For some MSU fans, house crashing an alternative to hotels
EAST LANSING — So you managed to get tickets to the Oregon game. Good luck finding a hotel nearby that isn’t booked.
You might have better luck crashing at someone’s house. Literally.
There are roughly 70 people in the Lansing metropolitan area who are marketing their homes on AirBnB.com and RentLikeAChampion.com, services that connect people who need a place to stay with those who have available rooms in their home or apartment.
“I’ve gotten ton of requests for MSU football games,” said Jeremy Orr, who markets his home in East Lansing as a great space for sporting events on AirBnB. “It’s convenient and affordable.”
Orr, 29, varies the cost to stay in the second bedroom of the home he rents between $50 and $150 depending on the event. Prices on the service can be as low as $20 a night.
“I’m a big football fan so when alumni come back, it’s cool to host other fans,” said Orr, a former MSU wide receiver and sprinter.
Now that football season has arrived, “people are taking advantage of the opportunity,” Orr said. “This has actually paid my rent.”
Prices can be as low as $20 a night to as high as $1,700 for the weekend depending on whether people want a room or the whole house on either service.
Richard Patrawala rents out rooms in the home he owns in Lansing, and said every time he goes on the website, he sees more options available in the region.
“When you go to a hotel, check in and go to your room, you feel completely detached from the place,” said Patrawala, of Lansing. “This adds a human element to the process. Sometimes we have breakfast or dinner with our guest.”
Patrawala said he received a lot of requests from people who want to stay for MSU games but is more selective about whom he lets stay because he doesn’t want rowdy guests.
Luckily, hosts and guests can rate each other, allowing both parties to know what they might be getting themselves into.
“One guy wanted to have six or seven people stay at my house on homecoming,” Orr said. “I passed on that one because I knew what was going on.”
Besides the occasional unsavory guest, renters also have to look out for their local ordinances, as renting a home without a license could leave people with a hefty fine.
East Lansing’s most recent housing ordinance requires people who wish to rent out their homes to guests to have a rental license, which costs $1,550, according to its website. Violators can face a minimum fine of $250 per day. Versions of the ordinance have been challenged successfully in court in recent years with judges tossing out much or all of the fines.
Both AirBnB and Rent Like a Champion notify their users if local laws prohibit renting without a license.
While Orr lives in East Lansing, he said he can rent out his home because it’s already considered a rental property. He is among about a dozen people in the city who list their homes on AirBnB.
In cases like those, the renter has to come to an agreement with the landlord, said Annette Irwin East Lansing’s housing and university relations administrator. For people who own their home, they are permitted to have up to one person stay with them before requiring a license.
However, Irwin urges people to call East Lansing for more information about rental licenses to avoid a citation.
“We’d hate to see someone get caught up in something they shouldn’t be doing,” Irwin said.
Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 oraalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.
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