Many homeowners list their properties on Airbnb: in fact, there are approximately 2.5 million people who have their property listed on the website. Many people make a substantial second income every year from Airbnb. When it comes to listing your home, there are a number of things that you should know beforehand. Hosting on Airbnb is not the right choice for everyone; however, considering the extra income that you can earn, it is a very attractive option.
Although listing your home on Airbnb may not be in breach of your mortgage contract, you should check with your lawyer first. Even so, there are other legal ramifications that you need to consider.
Before you consider listing your home Airbnb, check with your municipality to determine if they have passed legislation regarding short term rentals. For example, in Toronto, you can list only your principal residence on Airbnb, not a secondary unit such as a basement apartment. In addition, you need to register your unit with the City of Toronto at a cost of $50 annually.
It is also important that you and your tenants are aware of the recently-enacted cannabis laws in Canada, which provide guidelines for residents to smoke cannabis in a condo.
Apart from the legal issues, listing your property on Airbnb and generating revenue from it means that you may not be able to refinance your mortgage in the future. If you do qualify for a new mortgage, your interest rate could be higher.
It is important to know that not all lenders will consider the income generated by your Airbnb home as income for mortgage application purposes. As a result, your mortgage rate may be substantially higher. Apart from that, a lender may even classify your property as an investment property because you are renting it out for a month or even a few days. Again, this means that you would be looking at a higher interest rate on your mortgage.
Many homeowners are using Airbnb hosting to pay off their mortgages earlier. For many homeowners, refinancing to pay their mortgage is the only option. Many of them also make use of their Airbnb income to pay down their loans quickly.
There is a long list of things that will decide your total Airbnb income. This includes the local property valuations, the market demand, and the appeal of the location and/or city in which your property is located. Even if a host is generating enough income, it is important for her not to count on that income in the long term. This is because many cities in the world are creating regulations with respect to short-term rentals, which means that you cannot generate income from one particular tenant for very long.
This is super helpful for people wanting to go this route. It is best to know the law and rules first before we embark on renting out a part of the house. The additional income sounds good!
I’m sure it’s a good opportunity for certain people, but it definitely sounds like you need to do your homework first. Just thinking about mortgages gives me a headache.
I am planning to list our vacation how in Airbnb and still do not have a clue on how to make a good listing. Thank you so much for sharing this post and these reminders. I will definitely review legislation to make sure everything is legal.
Thanks for this great advice!
Comments are closed.