The Cost of Traveling
Traveling has certainly changed over time. At least it has for us. When we both worked full time, we had anywhere from 2-4 weeks off each year. Depending on our financial situation at the time, we would fly or drive to a destination or maybe do a “staycation” nearby home. We’d “vacation” for a week or two at a time.
When we retired, we knew we wanted to travel. We talked about our first big pet sitting trip to Europe in our post, “Let’s Go!”. We also mentioned that we rented out our home.
That trip to Europe was a year long journey of pet sitting, visiting new countries and making new friends. So many people have asked us, “How do you afford a year in Europe?” Well, let me tell you how, we used pet sitting to drastically cut our trip expenses and we rented our home to cover our house expenses.
We’ve talked quite extensively about pet sitting and how we save so much money on accommodation costs. Let us talk now about your home expenses while traveling.
Welcome To My House
When we went to Europe, we were lucky enough to rent our home to friends of friends. We wrote up a lease for a year and off we went. It worked out great. Sure there was the hassle of moving all our belongings into the basement (we rented our home unfurnished) but in return our mortgage, taxes, insurance and more was covered by the rent we charged. We didn’t have any electric, water or internet bills to pay. Our home monthly budget went towards expenses incurred on our trip.
Since the Europe trip, we have completed 4 extensive road trips in the USA, each lasting 3-5 months. We used to dream of traveling across the country but always decided against it because it was too costly. Gas and lodging expenses along with home expenses was just too much. That was before we started pet sitting. But even with pet sitting, we thought it may be too expensive for our budget.
We had rented our home out previously so the idea of a short term rental was attractive. We had friends in the area that rented their home when they weren’t staying there so we spoke with them. We ended up getting a referral to the Property Manager they used and set up an appointment to meet and discuss the option of renting out our home.
We were happy with how the meeting went and signed on with them. We agreed to a Manager fee, signed the contract, had professional photos taken of our home and before you knew it, we were listed on AirBnB and VRBO. A good Property Manager will set up your home on various rental websites, handle all bookings, be the contact for the visitors in your home, coordinate cleanings and more, allowing you to enjoy your trip and not have to handle the business side of the rental.
That first trip, in the summer of 2021 was our longest domestic trip. It was also the summer after coming out of Covid. Our occupancy rate for that trip was close to 86%! Not only did the income we received from the rental cover all our home expenses, it paid for the entire trip! We actually spent 5 months on the road, all expenses paid AND came home to much more money in our savings account! Fantastic!
We have used the same Property Manager for our other 3 long,domestic trips.Our occupancy rate has never come close to that first trip but the rental income still covers all our home costs and sometimes travel expenses. On our last trip this past winter, (2023-2024, with the lowest occupancy rate we had, 27%) the cost of traveling extensively equaled the cost of staying home, meaning it did not cost us anymore to travel throughout the South and Southwest for 3 months than it would if we just stayed home.
There’s A Stranger In The House
I get that renting out your home is not for everybody. John was much more open to the idea than I was. I didn’t like the idea of strangers staying in my home, sleeping in our beds, using our kitchen and bathrooms. Having to box up and lock up anything that we felt was valuable and didn’t want broken or stolen was a pain. We talked with our neighbors first, to make sure they were alright with our home being an AirBnB for months at a time. (Sidenote, we have really great neighbors and would never want anything to jeopardize our relationships.) It was a lot to consider but I really wanted to travel so I said yes. Fast forward, those AirBnB/VRBO checks arriving in our checking account sure made me feel better about renting our home!
Renting your home may or may have not been something you’ve been thinking of doing. It is a big decision. As with anything, there are pros and cons. These are some we found:
PROS:
*Covering expenses. No matter if you pet sit while traveling or not, renting your home should cover the majority of expenses at home. If you live in a desirable location that attracts tourists, you can probably command higher nightly rental fees.
* Your home is well maintained while you are traveling. After every guest, our home was thoroughly cleaned. It was also deep cleaned before the first guest and after the last guest.
CONS:
*Wear and tear, breakage, damage to your home are all possibilities. People don’t always follow rules. We change our homeowners insurance to reflect the home as a rental while we travel. Our rental experience has been good. Yes we’ve lost a glass or two, had a couple items “disappear” but nothing of any real value (as stated above, anything of value to us is locked away) and we have actually gained some items left behind.
*There are strangers in your home. Yes, they will use your bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen. They will sit in your favorite chair, use your coffee cup and eat off of your plates. If this is something that makes you squirm, maybe renting your home isn’t for you. There are ways of dealing with this. Lock anything valuable away. Buy dishes, utensils, sheets, mattress pads, towels, etc just for the AirBnB guests.
*Expense. If you don’t want your guests using your stuff, then there is a start up expense for items in use for AirBnB guests. We do have separate sheets, towels, etc that are only used when we rent. You may also need to supply your home with toilet paper, paper towels,shampoo, soap, etc. for the duration of the rental period.
*Having an AirBnB ready home. We have now rented our home using AirBnB/VRBO 4 times. The first trip we locked away our valuables, clothes, personal items, etc. When we arrived home, we put all those items back in place. Since then we learned a lesson. If you plan to keep renting your home out for an extended period of time (we usually plan on at least one 3-5 month trip per year) then we keep our home “AirBnB ready”. We now have bins for “after AirBnB. These bins include things that are maybe sentimental but are not needed in our everyday life at home. So instead of packing them up before every trip and unpacking when we get back, we keep them packed until we are done with any further renting of our home.
In The End
There you have it.
Have I listed more cons than pros? Yes. But I believe the biggest pro (rental income) outweighs ALL the cons. Memories over material items. Anything in our home can be fixed or replaced. How many times do you get the opportunity to visit a dream destination, spend weeks instead of days exploring new places, meeting new people and not have to worry about how much you’re spending? I’ll make that choice every time.
In summary, if you’re comfortable with strangers using your home while you are off on your next great adventure, you’ll be rewarded with money to take care of expenses at home and possibly on the road too. This could lead to longer trips and less stress.
So For Now…
We have so much more to talk about! Please follow us to learn more about our adventures, how we do what we do and many money saving tips. Is there a subject you would like to cover? Leave us a comment!
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