I live on my driveway half the time so I can rent out my house – I rake in £7.6k a month doing it, it’s totally worth it
A WOMAN has revealed how she makes up to £7,600 a month renting out her home on Airbnb while she lives on her driveway.
Alexi McKinley, 26, from Washington, US, typically spends two weeks every month living in a trailer with her family, while charging between £360 and £480 a night on Airbnb and VRBO.
In January 2020, Alexi took maternity leave from her job working as a corporate sales manager for a Marriott hotel.
Alexi’s husband was self-employed and had his own construction and tractor-services company, but it was hard scaling back to live off one income.
Alexi said they started renting out their home for extra cash after her cousin told her about a family in Alaska who made £38,000 after listing their own place over the summer.
Alexi told Business Insider: “We thought that sounded like crazy money, and we were in desperate need of income. It was the middle of the pandemic and the future was very uncertain. Our goal was to pay our mortgage every month with Airbnb.”
After taking photos of their home, they listed it online and after 48 hours received two back-to-back, week-long bookings, which covered their month’s mortgage.
Alexi added: “We went to Costco and bought new pots, pans, utensils, a paper-towel holder, and water to stock the fridge. We bought packs of sponges, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and blow dryers for the bathrooms. Anything we replaced found a new home in the trailer, which was nice because it already felt familiar when making the move.”
They then moved their personal belongings into the locked master bedroom and garage and simplified the house to what they wanted on display.
They then needed to clean the house thoroughly so it was ready for their renters.
Thankfully they were able to move into their 2018 32-foot MPG travel trailer, which has two bedrooms and was bought on Craigslist for £18,000 with a loan from their grandparents.
Alexi, who is also a blogger who posts about acne, said she doesn’t mind living in the trailer, but it can get cramped and they often end up taking laundry and dishes to friends’ houses.
She added: “None of our guests have seemed to care that we’re in the driveway, and a lot of them even invite us over to hang out with them on the back patio. I do all of my work in my car or at Starbucks. My husband cooks outside on his Blackstone.”
In their first year of renting, they nearly fully replaced her former salary of £36,000.
And the side hustle has also enabled them to travel, with last year the couple visiting Nashville, Tennessee; Maui, Hawaii; Huntington Beach, California; New York, Idaho, and Arizona.
Typically they earn between £2,400 and £4,500 a month, with their highest month being July 2021 where they took £7,600.
Alexi said their mortgage is £2,160 so it is always covered by their Airbnb business.