Homestay with more than 5 students? [Archive]

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: Homestay with more than 5 students?

Death2Theft

08-09-2011, 08:26 PM

Anyone running a homestay with more than 5 students? Just wondering what vacancy rates are like etc..

Graeme S

08-09-2011, 08:41 PM

Vacancy rates how? Are you interested in starting one?

Mr.HappySilp

08-09-2011, 08:50 PM

Don't u have to get a liscense or something?
I would think everything with home stay is a contract or something.

Graeme S

08-09-2011, 08:51 PM

Don't u have to get a liscense or something?
I would think everything with home stay is a contract or something.
You would think that wouldn't you. Sadly, homestays are not exactly regulated. If you are paying and a tenant, you are covered under the Tenancy act; yet most of the International students are never made aware of their rights or anything. Homestays are a very very murky business.

Nlkko

08-09-2011, 09:03 PM

Don't you cooperate with a school? So you can have your rooms filled year round even if somebody leave.

I'd think you can have as many students as you want as long as the room space isn't compromised (no sharing room or living in the living room). And isn't the rate all the same everywhere? I think 750/month including 3 meals/day is standard. I don't think the school make any money on that. Though when I was searching for an apt on craigslist, I've seen rate went as low as 600-650 but never lower than that. So 650-800 is the ballpark.

Death2Theft

08-09-2011, 09:24 PM

Just sitting on some property by the viaduct collecting dust. Not sure if this is worth the hassle yet. From google the vancouver home stay rates are 850 with 3 meals.

Graeme S

08-09-2011, 09:42 PM

Just sitting on some property by the viaduct collecting dust. Not sure if this is worth the hassle yet. From google the vancouver home stay rates are 850 with 3 meals.
It's a ton less hassle just to rent the rooms out; if it's not too far from DT and you leave the living room unoccupied you can probably charge $700+utils per room. Homestaying needs you to cook 3 meals a day (or at least have food ready), so you need to ask if it's worth that extra $150/mo/person.

Senna4ever

08-09-2011, 09:50 PM

Homestaying needs you to cook 3 meals a day (or at least have food ready), so you need to ask if it's worth that extra $150/mo/person.
^^^ This.

...also, during the first few weeks, the students will tend to come home and eat dinner, but as they develop friendships and start to hangout together, they will tend to not eat dinner at home and you will end up with a lot of leftovers. Being young, they will not always call ahead to say they won't be needing dinner. Hosting homestay students can be a pain in the ass.

Graeme S

08-09-2011, 11:52 PM

Thread cleaned up. Be careful, points abound.

bcrdukes

08-10-2011, 12:06 AM

It's a ton less hassle just to rent the rooms out; if it's not too far from DT and you leave the living room unoccupied you can probably charge $700+utils per room. Homestaying needs you to cook 3 meals a day (or at least have food ready), so you need to ask if it's worth that extra $150/mo/person.

Truth x 528509285209582035

My parents tried it for a year and a bit.

Never fucking ever again.

And I mean never!

spideyv2

08-10-2011, 12:10 AM

lol homestays..not everyone is suited for this. Some can be easy to deal with and some can be a pita
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ae101

08-10-2011, 12:18 AM

seriously not worth it as its like renting a house to young teenager, my cousin was a at home stay when he moved back to canada so i think u to apply to become one as once they find out that your a suitable host they contact u

TheNewGirl

08-10-2011, 05:12 AM

I know someone who does this and has had really good experiences for several years. But they're doing it up in whistler through one of the mega expensive schools up there and that might be part of the reason why?

Gridlock

08-10-2011, 07:54 AM

GLOW

08-10-2011, 08:38 AM

I don't know a huge amount about this, but I'm thinking someone needs to judge the suitability of the place for the students. I just can't imagine someone signing off on what effectively would be a homestay flop house. I think the goal is for students to join a family, not a fraternity.

many agencies do this, assess your home and the living environment of the homestay. some rate your place too based on what is available, private washroom, private entrance, etc. and price it accordingly. there are some homestays where you don't have to cook for them, you just get paid less b/c you're not providing food. some you just provide breakfast and drinks (not sure about lunch).

i know someone that used to do that assessment of the family/home and another that had homestays.

twitchyzero

08-10-2011, 08:44 AM

TheNewGirl

08-10-2011, 08:58 AM

Mr.C

08-10-2011, 09:31 AM

from the perspective of the students there has to be a good balance for homestay
those that choose to go with very Westernized families will stop eating at home because they simply aren't used to eating 'white' food all the time.
those that choose to go with asian families will tend to be more satsfied...however, their English interactional levels may be limited.

