Inauguration Housing Fantasies
I haven't put my house on Craigslist or anything to try to cash in on the whole inauguration rental thing. Yet, but it is very tempting.There are several reasons of why I haven't. For one, I don't know if I will have a roommate scheduled to be in my guest room at that time. I like to have short term roommates, so I don't want to screw up that. Secondly, there is family. My mother's people are country and homey and I'm wondering at what point someone will bug my mother, or father (less country, more moochie), to bug me to put them up for the inauguration. However, I'm sure several family members have written my place off because I live in a tiny house in a "bad" neighborhood. It's not "bad" it just lacks a driveway and loads of parking, which would make Auntie's 3 bedroom house in Riverdale, the Other Aunt's 3 bedroom in northern PG Co., and the Cousin's 3 bedroom in NoVa, all with generous amounts of pull in parking, way more attractive than my place.
But if I were to rent out my place, the money would be more to ease my mind, than for the space. Everytime I get a new roommate, my anxiety level rises because of how they treat the space. So what amount would soothe my nerves? Oh maybe, $1,000-$2,000 a day, my mental health is very valuable to me. If the people were relatives? Free, nerves would still be frayed, but frayed nerves and relatives go hand in hand. Besides if I charged relatives a few bucks I'd never hear the end of it..... even if all the money went into somebodies college fund. Friends? Possibly free, depends. I might demand a few cases of wine, the good stuff. Nothing soothes the nerves like a few cases of wine. Complete strangers? I'm quite sure they'd be happy to add to the nieces' college fund, and in that area my mind would be eased.
But seriously, I'm waiting to see what the relatives want.
Labels: housing
posted by Mari @ 20.11.08
11 Comments:
It's tempting. I'm in the process of swapping out one of my roommates right now. Depending on the general consensus [and whether we can all secure places to crash for a week] I might rent out the house and share a portion of the take with my renters.
I'm expecting friends from out of town to ask to crash, yet no one has come forward.
I couldn't possibly ask anyone to pay money to stay in my mold-, slug-, rodent- and arachnid-infested basement unit.
I already have 5-6 people staying in my tiny row house with me, my boyfriend and our cats. It is going to be tight. I have not requested any money (much to my boyfriends chagrin), but I am hoping they will bring goodies from the West coast!
I don't follow your logic. You take on short term roomates. Do you charge them $1,000/night to 'ease your mind'? Why would inaguration visitors be more of a riff-raff than your short term roomates? Inaguration visitors probably have a lot more money, (and therefore - alot more to lose) and probably make much better short term tenants than the people you are currently getting.
In other words, I would think that anyone with the budget to come here for the inaguration will be a better roomate then your current short term renters.
I would think that anyone with the budget to come here for the inaguration will be a better roomate then your current short term renters
Well that's insulting.
So let's turn the insult into one of those teachable moments.
Short term as in less than a year but more than a couple of months. Just enough time to justify the application process where I question their references and former landlords, talk to their employer's HR, and conduct a face to face interview with the applicant. That's a little much for a 2-3 night stay.
The application process eases my mind. If I were to rent my house to strangers, I figured I'd have to forego the face to face interview, and the calls to employers and landlords. So I've put a price on what that process means to me.
Also I take issue with you calling my former roommates riff-raff. That insults me and it insults them. They have strong characters, rich backgrounds, some had graduate degrees and most were professionals. There is a market for people who are doing internships, fellowships, temporary details, and other short stints. They are not drifters and my home is not a flop house as your post seems to imply.
Renting out your house during the Inauguration is very different that renting out rooms short or long term. Personally, I won't rent to people I don't meet face to face. When people are local you can track them down and potentially sue them if the need should arise. Much more difficult if they come from around the country, or world. Someone could come here for a few days and party and trash your house, or worse. It's high stakes, but also high pay-off. I don't understand why you would think that it takes a great deal of money to come here for the Inauguration. I'm sure we'll see van loads of like 25 college students trying to cram into some homes.
"Maybe I can earn some cash from our first African-American president-elect," eh? Is that what people are thinking?
I'm a (DC) Brooklander, and I definitely plan to rent my house out for the inauguration. I'm also a travel broker, and I have tons of Inaugural hotel rooms available. My site is www.InaugurationHotels.net. We have the best prices going for Inauguration week reservations, hands down. Please pass along! Thanks.
I can understand your concern, just want to let all those that want attend the inauguration that Thousands of people are using http://CrashTheInauguration.com, the most complete Inuguration guide for poeple without tickets. It lets you find a place to stay and book a room online with local DC residents, info on how to get to DC, and info on parties and events going on
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That last post went a wee past my tolerance level. Mainly because Winchester is too far.
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