A Year Airbnb-ing My Room in Austin TX
I bought my first Austin home last summer. It would be the first property I bought that I would actually live in and I was very excited. I consider myself somewhat of a frugal person and have managed to keep my rent payment under $700 a month since moving to Austin. Believe it or not, I managed to do this while still living close to downtown; in the more expensive central Austin neighborhoods Clarksville and Tarrytown. Was I living in a fancy brand new place all by myself? No, but I was living a very comfortable life and was walking distance from Lady Bird Lake and downtown, and that’s all that mattered to me!
Since moving to Austin after college in 2012, I always saw the benefit of buying a house and having roommates help pay my mortgage payment. I finally had the opportunity to do so in 2017. I bought a small, 3 bedroom, 1 bath home in East Austin (zip code 78702). With smaller square footage that was just under 900 sqft, I was able to pay for the renovations and still live in a great area. One of my goals for the next 12 months was to see if I could still keep my mortgage payment close to that $700 number from my renting days. I would do this through something called “house hacking.” Since moving into my home in August of 2017, I can say it was possible! I’ve shown you how I did this in the chart below.
$22,292 (Year in mortgage payments)
-$14,746 (Rental income combined)
— — — — — — —
$7,546 (Total rent for the year)
$7,546/12 months=
$629 a month
<<AVERAGE MONTHLY MORTGAGE PAYMENT INCLUDING TAXES & EXCLUDING UTILITIES
Short Term Roommates: Total Earnings this past year: $4,802
As you can see from the chart above, I only had roommates for five and a half months out of the year. Due to the size of my house and me starting to get old and cranky and not always wanting roommates around, I decided that having short-term roommates would be ideal for me and my home. I wrote an article about finding quality roommates and tenants if you’re interested. My 2 spare bedrooms are pretty small, and I decided I’d get the most rent money if I furnished the rooms and used one as an Airbnb room and one as a guest room/short-term roommate room. And I did! People paid $850 a month to live in my spare room if it were a long-term lease I have a feeling it would be less. After a year of living with on and off roommates, Airbnb guests (who I rarely see) and throw in a boyfriend and a cat, I’ve decided to retire this spare “roommate bedroom,” and after August it will be my guest/meditation/storage/escape room. Come on over! But you can’t live with me anymore…
Airbnb Guests Total Earnings this past year: $9,944
Initially, I tried putting both rooms on Airbnb but quickly realized that only one of the places was getting booked. The room with its own entrance! My guests and I LOVE it. They barely see me, I hardly see them. We run into each other heading to the bathroom or kitchen for a glass of water. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met amazing Airbnb guests, and we’ve had some meaningful conversations — I’ve even reconnected with a guest who lives in Mexico City, and he gave my friend and I a tour of the City! But, sometimes it’s nice not to have to be a people person in your own space, so privacy is vital. I will continue to Airbnb, the spare room with its private entrance. It’s relatively nonintrusive, and I’ll still lower my mortgage payment from $22K a year to around $11K a year.
The chart below shows when my room was rented out the most. The months that I had a roommate, I limited Airbnb guests by blocking off the calendar because I didn’t want too many people living in my house. I realized in the end that I could probably make a significant amount of money only doing Airbnb and also have a better quality of life.
There are many different ways to cut down your mortgage payment! I can help you figure out what’s right for you. I recently had a client buy a beautifully renovated home in the Austin Neighborhood of University Hills. The sales price was $399K, and his mortgage is around $2,400 a month. The house has an open concept and spacious at 1,800 square feet. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The 2 large rooms have their own bathrooms are on opposite ends of the house (yay privacy). His home is the perfect place to “house-hack.” He plans to furnish at least a couple of the rooms, and since he regularly travels for work, he has no issues with having 3 roommates and taking the smaller room for himself. If you have any questions about house hacking, buying a house or real estate in general feel free to reach out.
Kristina is the co-founder of Open House Austin, a real estate education company. Contact our team for any real estate related questions or to start the home buying or selling process. Don’t live in Austin? We can also connect you with a great Realtor in your area.
