage Space
There are so many people who have so much stuff that they can’t bear to part with, but which can’t fit in their home, or which they do not wish to store there. If you have lots of spare room in your property, then why not capitalize on this by renting that space out as storage on a monthly basis?
Whether you offer your garage up as storage for a recreational vehicle, allow someone to use your spare room to store their knick-knacks or even if you add a few storage lockers onto your property, you are sure to get plenty of takers and make some real money in the process. Just be aware that you might need to take out a bigger insurance policy to cover yourself in case there are any break-ins or stuff that isn’t your own gets damaged.
Run a Business
In the 21st Century, home-based businesses are booming, and the beautiful thing about them is that you can pretty much do anything you want and make money doing it from the comfort of your home. Of course, that makes it sound a whole lot easier than it really is and it takes a really good idea, a lot of determination and an ability to brand yourself for it to really work, but if you have the inclination to do so, and you’re willing to work hard, using your piece of real estate as a base for your business can truly pay off and pay off big time., not least because you can access a number of tax advantages when you choose to work from the comfort of your own home, rather than out of an office somewhere in the city, or because you don’t have to worry about the cost of the commute or childcare!
Put it on Airbnb
Airbnb – a popular website that allows you to rent your home/a room to people all over the world who are looking for a place to stay, whether for business or pleasure, can be lucrative. Even if you only use it when you yourself are going away, it’s a worthwhile exercise because it could effectively pay for the cost of your vacation.
Refinance Your Mortgage
This is a little different from the other ideas in this list in that you aren’t so much making money as saving or borrowing it, but taking out a refinance home loan can help you to start paying less interest on your mortgage, which is effectively giving you a small pay rise. Not only that, but the money that you borrow can be used to invest in business projects (or some of the other ideas on this list), which will help to set you up for life and make a regular income from your home. It’s something that is definitely worth considering.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, there are lots of very viable ways to turn your real estate into riches, but if you plan to do so, you should first get all of your ducks in a row by checking out the legal requirements of whatever it is you want to do, as well as getting in touch with your insurer to check that your policy won’t be invalidated by your activities and to get the extra cover that you may need to ensure that everything is above board.
You will also need to really think about whether you’re truly willing to use your house in a way that you aren’t used to, but if you do this and you are, then…well you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by working your home a little harder.
