Those seeking to make money aside from their normal day job will often look at investing. Whether they become transfixed on the stock market or investing in precious metals, they have just sidestepped the most obvious answer. It’s right underneath their nose, or rather, under their feet and over their heads.
You can use your home to make an incredible amount of money in a short space of time and do it, consistently. Real estate is always a reliable money-maker, and if you don’t have the liquidity to invest in property, then invest in your own home.
However, you have to be prepared to make some lifestyle changes and think of your home in a far different light than you ever have before. This is how you can save but also make money from your home.
Space that loses money
If you have bought a home that is perhaps too large regarding your household, you could be losing money.
Have you turned that spare room into an office? Although this might be good for your normal job, the room could be rented out to a lodger instead. A space that isn’t being paid for, is de facto, losing your money.
This is how you can get started down the path of making your spare room, turn a profit.
- Buy a bed. Regarding how large the room is, you should buy a bed for one occupancy but leave enough to also give the person who will be renting the room, space to do their own thing; i.e. desk, computer, chair, etc.
- Buy the normal bedroom things such as a wardrobe, sock drawer, bedside table lamp, and a small rug to lay at the foot of the bed.
- Make it habitable. Put a plant in the corner, buy some curtains or blinds that are nice to look at and easy to use, fit a soft but rugged carpet into the room, and fix some shelves to the walls so the lodger can place their books or decorative items on them.
Offer your room for a lodger on a local real estate agency board.
You can also advertise your home online but you will need to include a real estate agent who will do the paperwork to legally protect you. This is needed so the lodger is held financially responsible for any damage he or she may cause to the room.
Going away on holiday?
Since the lockdown is going to be over sooner than most people expected, are you planning on going on holiday? Many people are rushing to get in their flight bookings and hotel places. Are you one of them? If you are planning on leaving your home empty while you go on holiday, you could offer it to someone looking for a holiday home.
Holiday villas are big business now, but so are local holiday homes or rooms in local homes.
This is what you can offer on websites like Airbnb or on travel agency websites. It’s better to go with a travel agency if you would like more security as they may offer you insurance policies at a discount, while Airbnb is something that you opt into while knowing the risks.
The great thing is, you can put the price far higher than you could for a normal renting occupancy.
Holiday homes offer foreign customers, great locations, privacy, and immersion into the local culture which is something hotels cannot provide so easily.
To get started, you need to sell the experience.
Tidy up your home and take photographs of each room. Take around 2 photos for each room, from opposite angles to show the space and features. Take a few photos of the local area, describing what it’s like and giving a few interesting informational points about the local history.
Make sure you also talk about what kind of things you can do locally, such as renting river boats, restaurants, theaters, sports events, and nightclubs, etc.
Being part of the shot
There are film companies that would kill to have access to a normal family home, in every neighborhood in the country. This is why you should register your home as a filming location that is free to any company willing to hire it.
It goes without saying, authentic filming locations are usually very expensive, which is why set and location managers are always on the prowl for a reasonably priced space.
It does depend on where you are but if you live in a large city, village or some kind of private residential space, such as a gated community, you stand a higher chance of being selected. However, each company will pay a different amount, it depends on their budget and the quality of your home and location.
On the other hand, some filming studios will want to change your home dramatically, requiring you to move all of your things out of the home. This will cost your packing, moving and storage space but, with greater and greater requests, the price for hiring your home also goes up.
It’s only right that you have security concerns.
However, you can have the studio sign a non-disclosure agreement whereby they cannot spread your details online or to anyone in person. This keeps your privacy intact and it’s just good practice in terms of your family’s safety
Don’t become a victim
Sometimes saving money can feel just as good as making money.
Burglars are a threat to any home and they can ruin lives overnight. If you have a home that is full of electronics and other valuables, you should not hesitate to take action in order to protect your belongings.
Unfortunately, the police are able to arrest burglars and thieves, but it’s difficult to track and trace stolen items that are circulating in the black market.
So it’s wise to not rely on them to retrieve your things, but instead, try to gain some kind of material return. Home insurance is the obvious choice, but how should you approach the purchasing of the policy you want?
That throws up the question of, Insurance Broker vs Agent, who is better?
To put it simply, an insurance agent is working exclusively with one insurance company. They will work with a particular company to find you the best deal that they can offer. But an insurance broker like the kind that Morison offers, will shop around.
They have contacts within the home insurance industry, they know what kind of deals there are out there and they can give you an incredibly wide selection of options. The chances of getting a cheaper policy will be with the latter.
Normal home insurance policies provide blanket coverage.
They will protect you from things like natural disasters, home break-ins and that’s usually it. If you want a specific kind of policy, work with a broker who can find you a home insurer that offers precious metal coverage, antiques coverage, damaged furniture, and expensive decor coverage.
You really should exploit the fact that you can have mix and match policies, all rolled into one overall coverage plan when working with a broker.
Make your own energy
Green technology has made tremendous leaps and bounds in the past decade.
It’s coming to bear now that homes should have green technology as standard. Newly built homes will have the capability to make their own energy, which can be used for normal household activity, such as showering, bathing, washing clothes, and central heating.
If you have an older home that doesn’t have this option, now is the time to invest in green technology to save thousands of dollars.
Installing solar panels on your roof is the first step.
This is how you will be making the majority of your energy all throughout the year, but especially in spring and summer. You should also fit a water storage tank outside in your garden. You can collect rainwater from your roof and funnel it into the water tank. Filters are fitted to the tank to make sure the water is safe to drink and use for stuff like showering.
Creating mulch from the plants, flowers, and waste food can save you a ton of money on watering costs.
If you can make an effective mulch, you can pour it into flower beds and not need to water the flowers for a very long time, until the next mulch batch arrives. This is because there’s so much water content and food in the mulch, that normal watering that you would do from a hose, isn’t needed.
There are so many ways to make and save money from your home.
The long-term option is to invite a lodger into your home, whereby they pay you monthly rent and you earn thousands of dollars every year. A short but lucrative option is to offer your home as holiday accommodation with travel agencies.
Or you could save a lot of money by having the right kind of home insurance policy to protect irreplaceable items and be eligible for a lump sum payout.
