I am not a host. Most of the airbnb's I've stayed at are almost completely barren of personal effects. I am guessing that is for a reason.

We just stayed at a large VRBO house near my son's college town. No real personal belongings around and there was a second closet in the master that was secured with a deadbolt, so probably had the owner's stuff in there.

The property manager texted and thanked me for taking such good care of the property. I didn't do anything other than be respectful of someone else's property and followed their check-out instructions ... which made me wonder what condition other people leave the house in.

I rent my house out, mostly in the summertime to weekly vacationers. I was on AirBnb (ABB) briefly, but I really despise their business model. Every inquiry I got from ABB was from a young professional wanting to have a college reunion (or the like) in my house ,i.e.: cram a million people in here and party. For all I know, they'd be great, but it was not a risk I was willing to take.

Google AirBnb disasters. There are some real horror stories out there.

If you rent your house out, you have no choice but to be willing to take the risk, because it definitely comes with risk.

Vetting potential guests is key, and ABB makes that very difficult. Once you are the the stage in the booking process where you can freely communicate with a potential guest, if you decide it's not a good match and cancel the reservation, you are penalized by ABB for canceling. The vetting should come BEFORE a reservation is made. It's really insane.

In addition, you cannot host people in your home with your stuff everywhere and taking up all storage space. Guests need closet and dresser space. I've heard of some complaining about the Owners' "crap being everywhere". And you are, frankly, nuts to not put locks on some closet doors, where you keep supplies, linens, etc.

My bedrooms are fully clear of my things when I rent my house. I have two large dressers in my bedroom, and one of them does contain my clothing, but the other is fully empty, as is the closet, and there for the Guests' use.

ABB has also done a lot of damage to the short-term private rental industry. A to .That company is causing us owners a lot of HUGE headaches. I loathe ABB and HomeAway.

IF you do do this, you have to get a rider on your homeowners insurance to cover short term rentals. You MUST make sure all safety issues are fully dealt with, that you have fire extinguishers, smoke and CO alarm work, hot water is set at the legal maximum temperature...it involves a lot.

I'm not a host and have never been but I've rented a lot of VRBOs. Only one had someone's obviously personal stuff there. It kind of gave me the creeps having the owner's stuff in the closet, etc. I've avoided renting in that kind of situation again. The places that are geared for rental are free of clutter and stuff and thus seem cleaner and more appealing to me.

There's no way I'd rent even my second vacation home out let alone my primary residence but that's just me.

3katz, a lot of my guests, when they arrive, say to me, "I don't know how you do this. I could never have strangers rent my home." I respond, "Exactly, so please treat my home as you would want yours treated." And I wink at them. I've been very fortunate with my renters. Very nice people for the most part, some really awesome, and even the worst have been pretty good. Nothing close to some of the stories I've heard.

My son has an Airbnb and I think he originally had some personal things in a closet. His is more of a good bang for your buck type place so no one complained and so far he has only rave reviews. All his renters have been fantastic and have left the place very clean to spotlessly clean , except one. Although he is young he tries to never rent to young single "groups". The one time he did they completely trashed the place. My husband and I got called in to help on that one and I think it took three of us something like seven hours or more to get it right. They had even put something plastic on the stove when it was still hot. Not sure what it was as it melted and stuck like a big blob.

is there anywhere you could add a large wardrobe/armoire that you could use to secure your personal things? Maybe even in the garage, if there is one? If you really are gone for extended periods when it would be rented, I might even look into renting a small storage space and move my valuables, clothes and liquor there. It would be a hassle to do it every week, but if only a few times a year, it might be worth it. If you claim the income from the rental on your income taxes (I don't know if people do), you could probably deduct the cost of the storage space as an expense. I'd imagine you could get a pretty efficient system down for moving things to make it doable.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that fully owner occupied Airbnb/VRBO properties are in the minority. My experience has been similar, in that there are generally little to no personal effects.

