Make Your House Earn Its Keep

Did you realise that there is a lot you can do get an income from what is probably your most valuable asset? Not only is your property a great (long-term) investment, your home could also bring you an income while you are still living in it. Here are some ideas to make your property really earn its keep.

Does your property have a spare room? Firstly, in the UK did you realise that you can rent out a room in your house and not be liable for Income Tax on the rental income up to £4,250 per year? The scheme is called Rent a Room and applies to someone who lives as a lodger in your house. The lodger would be someone who shares your facilities and would have meals provided.

The scheme was set up by the government to help alleviate the huge shortage of affordable housing in the UK.

As well as advertising your room in your local newspaper or newsagent's window make sure that you ask around where you work and play! This scheme is particularly suited to people who live a long way from their place of work and only need rent somewhere to stay during the week. You would have a lodger that you knew and you would also get your weekends back for some privacy.

A fun way to make some money from your home is to hire it out as a film location. It does not need to be a mansion or stately home of the type seen in costume dramas. For example, the house of Harry Potter's cruel Aunt and Uncle used for the films is on an ordinary housing estate in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK, and trust me it doesn't get much less glamorous than that! Think of all the shots in TV shows that are filmed in ordinary streets - only long running soaps have their own sets built for constant use.

Recently we saw the staff of a local estate agent packing up their files and moving out. Thinking that the local housing market wasn't that bad, we asked what was going on. A film company has seen their shop front and decided it was perfect for a few scenes in the film they were making nearby!

The easiest way to get your home on TV is to register your home with an agency which specialises in finding properties for TV and films, most will add you to their database for free, only taking a fee where your property is actually used for filming. It may not be a regular form of income but you could have the cream of Hollywood sitting in your living room!

Copyright Jacqui O'Brien 2005

Jacqui O'Brien is the editor of http://www.ahomeofmyown.co.uk, the directory of UK Private Seller property websites where you can also list your FSBO property for sale free.

The 1960s Buff & Hensman-designed Wong House has a pool, a walled garden and downtown and ocean views.

It seems as though actress Scarlett Johansson had no sooner sold her old place in the Hollywood Hills than she and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, closed on a house in Los Feliz for $2.9 million.

Completed a few years ago, a Normandy-style estate was built to look a century old.

Glen and Linda Keane felt guilty about tearing down the O'Melveny family home. After all, John O'Melveny was part of a group of Los Angeles businessmen who formed Lake Arrowhead Co. in the 1920s and oversaw the lake's development into a popular resort destination.

The mortgage giant quietly launches the HomePath program, which offers subprime-era terms for buyers: minimal down payments, no appraisals, no mortgage insurance and lower minimum credit scores.

If you're a buyer with little cash or a small-scale investor looking for a deal on a foreclosed house, a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you need this fall.

How some of our previously featured properties have fared in the sales market.

Buff & Hensman-designed beach house

Lenders lose an estimated $310 million annually in undervalued short-sale transactions, according to a study released in August.

Question: I am fed up with my homeowners association and successive boards for sabotaging owner requests for records and refusing to fix maintenance problems in common areas that directly affect individual units. I believe I have no other choice than to sue the association and the boards. What are the steps I have to take?

Keeping tenant out over concerns of illegal activities may be viewed as a 'constructive eviction.' Such moves as changing the locks to prevent access can bring significant penalties.

Question: I own a couple of houses that I rent out for extra income. Unfortunately, they are not in the best part of our town. I have a tenant living in one of them who may be dealing drugs or doing something else illegal because the police have arrested him several times. Every time he is arrested he makes bail and returns to the house in a day or so. Even though he pays the rent on time, I realize that I can't continue to allow him to live in my house. My plan is to change the locks the next time he is arrested, so he can't come back into the house. I know that I need to protect his property inside the house if I do this, but my plan is to move his belongings into a storage locker. I can't afford a lawyer to file an eviction case, so this is my only alternative. Will I be OK if I do this?

July's increase from June in the National Assn. of Realtors' gauge for previously owned residences follows two straight months of declines and a report that sales of such homes dived 27.2%.

An index of home purchase contracts for previously owned dwellings unexpectedly increased 5.2% in July over June, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday, a modest note of good news for the U.S. housing market.

Treasury bond yields, which influence the home-loan rates, have surged since Tuesday.

Mortgage rates fell for the 10th time in 11 weeks, setting fresh record lows, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. But a rebound in Treasury yields in the last two days raises the possibility that home-loan interest costs won't fall again next week.

The home builder's stock soars 11% after an announcement that there will be no action taken as result of an investigation into the company's accounting procedures.

Shares of Los Angeles-based KB Home soared on Wednesday after the home builder said an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the company's accounting and disclosure procedures had concluded and no enforcement action would be taken.