Unless they are, you know, not asian? There's a crap ton of Brazilians and Middle Eastern international students.

By the way, organizing homestays is not for everyone. Some students, especially Brazilians, can be a major pain in the ass. Be very careful, I know this first hand.

FerrariEnzo

08-10-2011, 10:01 AM

Do you need to report this as a supplement income? or it doesnt count?

Death2Theft

08-10-2011, 10:40 AM

What was so traumatizing about it?
Truth x 528509285209582035

My parents tried it for a year and a bit.

Never fucking ever again.

And I mean never!

spideyv2

08-10-2011, 10:54 AM

from the perspective of the students there has to be a good balance for homestay
those that choose to go with very Westernized families will stop eating at home because they simply aren't used to eating 'white' food all the time.
those that choose to go with asian families will tend to be more satsfied...however, their English interactional levels may be limited.

yeah, because all homestays are asian right? :failed:

majority of the homestays I had were brazilian. It really all depends on what you ask for/agree with. TBH the middle eastern homestay we had was the hardest to deal with..Had to limit the food we cooked because of his religion, he spoke very fucking loud which made it hard to sleep at night, and the worst part was he barely showered so he stunk shit up. I'm not a racist, i'm just judging by first hand experience..plus i'm sure there's people like this with every culture.

bcrdukes

08-10-2011, 11:20 AM

What was so traumatizing about it?

tl;dr version: Some of the students were far too demanding while some were outright dishonest. One of them even went as far as telling the school we gave them expired food when in reality, she left it to rot on her own and blamed it on us.

In the end, the headache wasn't worth the $150/month in income. If not, less.

If you have all the time in the world to manage it, go for it. Make it a full-time job. My parents had day jobs. My siblings went to school. I was travelling back and forth for work. It simply didn't work out for us in the end. The amount of time & effort plus the headaches we had to deal with wasn't worth it.

spideyv2

08-10-2011, 11:23 AM

tl;dr version: Some of the students were far too demanding while some were outright dishonest. One of them even went as far as telling the school we gave them expired food when in reality, she left it to rot on her own and blamed it on us.

In the end, the headache wasn't worth the $150/month in income. If not, less.

If you have all the time in the world to manage it, go for it. Make it a full-time job. My parents had day jobs. My siblings went to school. I was travelling back and forth for work. It simply didn't work out for us in the end. The amount of time & effort plus the headaches we had to deal with wasn't worth it.

lol do you hate when students expect you to do their dishes? pfffft

bcrdukes

08-10-2011, 11:28 AM

lol do you hate when students expect you to do their dishes? pfffft

Holy fuck. Don't even get me started on that. I'm raging right now thinking about the many times that shit happened. And to have the nerve to complain to the school when we didn't take out their trash?! :mad:

Of the 7 students we housed, only 2 of them was very respectful and followed our rules.

spideyv2

08-10-2011, 12:49 PM

Holy fuck. Don't even get me started on that. I'm raging right now thinking about the many times that shit happened. And to have the nerve to complain to the school when we didn't take out their trash?! :mad:

Of the 7 students we housed, only 2 of them was very respectful and followed our rules.

Did i touch a soft spot :troll:

no homo
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Dragon-88

08-10-2011, 02:22 PM

My family deals with homestays but only by referrals and most of our students are taking medical classes. We usually only have Thai students and we charge about $1000 to 1500/mo, which includes home cooked Thai meal and full utilites.. We have never had a problem with any of the students and they seem to like living with us since it feels like home to them since theres no language barrier... Meals are cooked by my Grandma, so there no problems cooking.. They get their own washroom and bedroom & access to my wifi with limited downloading. :troll: Either than that its been pretty easy..