If my house were fully rented, it would be 3-4 days a week 80% of th time, plus 25% of weekends. My house sits empty that much. So it would not be at all practical to move all of my clothes, artwork etc. out. I do have a detached garage that I can be locked. But it is just barely large enough for my car, so there would be no room for an armoire, or anything bulky. I have a semi converted attic that I might be able to secure limit access to, but not sure exactly how. But if it became a large scale moving of my stuff multiple times per month, just not worth it to me.

I guess I am generally a trusting person. When I've rented I've had no interest in anyone else stuff, but I know not everyone's the same. There is a security deposit and Airbnb provides coverage on accidental damage (not sure how hard that would be to collect), so that would cover most of my things are replaceable. I'd worry more about things that may not have a high value, but are irreplaceable to me, like my dining table set that only cost $400 at an antique store, but I'd have a hard time replacing for anywhere near that. Honestly that is my #1 deterent. I'd be sick to my stomach if a "valuable to me" item was damaged.

3katz4me - I agree, my home is quite uncluttered, and have a great housekeeper who would make sure it was totally clean for guests. But there will always be my stuff, which I can't just put away in a closet. That could turn off some renters.

justerrilynn - Was your son able to claim the security deposit, or any of the Airbnb coverage?

tibbrix - You have a beautiful home with many unique pieces, how you deal with the possibility of them being damaged? How do you deal with your pantry and fridge contents, toiletries? Do you accept pets?

Olychick - I understand Airbnb sends 1099's, so taxable income. So any related expenses could be deducted. Going back and forth to a rental unit would be a bigger hassle then I'm willing to deal with. The income being taxable is another negative in this equation, I'll net less than 70% of the rental income, between taxes and fees, so that is pretty depressing.

Appreciate the opinions!

We've hosted for about two years, in a very popular tourist area (SF). However, it's a second home, not a primary home. If it were allowed, we could rent it out 95% of the time. I'm not certain we would do it if it were our personal home.

We retrofitted a closet with a locking door. It's not difficult to swap out a doorknob with a locking version. We also have locked storage in our garage. We do not allow pets, but mainly because we have a dog and although we have it professionally cleaned inbetween visits, we are concerned with damage and marking. However, many personal items like clothing we keep out, but in separate storage areas. There is open closet space, closets and shelves for the guest. Our personal linens and toileteries we keep in a bag and put away when we're not there.

Guest screening helps eliminate issues. We've focused on longer rental terms (5 or more days) and premium pricing to help weed out people who just want to party. Rather, we get people on business or tourist families who are staying a bit longer. Keeping the maximum people count down is also key. Now, however, we are transitioning the property to a long term rental.

Aimeekm, I wonder if it would make sense for you to take one whole bedroom and turn it into your personal closet and permanent home for those items like liquor that you wouldn't want guests to access. You could put a sturdy doorframe and lock set on it. Then, you wouldn't have to move your items when you are in residence.

This post is timely. Cuomo just signed a bill against rentals of less than 30 days in NYC.

eld, that is the ABB effect. fortunately I live in a resort area, so that will never happen here because Cape Cod needs these short-term rental properties, but ABB (and now HomeAway) have wreaked havoc on this industry.

Aimee, I do as much as I can, obviously, to avoid serious damage. I vet people as best as I can during the inquiry process. I try to form a very comfortable relationship, more a friendship than a business one, when formulating the whole deal, i.e.: humor, friendliness, etc. My house is furnished primarily via CL and things given to me. I do cover the sofa, which is a very good sofa.

I am very up front with potential guests and tell them right out that this is my home and that I hope they will respect it and "take care of my baby", that kind of thing.

I drop little hints, like, 'Oh, my neighbors will let me know if y'all have gone nuts over here" (so again, some humor with a "be aware" snuck in there).

I rent mostly to families, and while they can be messy, they tend to be quiet since children go to bed early. I avoid groups of young people, although the very few times I've done it, there have been no problems at all.

I think that, when people learn it's actually your home and not a second property meant to be an investment property, they have a different attitude. I think people know they wouldn't want their own homes trashed by renters, whereas a lot of people feel that a second property, meant for investment income, sole use is enters, have a more relaxed attitude and sense that they can be harder on it. I also think that, a lot of owners of those second investment property homes put junk in them for furniture, which there is a good argument for doing, and that lends itself to harder treatment.

