FAQ
myhabi is a platform that helps owners manage their house(s) and connect with renters. There are two sides to the platform: Owners and Renters.

The first step involves creating the house in the system. This is done by the owner. The program can then be used by the owner to rent their house. On the renter's side, if you've been invited to view a house's listing, you can use the platform to rent a house.

A key difference between myhabi and other platforms is that it is designed as an invitation-only platform. A house's rental listing can only be seen by people that the owner specifically invites to see the rental listing.
The short answer is ... anyone who wants to (assuming they are well behaved!). We reserve the right to suspend users that are deemed abusive or that are inactive over a prolonged period of time.
  1. Register on the site
  2. Look for a confirmation email and click the embedded link. (If you don't get an email, check your spam folder)
  3. Login with your newly created credentials. The system will direct you to a "logical" page inside the platform.
    • If you have been invited to view someone else's listed house, you will see the listing.
    • Otherwise, you will be directed to the owner side of the platform.
    Don't worry if the system directs you to the "renter" side of things and you want to be on the 'Owner' side or visa versa, just hit the appropriate button at the top of the screen (either Owner or Renter) to switch which side of the platform you are accessing.
myhabi charges $30 to the owner and $30 to the renter when a rental transaction occurs (if no transaction occurs, there is no charge!). We balance the costs to create a even playing field on both sides of the transaction and are trying to keep the costs low (or at least a lot lower than the alternative platforms!) so you'll be happy using the system.

Yes!

With the same user login and password, you can utilize any combination of the two sides of the platform. Switching between the roles is as easy as clicking a button at the top of the navigation bar labeled either Owner or Renter.
  1. If you aren't already in the owner section of the site, click the Owner button at the top of the navigation section.
  2. Click on Listings in the navigation menu.
  3. Click the + Create New Listing button.
  4. Fill out the basic name and address information and click the Add button.
  5. You will be directed to the "Set-up and Manage Your Listing" page where you will be able to enter information about your house for your renters.
There are a couple steps to creating a rental listing on myhabi:
1. Create listing
2. Connect to Stripe
3. Get Approved


  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Owner side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click the + Create New Listing button under Listings entry in the navigation bar.
  3. Fill in basic information on your house and click Add
  4. You will be sent to a page with different sections to fill in. Click each section to add appropriate information. The data is saved as you make progress but the listing is not available to your invitees until you 'Publish' it.
  5. Once you are done adding the information, hit the 'Publish' button. myhabi will run through several checks on the information and will either let you know where there is a problem or, if there are only warnings, it will ask you to hit the Publish button a 2nd time signifying that you are OK with accepting the warnings.
  6. You will then be sent to the 3rd party payment system, Stripe, to create an account. (If you already have an account on Stripe, you will be given the opportunity to log in and connect your account to myhabi.) The Stripe on-boarding process is quite complete (i.e. it will take a bit of time!) which ultimately protects you and your renters and enables myhabi to offer a secure method of payment. (We strongly suggest you read Hints for creating your Stripe account below before you go through the process.)
  7. If the account set up in Stripe is successful, you will be returned to myhabi and your listing will be submitted for approval.
  8. myhabi will check that your Stripe account is properly connected to our platform and that it has been approved by Stripe for payments. Ultimately this is your listing so we are not checking the listing for accuracy or completeness, only that the listing is ready to accept Stripe payments.
  9. We reserve the right to request supporting documentation of home ownership, although since the system is based on invitations there is the presumption of familiarity between renter and owner.
  10. Assuming everything is set up properly, you'll be notified by email that your listing has been approved and you can send invitations to potential renters!
The rental listing is only available to those individuals that you specifically invite.

  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Owner side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click on Listings in the navigation bar.
  3. Your published and approved listed houses will appear in blue-outlined boxes and will have a button entitled 'Invite' on the right-hand side of the box. Click the 'Invite' button.
  4. Fill out the name and email information in the form then click the 'Invite' button.
  5. If the invitee is registered on the myhabi platform, they will receive an email notification that they have been invited to see the listing. If the invitee does not yet have a user id in the system, they will receive an email notifying them of the invitation and asking them to create a user id in order to see the listing.
  6. If you think tht the invitee might not recognize an email from myhabi, you may want to send them an email from your email address introducing the platform.
  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Owner side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click Dashboard in the navigation menu.
  3. Click the I button in the quick links menu.
  4. The following screen will display the users that you have invited to view your listing(s). Click on the trash can to disinvite someone or click the Add Invitee button to add someone new.
  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Owner side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click on Listings entry in the navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Edit Listing button on the listing you want to edit.
  4. Click on the 'Sch. & Fees' box.
  5. Make any necessary changes to the parameters and click 'Update'.
  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Owner side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click on Listings entry in the navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Edit Listing button on the listing you want to edit.
  4. Click on the 'Block Dates' box.
  5. Block dates in the calendar. Double click on a single date to block. Single click on the beginning date followed by a single click on an ending date to block a range of dates.
  6. Click 'Update'.
myhabi costs a flat fee per rental for both the owner and the renter. Each side of the transaction pays myhabi $30 per rental.

So, do you really need to go through the sign up process for getting a Stripe account? Well, YES, assuming you'd like to be paid for renting your house . (If you are renting someone else's house, you don't need to create an account, you just need to pay with your credit card.)

