Are you someone with extra space in your house that you just don’t know what to do with? What if you’re told it’s possible to earn passive income by renting it out and making some extra money? Then Neighbor is the platform you’re looking for.
Neighbor provides an easy way to earn passive income that doesn’t require any startup capital or much effort on your part.
It is a convenient platform that claims to be the “Airbnb of storage” and gives you the opportunity to rent out your unused space in and around your home to anyone in your area that might need a budget storage unit.
The way it works is that you can lease out your extra space at a low price to make money and for others, it is pretty much the best cheap alternative storage unit that saves your money, time, and energy.
But it can’t be that easy – or can it? Let’s take a look at how Neighbor works in this latest 2022 review. Everything from how much income you make, how you can get started, and what are the benefits and risks that come with it will all be explained here.
How does it work?
As a host, all you need to do is make an account and you can easily start making passive income from your phone or computer. The best part is that you will have full control over who leases your storage space out.
Usually, people are able to rent space on a monthly basis, so as a host you will have to guarantee people looking for a storage unit one month at a time. You can approve or disapprove the reservation made by someone within 48 hours. There are no charges or fees for listing your available spaces on Neighbor. You can receive payments once a month via direct deposit.
If you are a renter, then you can easily search the kind of storage space you’re looking for by using filters and inserting them in your location. All the available units and their princess will then be shown to you on the map of your area on the Neighbor website or app.
As for payments, you can use your credit card to make online payments. Neighbor also has something called a Host Guarantee and a Renter Guarantee, which offers you insurance coverage. The Host Guarantee offers $1 million dollars in liability coverage and the Renter Guarantee provides $25,00 in insurance coverage.
What Neighbor hosts need to know
If you sign up to Neighbor as a host, how should you go about listing your space and what steps do you need to do so? Let’s find out.
1. Pick a space that’s qualified
Pretty much any indoor or outdoor space in your house can qualify for a listing on Neighbor as long as you can keep the renter’s items secure. The kind of spaces you can consider are an attic room, any indoor rooms, your garage, the driveway, carport, storage shed, or warehouse.
The minimum dimensions that you have to vary of is a 5×5-foot space. In your listing, you can add pictures of your storage area and explain what kind of security measures are in place; Neighbor has a service where you can book a free professional photographer to take the photos for you.
This way the renters can deduce whether it’s the right storage unit for what they want to store or not. It’s also a good idea to mention who is and isn’t authorized to access the space, just so the renter is further aware of how secure it is going to be, and is aware of any risks.
Once you officially list your space, Neighbor will tell you all the possible rental rates you can charge, since the platform allows you to set your own monthly rate.
2. Start screening potential renters
Before you start accepting just about anyone, go through a screening process of all the potential clients that are looking to rent out your space. You have to look at what kind of items is the renter bringing in because you don’t want to end up with a pest infestation or damaged property because of it.
Fortunately, the Neighbor app allows you to screen rental requests before you are asked to agree to the storage terms. If you don’t respond to a request within 48 hours, it automatically declines so you won’t have to worry about any nagging client-to-be’s knocking on your door.
Set your own boundaries and ensure that the storage time period is something you can handle and are comfortable with. Usually, each rental contract is on a month-to-month basis but you can adjust it to be shorter and longer as per your convenience.
3. Get your money
Once you’ve accepted a renter’s request, you’ll get your money at the end of each rental month as long as you’ve linked your bank account or debit card to your Neighbor account.
Another perk you get as a host is even if the renter moves out earlier than what they agreed on, you will still receive the full payment for the entire month.
How much cash can you make?
Now you must be wondering, is all this hassle even worth the cash you’ll be making? Well, that depends on how much cash you will be able to make, to begin with.
The amount of money you’ll be able to earn through Neighbor depends on three things; your geographical location, your storage unit’s size, and the local demand for the storage unit in question.
To put it simply, you can expect to charge up to 50% less than traditional storage spaces, because that is essentially the entire point of Neighbor; to provide cheaper alternatives to those in need of storage units to store their things in.
So for example, let’s say you’ve earned $60/month (which would be about $720/year) when renting out a 20×20 outdoor space for vehicles in a low-cost living area.
If you are instead located in a megapolis city, then the rates of your space will essentially be higher. Instead of $60, you would be able to charge $75/month ($900/year) for just an 8×5 closet or $250/month ($3000/year) for a 10×10 garage.
What’s the verdict?
Is Neighbor worth it? Frankly, that’s up to you to decide.
It’s great for anybody looking to make extra cash fast who also happens to have empty spaces not being used. But it’s not so great for those who are expecting to make a major bank in one go.
It’s better to not look at this whole thing as a quick way to get mega-rich, especially if only have only one or two spaces to rent out anyways. This is much more like a side-hustle that can give you some extra money without taking away too much from your free time and other responsibilities.
