Doing MidTerm on Airbnb

[Jacob Morgenstern]

One of my landlords would like me to manage a property in Newark NJ, where the laws dictate a 30-day minimum. Any advice on how to operate a mid-term rental on Airbnb and having a full calendar? What rules can be implemented to ensure  the calendar remains full with no gaps in it?

[Carolyn Fuller]

I do both STR and Mid Term. Airbnb is super expensive for mid term.

You need to figure out what your market is for mid term. For me, it is simple. My units are both near 2 huge universities (MIT & Harvard) so it is easy to target visiting scholars and lease by the semester (winter, summer, fall). The unit that I can't STR is leased 100% with no gaps but I'm stickler for leases starting and ending on a semester timeline. If someone wants to lease, say Jun 1 - July 15, I say "sorry."

I advertise mid term via non-STR platforms, in my case, sabbaticalhomes.com & the university off-campus housing sites. I'm charged peanuts compared to what Airbnb would charge.

If this property has no well defined target audience, it will be very difficult to design your leases to match the audience. Therefore, it will be an expensive potshot. There will be plenty of gaps.