Saying goodbye to responsibility and shooting for the horizon is easier said than done. As much as we’d like to think that it’s just a case of dropping everything and running, some pre-planning will make it a whole lot easier.
If you’re fortunate enough to own a home, with even just a touch of strategy, you can utilise it as an investment to monetise for your travels.
The Quick Way: Just Getting Rid
For those who romanticise the escape of escapism, there is a way to sell your house fast. Using an online property service that buys homes for cash can help you to get abroad in days. If you don’t warm to the thought of putting your home on the market and big jobs like arranging a surveyor, these services do the legwork for you. Plus, you’ll get one lump sum of cash in your bank to travel with.
Compared to the average of 183 days it took for a property sale to complete in 2023, it’s the closest you’ll get to leaving everything behind in one fell swoop.
Become A Landlord
Putting in the groundwork to rent out your home can be worth it in the long term. With a steady stream of income, you are effectively paid monthly to travel around the world.
Housing tenants, however, is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. While it can be a lifelong buffer from financial difficulty, it does have its challenges.
Tenants need to be happy if you want them to sign on again every year, and accept the inevitable rent increases you’ll have to make over time. This means putting some work in before you leave, to address any problems in the home. You may have tolerated it whilst you were there, but it might become a valid reason for a tenant not to pay rent down the line if you aren’t careful.
Dealing with tenants’ complaints whilst on your hike in Costa Rica may not appear on your bucket list. But if you’re willing to pay for a property manager, they can take care of most of the work for you. The downside is that it will cut into your cash flow, perhaps forcing you to take a star rating off the hotels you’re staying in. But for peace of mind, it might just be worth it.
Turn Your Flat Into An Airbnb
Giving back to the travel community might be the most thoughtful way of earning money from your home. Becoming an Airbnb host can become the most high-maintenance option, with similar setbacks to being a landlord. But again, companies are out there that manage everything for you, though often taking more commission than a landlord’s property manager.
However, the big plus side compared to hosting full-time tenants is that you can switch it on and off. If, for instance, one week you just want to go all out and live your nomad life with no strings, you can turn your place to “unavailable”. That week, you don’t to deal with visitors back home and their demands for your service. On the flip side, if you’re in need of some cash flow to pay for that flight across the Amazon, you can just flip it back on.
With just a bit of foresight and some measured decision-making, nothing can stop you from upping sticks and going wherever the wind takes you.
