Woman earns $1,400 renting out home for 2 days, but warns others of 'stress, anxiety and mess' involved

Rental rates in Singapore are sky-high, so it's no surprise that Barbara (not her real name) is making good money from renting out her home.

At a rate of $100 per hour for weekends and $70 per hour for weekdays, she earned a cool $1,430 in just two days.

Her method was rather unconventional given that she rented her home to a film production company. 

They reached out to her after she listed her property on the film location marketplace Filmplace.

Just give up the space to film for a few days and be a thousand dollars richer. Sounds like a good deal for all involved, right?

In hindsight, Barbara wasn't so sure.

Last month, she shared a post on Lemon8 questioning if the hassle was worth all the trouble.

"Before you rent out your place for the money, here are some warnings I have for you!" she wrote.

For those looking to follow suit, be mentally prepared for the mess.

Barbara mentioned that there'll be things like camera equipment, props and refreshments left lying around.

This can be rather frustrating if they "place their items anywhere".

So if you can't deal with the mess? Swipe left on the idea of renting out to production companies.

Another issue is the sheer number of people.

Producing a film ain't simple, there'll be a director, producer, cameraman, makeup artist and the list goes on.

Barbara's small apartment had as many as 10 to 15 people during the filming period, and she found it to be "quite a squeeze".

Ask questions during site recce

When the producer and director came down to the apartment for site recce, they alerted Barbara that they would have to use her bed for filming. 

On the day of the shoot, although they brought their own bedsheets, the director did not like them.

In the end, Barbara's original pillowcase had to be used.

The crew adjusted the bed to their liking and this, sometimes, required them to step on her bed, blanket and pillow "with their dirty socks or even feet".

Barbara found this to be "quite gross". 

On top of all this, her main fear was inconveniencing her neighbours.

She felt "very, very stressed" when she saw the film crew had left their equipment in open spaces, to the point that they blocked a neighbour's door.

Unfortunately, her neighbours did get frustrated. But it was because of the film crew's excessive use of the limited parking spaces in Barbara's estate.

Her neighbours frustrations resulted in them making "a little bit of a fuss" on the parking issue.

Not for me

While it was a good experience to witness the behind-the-scenes of a film, the drawbacks of it might be too much for Barbara.

"Honestly, for all the stress, anxiety and mess, I'm not really sure if renting out my house for this amount of money was worth it," she noted.

In the comments section, a Lemon8 user provided suggestions to Barbara should she decide to rent out her place again in future - such as including cleaning fees and imposing a limit to the number of vehicles that can parked in the estate.

Barbara had no clue she could do that.

The netizen replied that they've met home owners who listed out their criteria and included additional costs if those conditions weren't met.

Another netizen simply told Barbara "better don't [rent out] if you don't need the money" before explaining why in a separate comment.

There's no denying that renting out can earn you some passive income but, as seen in Barbara's case, it does come with risks.

A big one would be vacancies. As a landlord, a vacant rental property may turn out to be a financial burden if you are still paying for the mortgage and expenses.

Ensure that your property has an online presence to cast your net wider on potential tenants.

Once the tenant has been secured, there has to be effective communication between landlord and tenant.

This helps ensure both parties are on the same page about their expectations.

ALSO READ: Will rental rates drop soon? Here's what landlords (and tenants) need to know

amierul@asiaone.com

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