When Marcus Rader returned home after an extended winter trip last year, he was greeted with a broken furnace, freezing temperatures and a week-long wait for a repair.
This winter, he put his 150-year-old downtown Toronto house on the short-term rental booking website Airbnb.
“We rent out our home in the winter now but it’s definitely not for the money,” said Rader, co-founder and CEO of Hostaway, a vacation rental software and management system.
“The main attraction for us is just having people there. That’s the main value.”
The decision paid off this winter, when a sewage pipe broke in the basement—an issue they were able to quickly repair before further damage was done….