I travel quite a lot. I have a 30 year mortgage on my home that was purchased as my primary residence. Can I ever use the home as a vacation rental when I travel? How will that affect my mortgage agreement and my taxes?

First check with your town to verify that zoning laws allow you to rent out your home. Some towns have restrictions on things like the minimum number of nights you can rent out.

Then check with your insurance carrier to see what the implications are. They may not cover damages or liability issues if you are renting your home out.

As for your mortgage - call your mortgage provider. to see if there are any issues. There probably aren't, assuming that your homeowner's insurance doesn't lapse.

Taxes: there should be no effect on your property taxes, but of course you will have to report your income and expenses on your income taxes.

First check with your town to verify that zoning laws allow you to rent out your home. Some towns have restrictions on things like the minimum number of nights you can rent out.

Then check with your insurance carrier to see what the implications are. They may not cover damages or liability issues if you are renting your home out.

As for your mortgage - call your mortgage provider. to see if there are any issues. There probably aren't, assuming that your homeowner's insurance doesn't lapse.

Taxes: there should be no effect on your property taxes, but of course you will have to report your income and expenses on your income taxes.

I have no problem with the last 3 but, the first one smarts of Socialism or some kind of ism.

I have no problem with the last 3 but, the first one smarts of Socialism or some kind of ism.

Homeowners Associations , at least all the ones I've had the misfortune of dealing with have them in their covenants, Particularly Condominiums have those restrictions that go as far as prohibiting it if more than a certain percentage of owners do that

Homeowners Associations , at least all the ones I've had the misfortune of dealing with have them in their covenants, Particularly Condominiums have those restrictions that go as far as prohibiting it if more than a certain percentage of owners do that

Yes, you are correct with Homeowner Associations, but in other cases when one has to get a license to rent out their taxpaying home I think it still smarts of "ism". I guess it boils down to you don't own anything in this world free and clear.

Other than the above answers, check this link. Looks like 14 days only is tax free. We have a second home that I rent 10-12 days a year. Never reported the income using the 14 day rule. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFcQFjADahUKEwiZ2Pj2krHIAhXLzIAKHR84AbA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bankrate.com%2Ffinance%2Ftaxe s%2Ftax-rules-renting-vacation-home.aspx&usg=AFQjCNHxM6fsSYBvLO9bq_O_7D63WhloXg&sig2=EC3KcZE2qrn6Ow0Q_HuoVw

The example I was thinking of is a resort town in CA that only allows rental of private homes with leases of one month duration or longer. No Air BNB's allowed! I'm guessing it's motivated in part by not wanting to detract from local hotels and the tax revenue they generate for the town. I'm sure we may all have an idea of what kind of "ism" that smacks of, but to the OP's original question - you gotta follow the law.

A lot depends on where you live. I have lived in homes where nobody gave two hoots about zoning, licenses (town and state), and reporting taxes.
Now that airbnb is so big, however, inns and hotels are complaining, as ebaines said.
If you do it all legally, you will probably find so many regulations that you can't do it.
Many who used airbnb (and other sites) as owners have had countless happy visitors.
A few have had unbelievable horror stories. Easy to google.

Since the OP hasn't responded with any particulars we are all just guessing here, but I did not mean to imply that renting out your home is impossible or even difficult. Many people do it quite legally. All I was suggesting is that if the OP is hoping to rent out his home for short periods of time - say, less than a month - he should check to see if it's legal or not. If he plans on renting it out for 6 months or a year I doubt that there are any issues from the town, though as smoothy points out HOA rules may not allow it. One other point - many states and cities have hotel occupancy taxes that the OP would have to pay if the rental is short-term (less than 30 days).