Also, if you already use Stripe you don't need to sign up for a new account, you can just connect your existing account to the myhabi platform when prompted.

Although Stripe's account creation process can seem a little overboard at times, given the financial fraud rampant on the web these days, we think it is part of a sound business practice. Stripe goes through a "Know Your Customer” process intended to mitigate fraud risk. Ultimately this is good for you and your renters.

So now that we have that behind us, here are a few hints:
  1. Gather as much of the information as possible first, it will make the process go more smoothly!
  2. Names and addresses of the owners
  3. If set up as an individual:
    • Bank account number and routing number
    • The last 4 digits of your SSN.
    • Web page. The web page can be a social media link if you don't have a web site. Alternatively, we automatically set up a public web page for your listing which you can use for your Stripe registration (you will see a link to your public page on the "Bridge to Stripe" web page in myhabi or you can see the URL by clicking the Public Page button on the Listings page).
  4. If set up as a business:
    • Bank account number and routing number
    • Your EIN.
    • Web page. The web page can be a social media link if you don't have a web site. Alternatively, we automatically set up a public web page for your listing which you can use for your Stripe registration (you will see a link to your public page on the "Bridge to Stripe" web page in myhabi or you can see the URL by clicking the Public Page button on the Listings page).
After you've successfully signed up for a Stripe account, you can log onto your account and navigate to your Stripe Dashboard (https://stripe.com/). This will allow you to see and manage any transactions in your account that originate in our platform or wherever you use Stripe. You'll also be able to manage payments, resolve disputes, etc.
  1. If you aren't already in the owner section of the site, click the Owner button at the top of the navigation bar.
  2. Click on Listings entry in the navigation bar.
  3. Click on the button Edit Name/Address in the listing you would like to change.
  4. Adjust the basic information in the form and click the Save button.
  5. You will be returned to the Listings page.
We never used to have to worry about the orientation of pictures (except for landscape vs portrait) but now we do since phones and tablets can be held any which way while snapping a pic. A lot of software can access a 'rotation' field in an image's informational data and auto-correct how the picture is presented. Unfortunately, when images are uploaded to the web, this information isn't available so myhabi can't get it looking right.


New

myhabi now provides an easy way to rotate your images to get them the right way up. After uploading the pictures (don't worry if they are wrong at this point), under Listings in the navigation menu, click the button and rotate images as needed by clicking the rotator button (you may need to click the button multiple times, each click rotates 90 degrees).

We recommend using the built-in capability but if you want to rotate them outside of myhabi, the folowing directions will still work.



Luckily, there's an easy way to fix pictures before uploading them to myhabi.

In the Windows environment:
  1. Open your picture in Paint.
  2. Rotate it if you have to (you likely won't need to do anything)
  3. Save it.
You should be good to go! Just upload it to myhabi.

If you are working on the Mac,
  1. Open the file you want to fix in Preview.
  2. Assuming it looks correctly oriented, click the Rotate Left tool once to rotate the image to the left.
  3. Click the Rotate Right tool once to rotate it back.
  4. Save it.
Sounds counterintuitive, right? Well, what you've actually done by rotating left then right is get it to the orientation you want and erase the orientation information embedded in the image. Obviously, if the image doesn't look right when you first open it up in the program, just rotate it until it does and save it.

You should be good to go! Just upload it to myhabi.

Thanks to Brian Culler (brianculler.com) for pointing in the right direction on the Mac fix.
You should have the owner's email from the invitation, just shoot them a message and ask. If it's more convenient to utilize the email functionality in the myhabi system, then:

  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Renter side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click on the Listings entry in the navigation bar. If you only have access to one listing, you will go directly to that listing. If you have access to multiple listings, then click on the listing in question.
  3. Near the top of the screen just under the address, you will see a button titled
    Ask Owner a Question
    . Click the button and fill out the entries of the form.
Since this is an invitation-only system, the first step is that you need to be invited to rent the house in question. If you've been invited, then:

  1. Log into myhabi and navigate to the Renter side of the platform if you don't automatically go there.
  2. Click on the Lstings entry in the navigation bar. If you only have access to one listing, you will go directly to that listing. If you have access to multiple listings, then click on the listing in question.
  3. On the top right hand part of the page you will see a scheduling section. In the calendar widget, single click on the first date of your desired rental period and then click on the last date. If the rental period conforms to the scheduling parameters set up by the owner and the dates are free, the dates should be highlighted in green. If the date range doesn't get highlighted, the system should return a message in red explaining the problem.
  4. If the dates are highlighted and you see a cost below the calendar (cost details can be viewed by clicking the Cost details button), click the Request button.
  5. Fill out the form with some details about your group and the stay then click Send Request Email button. The more detailed the information you include in this initial form the more likely it is that the owner will accept your reservation request.
  6. The owner should get back in touch with you with additional questions if there are any or with a confirmation that your stay is booked!
  7. Finally, once booked, you will need to log back into the platform and click on the My reservations navigation entry.
  8. You should see the reservation listed in the table. The Status should read Accepted. Under the 'Initial Payment' columns click the button and enter your credit card information. The reservation will be held for 2 days and will be released if payment is not made.
myhabi costs a flat fee per rental for both the owner and the renter. Each side of the transaction pays myhabi $30 per rental.

No, you'll just use Stripe within the myhabi platform as the payment system to pay with your credit card.