Turnkey Short term rentals
Juan Horacio VelasquezPro Member
Member since 2023 · 3 posts · 4 votesHas anyone used rabbu.com to purchase turnkey short-term rentals? Thinking about going that route and would love to hear real experiences — good, bad, or otherwise. Worth it? Thanks!
I'd be careful with Rabbu, and really any STR platform showing projected returns.
The platform's useful for finding opportunities, but I wouldn't take the numbers at face value. A lot of these listings are still being marketed by agents, owners, or sellers who have an incentive to make the property look better on paper. In many cases anyone can put a listing up, so the quality of the information varies a lot deal to deal. It also helps to know which type of listing you're looking at — the "Active Airbnb / Actual Financials" ones are the real turnkey deals with reported income, while the "Airbnb Potential" listings are just regular MLS homes with a revenue projection attached. That projection is modeled off comps and almost always runs hot. Treat it as a ceiling, not a forecast.
If you do go that route, I'd verify a few things independently:
1. Get in touch with the actual listing agent.
2. Talk to a trusted agent or advisor in that specific market.
3. Confirm the local STR regulations for that exact property.
4. Verify whether the STR use is legal, transferable, and still available to a new buyer.
5. Stress-test the revenue instead of relying on the advertised pro forma. For anything with reported income, don't take the seller's spreadsheet — ask for the host's actual platform exports (Airbnb/Vrbo earnings summary, a PriceLabs or AirDNA pull, and the Schedule E). If those three don't reconcile, that's your answer.
6. Make sure you understand the true net after management, platform fees, utilities, insurance, repairs, furniture replacement, vacancy, and debt service.
One more on pricing: sellers list on these platforms to be valued on income rather than comps, so you'll often pay a premium an appraisal on comparable sales won't support. If you're financing, watch the appraisal gap.
The biggest mistake I see investors make is treating a projected STR return like it's the same thing as real performance. These are businesses now, not just real estate assets. The real estate matters, but so do regulations, operations, design, management, reviews, revenue quality, and the exit strategy.
I'm not saying Rabbu is bad. I'm saying use it as a starting point, not the full underwriting. Before buying anything off a platform like that, I'd want someone local and experienced to walk through the regulations, the numbers, and the downside case with you.
Moral of the story - get in contact with multiple parties who have "boots on the ground" in your desired market.