Mi Casa Es Su Casa

As soon as my family put the finishing touches on the beach house renovations back in 2010 people began asking us if we planned to rent the place out. I have to be honest that idea had never crossed my mind before then because I simply assumed no one was in a hurry to rent a house mostly rebuilt by an editor and a web programmer. (I'm proud of the way it came out, but very aware impartial observers or people who do construction for a living may not feel that way.) But a guy I worked with at the time insisted we could get $1100 a week if we decided to make the place available, a figure which seems insane because I think there are places around our beach house you could rent for a month and it wouldn't cost you that much money. Either way, by this time my parents had heard far too many horror stories about people who owned rental property and agreed to lease it to people who seemed normal and trustworthy, only to come back and find the place filthy and everything that wasn't nailed down stolen. Thus the idea was never given much more thought after that day, which is fine because I am not really comfortable with the idea of a group of random people sleeping in my bed. I'm more than happy to share my things with family or friends but I am less willing to embrace total strangers. However, more and more it sounds like I am in the minority.

A couple members of my family were trying to plan a weekend getaway, but were having a terrible time finding a hotel room for a reasonable price. That was when my sister suggested they try FlipKey Vacation Rentals, a website in which people rent out their homes or timeshares when they won't be around or in a couple cases the people own a few small properties to make a little extra income. Obviously, this is not a new model - people have been renting out apartments for years. I can remember as a kid my family rented out a house in Chicago for our vacation and it was awesome - the homeowner was a local television anchor who had won locals Emmys and left them at the house for us to hold. On the surface it sounds like a good idea because break-ins are on the rise around the country and you would much rather have someone who has been vetted staying in your house (and has given you their credit card information) versus leaving it open to criminals while you are on vacation. It is not the best peace of mind, but it is better than nothing. Also, the apartments are typically cheaper to rent than hotels because you are sacrificing things like fresh towels and turn-down service in the name of a more laid-back and homey vacation experience. (To me this is the largest hole in the plan because if I am going on vacation the last thing I want to be doing is washing towels.) But, if you are looking for a good deal it is not bad place to start.

The more I look around the more it sounds like relying on the kindness of strangers is the new way to do business. In addition to home rental sites like FlipKey (and that is just one of a number of sites you can use to avoid staying a hotel), you have companies like Lyft, in which people call on regular folks from around the neighborhood to drive them around in their personal cars in lieu of taxis and then pay whatever they feel the ride is worth. (Drivers are encouraged to spruce up the experience to earn larger tips. Still, how that company can exist in a time when people are told to avoid gypsy cabs at all cost is kind of amazing to me.) But the majority of crowd-sourcing sites are for fundraising. If you have some money laying around and inclined to donate it there are plenty of sites willing to help you funnel it to deserving charities or people. In some ways crowd-funding as become the new way of asking for a grant because if you are looking for strangers to give you money to complete a passion project there are no shortage of place you can go, from Kickstarter to FundAnything. Those sites have gotten so big and useful they aren't even for starving artists anymore as stars like Kristen Bell and Zach Braff have used it to raise money to supplement projects being done by major studio so they can have more control over production (typically in exchange for donations you get a copy of the movie). Basically, if you don't mind asking total strangers for favors, there are plenty of outlets for you to try.

Look, in this economy I am all for being inventive and trying new and creative ways to make money. Plus, houses and cars are the most expensive investments many of us will ever make, so if you can find a way for them to pay you back a little than I say go for it. I simply have some reservations about all these "go through us and cut out big business" sharing sites for one main reason - big businesses are subject to regulations and guidelines and these guys are much more loose with the rules. I know the cry for smaller government is getting louder by the day but there are times when regulations are our friends.Yes, FlipKey and Lyft do the best they can to make sure both parties are on the up-and-up but people are inevitably going to fall through the cracks. I am not sure I would ever feel totally comfortable getting into a stranger's car or staying at their house until the experience was over and everyone had gone their separate ways, which does not sound like the makings of a very relaxing vacation. Ultimately, I just feel like this is the same reason I would rather pay the extra money and go through a site like StubHub than pay cash to a scalper I will never see again. Sure, it may cost me a little extra with fees, taxes and surcharges added on to the total but at least I can be sure the tickets will work when I try to get into the game. That is something you really can't put a price on.