Living in the premises while renting. Renting a big living room with double sofa bed or room only

[Mauro146]

Hi, I have a flat with a small room, a middle sized room & a ok sized living room. Instead of sharing it permanently I want to try renting two rooms. There is always a shared kitchen with everything & a table & a shared Bathroom. Every room will have a table & chair as well. 

Now the question is, what is better: I want to rent the small room cheap & either the living room with a (comfortable) sofa bed separately. Then I would stay always in the room. Alternatively I would rent the room & stay in the living room myself in case both rooms are rented.

I don't know what's better. It's a bit annoying to put bedlinens on the sofa bed after changing it from sofa to bed but the room would be bigger, the table would be bigger & for a guest it would be more comfortable. The living room would be for the renting guest only. 

Anyways guests would have access to a kitchen with an ok sized table & working space. 

What is more interesting for a guest: A private room with double bed, table, two chairs & cupboard & no living room access OR a private living room with a sofa convertable in a double bed (linen need to be changed every time!), a bigger table & cupboard)? I'm also thinking about putting another single bed in it but it would push it probably a bit (4 guests would be the maximum for the flat, anyways)... What would you do? Whenever only the small room is rented I want to use the living room as a shared living room anyways! But if I rent "my" room instead of the living room, I would put my cupboard with clothes in the lving room... 😉

Other question: I don't have a TV & don't plan to get one at the moment (the flat is renovated, it's ok but I just don't like TV's too much; of course there is fast WIFI & I even can provide an old IMAC in a room & a very old macbook in the other room. Are TV important for guests?

[Emiel1]

Hi,

Why all the hassle, unless you want to become a guest in your own house ?

Start renting one room, not included shared use of livingroom. If it works out OK, rent the other room also.

Keep the livingroom for yourself and you can sleep also in it, if both guest rooms are occupied.

Best regards, Emiel

[Mauro146]

Thanks Emiel. I guess that's what I'll do. I just hope guests don't expect to have a (shared) living room but I'll state this clearly in the description & there's some space in the kitchen. I travelled a lot & for me (as a guest) that would be fine but it's not easy to know what guests expect... 

[Gillian19]

Given how often we read about guests not reading the listing I would be very careful as you could get a lot of bad reviews from people expecting a shared living area. I know I would be surprised not to have one as all homes have a living room! Managing expectations would be your biggest challenge.

[Mauro146]

Thanks Gillian. That will be my concern as well. I guess I'll put the first room with the intended description (no living rooom) & ask guests what they expected (as there will be a shared living room in this case, there's a positive surprise)... 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Mauro146

I totally agree with @Emiel1 about becoming a guest in your own home - why would you want to put yourself through this?!?!? In your own home?!?!?!

Without knowing the details of your situation I would suggest you rent out the mid sized room (not too high not too low, moderately priced) with shared kitchen and bathroom, limited or no living room access. It would depend on the type of guests you hope to attract but unless someone is on a really really tight budget few people would want to stay in a living room pull out couch that would have very limited privacy, and where one of the rooms is also occupied by an unknown guest and in the end, I think it would end up being more trouble than the actual profit you may make considering the hassle of having someone in the common space. If you are intent on including the living room, then I would only allow it for the same group of guests. So 1~2 people in the guest room and then for a larger group you could allow 1~2 additional people in the living room at an extra cost. (BUT including yourself, 5 people and 1 bathroom sounds like trouble.)

Regarding the TV, I don't have one and I haven't had any complaints, but I do make it a habit to reiterate to all guests that there is no TV. All my guests usually have a laptop or tablet and their phone and I've gotten a lot of comments from guests that my wifi is the best and fastest they've ever experienced so I think that helps 🙂 I think it really depends on the type of guests you attract.

[Mauro146]

Thanks Jessica or Henry. Good points. I'll go for WIFI always over TV nowadays 😉 

I guess my place will be relatively cheap but fully equipped in an area of the world where accomodation is very expensive... I'm trying airbnb instead of making a shared appartment as I travelled myself a lot, like to meet new people but am not sure how long I'll stay myself. I just don't need all the space but to be able to put it relatively cheap I need to be able to sometimes rent two rooms as often it will be empty, too... Hit & miss: I'll be moving in soon & give it a try...