Currently we have a high school homestay who just decided after their first year here that he will complete his HS in Canada.. Parents are doctors so we know their good for the money. Plus it widens our networking when going to Thailand..

twitchyzero

08-10-2011, 03:12 PM

yeah, because all homestays are asian right? :failed:

majority of the homestays I had were brazilian. It really all depends on what you ask for/agree with. TBH the middle eastern homestay we had was the hardest to deal with..Had to limit the food we cooked because of his religion, he spoke very fucking loud which made it hard to sleep at night, and the worst part was he barely showered so he stunk shit up. I'm not a racist, i'm just judging by first hand experience..plus i'm sure there's people like this with every culture.

sorry i'm speaking about the majority of the homestay kids in Vancouver and in Richmond...i'm sure there are many Persian kids in Burnaby homestays.

spideyv2

08-10-2011, 04:38 PM

sorry i'm speaking about the majority of the homestay kids in Vancouver and in Richmond...i'm sure there are many Persian kids in Burnaby homestays.

lol again man..majority of homestays me and other people i know have had arent asian.
Homestay program is multicultural
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NiceGirl

08-10-2011, 09:04 PM

My parents did the homestay thing for a while and it was a huge pain in the ass!

It really depends on who you get as your tenants. We've had people come from all over the world and sometimes that's a bad thing. We've had many cases where the tenants didn't get along with each other or where some students are really picky eaters. The odd time you get it just right and everyone gets along and has a great time with one another.

What you think is common courtesy, isn't necessarily seen that way from other people from other countries. When you live in a house with lots of people, bathrooms get a lot of traffic and hot water always runs out. Noise is a big issue too.

As for taxes, you'd claim it as rental income I think.

The_AK

08-10-2011, 09:15 PM

My friend's parents did homestay, sometimes you get some weird people. One time he got some crazy japanese dude who wrote suicidal poetry and things about killing people. One day he came home to witness 2 doctors and police officers escorting him out. Yea, it can be weird.

However, one time he got a hot korean girl which his bro obliterated with his cock. True story.

Bahhbeehhaaaa

08-10-2011, 09:41 PM

Depends on the time you have on your hands, i say just renting is easier then home stay.

twitchyzero

08-10-2011, 10:57 PM

lol again man..majority of homestays me and other people i know have had arent asian.
Homestay program is multicultural
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of course it's multicultural...i'm just saying the majority based on the langara homestay program...which also oversees the homestay for VSB, richmond and burnaby.

Graeme S

08-10-2011, 11:27 PM

of course it's multicultural...i'm just saying the majority based on the langara homestay program...which also oversees the homestay for VSB, richmond and burnaby.
The largest number of homestays are being organized through international student agencies, which generally don't get students to go to Universities, and which are much less-well-regulated and controlled.

There are a fuckton of horror stories that I get from my students. I'll not bore you, but suffice to say homestaying is not the picnic some people seem to think it is.

Nlkko

08-10-2011, 11:59 PM

Yah definitely not picnic. Most of the time, the students are young and they're not taught by their parents many common courtesy. They're raised, you know, to be princes and princesses. When they don't understand something, instead of asking, they just do it their own way.

From my own experience:

I used to stayed in a homestay a few years back. The family is super nice and very tolerable. We had one Chinese weirdo whose personal hygiene is questionable as he has toilet paper all over the floor of his room. Another one is from Saudi who skip school, do drugs and won't get home until late at night. One time we had a police visit because apparently the guy called 911 "just for fun". And then there's a Vietnamese girl who use the washing machine 7 days a week.

And none of them wash their own dishes, and we have a dish washing machine. Let alone taking out the trashes...

CRS

08-11-2011, 12:04 AM

The largest number of homestays are being organized through international student agencies, which generally don't get students to go to Universities, and which are much less-well-regulated and controlled.

There are a fuckton of horror stories that I get from my students. I'll not bore you, but suffice to say homestaying is not the picnic some people seem to think it is.

Sounds like story time to me.

Let's get settled in neighbours, Mr. Rog... I mean Graeme is going to tell us such wonderful stories.

melloman

08-11-2011, 06:56 AM

You guys really seem against all of this..

