Make Your House Pay for Itself

Are you finding it difficult to pay that mortgage every month? Maybe it's time to make you house start paying for itself. Whether you are an empty nester with rooms you no long need or you bought a bigger house than necessary, there are many ways to use that house to help pay that mortgage.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Airbnb to rent out all or part of your house to vacationers. As with anything else, there are rules involved with Airbnb. The

y have their own rules, and HOAs and municipalities have rules as well. Make sure you know them all before you start renting out rooms.

OK, Airbnb is an obvious option, but have you heard of these other ways to make your house help pay for itself?

Did you know you can rent out a parking space at your home?

CurbFlip allows you to rent out a parking space or driveway for events or whenever. You can also list parking for specialty vehicles. JustPark is another option. They seem to be focused on the UK, but they do have spots available here.

What about renting out a room, garage, driveway, closet, attic or shed to people looking for storage space?

Neighbor is a site you can list any of the above for free. They offer liability coverage and handle the payments.

Store at My House is a

n alternative. Their site isn't as user friendly, but it may be a better fit for you.

Are you tired of paying the pool guy to keep your pool sparkling? Well, there's an app for that.

Swimply is an app where you can rent out your pool for others to use on an hourly basis. If you don't use your pool much, why not let someone else pay you to use it?

Soon you’ll be able to also rent out basketball courts, private gyms or home studios with Joyspace on the same site. For now, you can join their waitlist.

If you have a beautiful or unique home, you may be able to rent it out for commercial or movie shoots.

SetScouter is a site where you can list your home for free and keep all the rent. The site is paid by the production team.

LocationsHub does the same as Set Scouter, but there is a monthly fee to list your property.

FilmLocationsWanted is a third option. They also charge a fee to list longer than 1 month or to include images.

I have no idea

which of these sites the industry uses more or if they use them at all. That research is up to you.

Do you like animals? How about using your house as a pet sitting location? This one involves your efforts as well as your house, but it can help pay that mortgage just the same.

DogVacay and Rover: Although you make the most money boarding pets, you can also register here to do dog walking, doggy day care or drop in visits to the dog's house.

For the empty nesters out there or those of you who want some youth in your house: Maybe you’d like to have an exchange student live with you for a while. Although there are other places to find exchange students on a volunteer basis, these site all help the host earn a stipend in some way. You don't have to speak a foreign language, but you will have to provide a private room and meals (or at least a kitchen) and possibly transportation.

Student Room Stay or USH Host connect host families to exchange students.

Lingoo is a site where you can register to host students or whole families who are paying to learn English. You aren't just letting them stay with you, you are also their teacher.

I suggest looking at the fine print on any of these sites before jumping in. Make sure you know all the details like payment processing, how much of the payment the site keeps, what about insurance, and how problems are handled. If you like what you see, why not make your house start paying for itself?

I think I'll go look for a very large house with a pool and 3 car garage that I can let pay for itself now.