I do allow dogs, but never, ever cats. (sorry cat owners).

the other thing I "do" is have an attitude of "It's the cost of doing business" that things will go wrong, people will lie, stuff is going to happen, but I have to do this for my livelihood.

But, as I said, I've been very, very lucky and have had some really wonderful people here. Btw, you can tell a lot about a person from the initial inquiry, believe it or not. The people who go out of their way in the initial written inquiry to tell you who they are, that they are responsible, compliment your house, etc., tend to make very, very good tenants. The inquiries that have a tone of someone looking only at their own needs and wants and not showing an awareness that it is someone else's home they want to live in for a while, I vet a lot harder to try to pull that out of them. You do not want to rent to someone who is one-sided, only concerned about their own interests. We owners have to be concerned about our guests' needs, but guests should also express concern about the owner's needs too.

If you can establish that, you're probably good.

re: dogs. Dogs must be penned in the kitchen when no one is home. If it is a dog that sleeps on the bed, I am okay with that, but I tell the guest to bring bedding for whatever bed the dog will be sleeping on. That has been the only down side; Dogs have done some damage to some of my bedding, so I've implemented changes for that. I am FIERCE with them about cleaning up after the dog, noting that children, including my neighbors' kids, play in my yard and I do not want dog poop anywhere on the lawns or where people might walk. I have two pooper scoopers on hand for them to use. MOST are very good about it, but some, not so much. Again, "Cost of doing business".

The thing that drives me absolutely batty, for whatever reason, is when the games I have for kids are not put away properly, the pieces all accounted for and put back in the right boxes, that kind of thing. I think it is SO discourteous for the next users, so that is something I insist on. I even made labels for some of the games, like UNO, that say how many pieces there are, that kind of thing.

Also drives me nuts when they use my white towels to take makeup off, esp. since I put black facecloths in each bathroom for that purpose.

It's definitely a Learn-as-you-go kind of thing.

One other thought for you, aimee. Every job has its "downside", but jobs ARE about work. So I would not be fazed by having to move your things if you have someone coming in. this is work, so work for it. right? "Cost of doing business", moving your stuff is the work you have to do to get that income.

You have to look at it like it's a job, not free money.

Thanks so much for the detailed and thoughtful replies.

I appreciate the perspective on thinking of it as a job, vs. free money. I just need to figure out how much work I'm willing to do for the income. I've been thinking about it, I can definitely empty out the guest closet, and dresser in the guest room and have that available, while locking my closet. It probably wouldn't be too hard to empty my bedroom dresser. Toiletries are not a big deal to move out, I can do that. I'll have to see if I can fit a fridge into my garage with my car, that would make the fridge situation easier. But my I'm not willing to empty my pantry, there isn't enough income, to make that worthwhile for me. It's coming more into focus what is needed. I can't lock away a whole bedroom, my house has only two, so I'd lose a lot of potential renters only offering 1 bedroom.

Doing screening makes a lot of sense. Also longer stays make more sense as far as making the pre and post work worth it. I definitely have a friendly and active neighborhood, so they would get the impression they are being "watched", I think. Also, urban close quarters helps people not be as anonymous.

I'm leaning towards accepting dogs, with the them being penned while no one is home requirement. I'm thinking that I could have more interest, and command a higher price with allowing that. My house is also set up very well for a dog or 2. At the point I start renting out, I will no longer have any pets, so no fear of my dog marking. (Do people travel w their cats?)

Thanks again everyone!

Hi Amiee, my son didn't make a claim as there was no permanent damage. The largest hunk of melted plastic came off the range fairly easy. On the smooth top, fairly new range, the smaller plastic partials and other burnt on food came off using a straight edge razor blade. The kitchen had dried on food bits everywhere. The whole place was a mess. After hours and hours it did get sparkly again. My son never had any problems renting to families or older couple groups. He made that one mistake renting to young single twenty somethings and will never do it again. His is a three bedroom Townhome