To the OP: Homestays do require 2-3 meals a day. Obviously when they go to school you can provide food for them to pack their own lunch. Yet breakfast and dinner are home cooked and that's what happened for my family.

We had an extra room w/ bathroom downstairs so we rented that out to homestay students for a LONG TIME (10+ years). It was actually VERY multicultural BUT you need to realize that you can search around and get VERY GOOD students. We NEVER accepted students in highschool, only college/university. We had students from Switzerland, Brazil, Korean, Japan, Hong Kong.

We mainly got the students from the English language schools downtown. ALL were very nice and respectful. Most did not call when they weren't coming home for dinner, so yes... lots of leftovers for dinners. But overall it's not a bad way to get some extra cash.

Great68

08-11-2011, 07:08 AM

My in-laws had korean students for a few years, and they never really had a problem. My mother in law is a terrible cook, so I think the students eventually stopped eating at home altogether :p

twitchyzero

08-11-2011, 09:56 AM

GLOW

08-11-2011, 10:06 AM

We had one Chinese weirdo whose personal hygiene is questionable as he has toilet paper all over the floor of his room.

sounds like he was leaving all of his fap rags all over the floor

:troll:

Graeme S

08-11-2011, 10:51 AM

Sounds like story time to me.

Let's get settled in neighbours, Mr. Rog... I mean Graeme is going to tell us such wonderful stories.

There's a fuckton, but basically it boils down to people who are greedy and look to homestays as a way of making money.

One family owns two houses next to each other, both with 5-7 students at a time, all paying $750. The family had holes cut outside the bathroom to turn off the hot water after 5 minutes of the beginning of the water running for a shower. Laundry could be done once and only once per week (one load only), only with cold water, and students had to provide their own laundry detergent. Food depended on which house you were in, and the homestay family ate totally different food from the students.

Another time, a student was living at a place, decided to skip on the food and just rent out the place; was paying $700, rent dropped to $450 w/o food (nanaimo station, I think). Student was living in the larger of two bedrooms (not large by any means), and was told after 5 months of living there that if she wanted to stay in the room, she'd have to pay $550, or she could move to the smaller one. I informed her of her rights under the RTA, showed her where she could get more info, and told her that she should talk with the host. Fast forward to the next day, where I find out that my student got screamed at, and massively shat on, that the host didn't believe a teacher told her these things and that my student was trying to "screw her", and that if she wanted to do things like that, then she would have to charge my student retroactively for all the common property my student used: toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, hydro, etc etc.

One homestay I'm familiar with did not give their homestay students keys, but set a curfew of either 10:30 or 11. If the students weren't home by then, the doors would be locked and the students would not be allowed home until the host family was awake in the morning.

As I mentioned before, several students have had issues with the food: cereal and milk for breakfast (no biggie), two pieces of bread with a single slice of sandwich meat and an apple for lunch, and extremely subpar food for dinner. Many of my students also report that students are variously:
-Not allowed in the kitchen (at all, or after a certain time)
-Not allowed to cook
-Not allowed to bring their own food into the house
-Not allowed to have the same food as the host family

and so on and so forth.

I'm not at all saying that all host families are like this. I've also had some wonderful stories, too. One of my students' families has a cabin just off Galiano, which he can use anytime it's not being used by the family or rented out. Another almost became part of her host family, as they helped her to get oriented and find jobs and volunteer opportunities here. Still more have taken their students on trips, kept in touch with former students, and given them uniquely Canadian experiences.

The largest difference between the two categories it seems, is those who turn to homestaying as a revenue generator, rather than as a cultural exchange mechanism. A friend of mine who stayed in Finland with a homestay managed to integrate amazingly well, despite the complexity of the Finnish culture and Language. It turns out there's a certain placement of the fork and knife when dining at home which says "I don't want any more food". If you don't orient them properly, your family will continue piling the food on regardless of how stuffed you claim to be. It's these kinds of things that you can't learn from books or classes or any way other than integration--which in my mind is the purpose of being a homestay host.

