Using Airbnb and other ways to find absentee owners?

Question

I'm trying to figure out creative ways to reach out to absentee owners. An idea that I had was to check Airbnb for listings that offered entire homes and reaching out to the owners through Airbnb. I feel like one would be more receptive through Airbnb messages than a direct email. Anybody have opinions or other ways to reach out instead of buying lists?

Erica Muller · Answer

@Hae-Yuan Chang One of the ways I built my business was list building. It's truly a daunting process and I honestly have tried everything and there is no easy way to do it without A. Spending Money or B. Spending lots of time. Buying lists typically doesn't result in any quality leads. If you send the same message too many times on Airbnb, there is an algorithm in place that will flag your account as a potential spammer so just be careful. Many of the homes on Airbnb in Orlando (kissimmee, Davenport, Clermont areas) are also listed by the management company, not the owner. There are some but you'll also get just as many management companies responding and could result in a lot of wasted time. I know this because my marketing team has tried it as well as with VRBO before they masked the emails. . . Here are some white hat ways to build your investor list with either time or money:

1. Opt In Text marketing

2. Facebook targeted ads directing to an opt in page (if you don't structure this right you'll waste a lot of money)

3. Guest blogging on more established sites with a lead box opt in on the page

4. Renting someone's established list that is all opt in and credible and not just to send properties but to give an offer that someone would opt into.

These are just some tactics I've used and use. I've been at the list building thing for 8 years now and everyday is a new day in the world of marketing. Things are usually outdated in a year or two so stay on top of the marketing trends. I tell all my investors and clients the same thing, you may be a real estate investor but your first job is a marketer. That's the truth.

Hae-Yuan Chang · Answer

Thanks for the information! I'll have to be on the lookout for other methods then.

Ken Badziak · Answer

I tried to do the same thing with AirBnB. The issue is that you don't have an easy way to communicate directly with the host unless you make a reservation first. You can't leave phone numbers oe email addresses in your initial communications; ABnB automatically scrubs your messages.

I got around the phone number issue by spelling out the numbers, but even then communicating with the hosts was a huge hassle...

Hae-Yuan Chang · Answer

@Erica Muller, thanks so much for the information!

Can you elaborate on opt in text marketing? To advertise a number so that you can send what exactly?