Making Additional Money As A Newly Single Parent

If you have recently split up with your partner, money may be tight! You could have gone from two incomes to one, and you may be struggling to get your partner to chip in.

To make matters worse, there can be more expenses at a time like this too, such as hiring a specialist in child custody and child support in military divorce or another expert like this. This is why a lot of single parents need to look for different ways to make more money. One option is to rent out a spare room in your home.

Finding a roommate without spending a penny is something that every landlord or homeowner wants to know. With letting agent fees costing a fortune, it can put a lot of people off when they are looking to find a roommate. The good news is that there are alternative solutions, and one option is to advertise your spare room online.

Thanks to the boom in Internet usage, you don’t have to go down the traditional route of using the services of a letting agency when you want to rent a room out. Instead, you can post details about your spare room online and you can find potential tenants that way. Of course, there are many different ways you can advertise your room via the Internet. You can use social media to reach out to friends and family who may know someone interested. However, this will only give you a very limited audience, making it difficult to find tenants. Plus, it can often become a bit difficult when you do business with someone you know. If they prove to be nightmare tenants, friends and family relationships can come under strain.

Instead, the best solution is to look for a website that enables you to post your listing free of charge. Make sure they have a good following and that there aren’t any hidden fees. Your spare room will instantly be advertised to a huge audience, giving you the best chance of finding a suitable tenant.

Should I Rent It To Younger People?

This is something a lot of people debate when they are thinking about renting out a spare room. Landlords worry that younger people are going to be coming in at all hours in the morning or that they will wreck their property.

While this may be a concern, you will find that most young people are very respectful. Plus, if you conduct your tenant search carefully, you should have nothing to worry about. Rather than going for the first person that shows interest in your rent my spare room advert, you should consider numerous applications and meet up with potential tenants. This will give you a good feel as to whether they are someone you should rent to. There are actually numerous benefits to gain by opting to rent a room to students. Of course, the obvious benefit is the extra income it will provide you.

Considering how difficult it is for younger people to get on the housing market today, there is a large pool of youngsters looking for places to rent, meaning you will always have demand for your spare room if you choose to rent to younger people. Aside from this, you can feel good that you are helping someone to get ahead in life by giving them somewhere reasonably priced to stay while they save for their own home. A lot of people also decide to rent out a spare room when their children leave home, and this can give them some company.

How To Find A Safe Roommate

How to find a safe roommate is something you need to know if you want to rent a room out. After all, the last thing you want is someone that has little regard for the security of your home, or someone that is going to bring a bad crowd or bad habits into your environment.

There are numerous ways you can increase your chances of finding a safe roommate as a landlord, and it all comes down to the way in which you conduct your tenant search. Firstly, you need to conduct multiple interviews before you offer someone a contract. It is highly unlikely that you are going to find the perfect roommate at the first attempt. Plus, it is always a good idea to compare different candidates against one another.

Not only this, but you should never offer someone a contract after a telephone conversation – you need to meet them first, and conduct several interviews with them. It is hard to get to know someone after just one interview. You also need to make sure you are asking the right questions in the interview.

Remember, you are looking for a roommate, not a friend. Don’t get caught up on what their hobbies are or what they like to watch on TV – ask the questions that really matter. You also need to be upfront about costs when you are looking to find a roommate, and you should ask for references too.

Common Mistakes Made

More and more people decide to rent a room out in their home in order to make some more cash. When renting out a room, it is important to choose a flat-mate with care, and below we reveal some common mistakes to avoid.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they try to find flat-mates is looking for a friend instead of a tenant. Of course, it is vital to ensure that you and the flat-mate are suited to living together, so personality traits and likes and dislikes do need to be considered. However, the person is not filling out an application form to be your best friend, and you do need to keep this in mind when deciding whom to rent the room out to.

Another common error is rushing into the search process and selecting one of the first people that reply to your ad. Your search for the perfect tenant needs to be conducted with care. You need to meet in person and have an interview with anyone you like the sound of, and you must ask all of the right questions, from how the person is going to be the rent to what their interests are. Another common error is lying in your advert. A lot of people do this because they want to increase the chances of people replying to their ad. However, a large proportion of these people won’t be right for your flat, as they are applying based on inaccurate information.