You guys really seem against all of this..
I wouldn't say I'm against it, exactly, but my issue is with the people who think it's just like doing your own thing and making extra money for it.

But overall it's not a bad way to get some extra cash.
Can't say that's untrue, as long as you're ready for the work.

bcrdukes

08-11-2011, 11:47 AM

I wouldn't say I'm against it, exactly, but my issue is with the people who think it's just like doing your own thing and making extra money for it.

+1

A lot of people do it for the wrong reasons. We tried it and it just didn't work out. Of the students we housed throughout the 1.5 years, maybe only 3 of them were genuinely interested in learning. The others wanted to go party and what have you. One of them almost fell into the vice of prostitution and we had to bail her out. :\

CRS

08-11-2011, 12:26 PM

+1

A lot of people do it for the wrong reasons. We tried it and it just didn't work out. Of the students we housed throughout the 1.5 years, maybe only 3 of them were genuinely interested in learning. The others wanted to go party and what have you. One of them almost fell into the vice of prostitution and we had to bail her out. :\

WAAAAT?

That's some mama san story right there.

bcrdukes

08-11-2011, 12:51 PM

WAAAAT?

That's some mama san story right there.

Yeah. That was a very ugly episode. We had to tell her parents and she had to go back to Brazil the next week. That's when we stopped doing homestay for good.

Edit: She wasn't even that hot. :lol

twitchyzero

08-11-2011, 01:20 PM

I can understand puttign some limitations on the washing machine. I've heard of stories of students just throwing their shoes into the dryer for 8+ hours instead of air drying. I can also understand not being able to cook. I also heard of stories of students trying to bake cookies...ON THE OVEN RACKS :facepalm: definiately dont want fire hazards like that.

but no hot water? not even more than 5 min in the shower? WTF that's probably worse than boot camp.

and segregating food between host and family is horrible.

Dragon-88

08-11-2011, 02:20 PM

i know $1000 is a lot more reasonable considering the living costs of vancouver. but if anyone pays $1500 they should expect to have free English tutoring, given rides to anywhere at anytime and daily back massages :lol

Well they get their clothes washed. Garbage picked up and they do also get rides depending where they go to school...

And really $1500 isnt much if your going to get a good home with family that are willing to help you out. Plus our education system is way better than Thailand so most of the time parents are willing to pay for the better education. Its a win win for us.. We get really good Homestay students with good backgrounds.

Plus the networking we get is great.. I now know tonnes of doctors from heart surgeons to eye specialist.. We even had a 8yr old homestay from Thailand who's dad was a real estate agent in Thailand and my dad bought his beach house off him.. Now we are really good friends and they get us cheap hotels rates at 4 star hotels. So everytime I go to thailand. Hotels are easy to come by..

Death2Theft

08-11-2011, 05:05 PM

Whats to stop their dinner left overs from becoming next days pack lunch for them? They eat it one way or another :D

You guys really seem against all of this..

To the OP: Homestays do require 2-3 meals a day. Obviously when they go to school you can provide food for them to pack their own lunch. Yet breakfast and dinner are home cooked and that's what happened for my family.

We had an extra room w/ bathroom downstairs so we rented that out to homestay students for a LONG TIME (10+ years). It was actually VERY multicultural BUT you need to realize that you can search around and get VERY GOOD students. We NEVER accepted students in highschool, only college/university. We had students from Switzerland, Brazil, Korean, Japan, Hong Kong.

We mainly got the students from the English language schools downtown. ALL were very nice and respectful. Most did not call when they weren't coming home for dinner, so yes... lots of leftovers for dinners. But overall it's not a bad way to get some extra cash.

Death2Theft

08-11-2011, 05:23 PM

Are you allowed to talk or give a questionare to applicants or do they just assign you students?

Nlkko

08-11-2011, 10:40 PM

Are you allowed to talk or give a questionare to applicants or do they just assign you students?

The students always fill in a questionaire and the agency provide that info to the family. The family can decline I think. You can't really talk to them because most of them haven't arrived yet.

About the lunch, I think most of the time, good family don't want to piss off the students because then it creates a bad atmosphere in the family that you hardly want to deal with. They try to be nice up front but they do vent behind the door.