Airbnb arbitrage question

[Francina Peralta]

Thoughts on Airbnb arbitrage? Has anyone done this in chicago? Cons / benefits? There are courses offered online, are they worth it?

[Trent Reeve]

Quote from @Jason Eyerly:

I can't help but notice that everyone that speaks against it are also very well vested into real estate, have easy access to loans, and plenty of capital. That's not the case for all of us, starting out. If all goes well I'll be pulling the trigger on one in a couple weeks. If you PM me I'll let you know how it goes. It's gonna cost me $10k to start and I should break even in 2.25 months.

I was told similar when I did FBA by Amazon ten years ago and I was thriving. Biggest regret is having gave it up. I think buying is a better option but while I wait for probate to close and my credit to update I think this is a good way to dabble in STRs, see what's possible, and go from there. Avery has two books on STRs, so it's possible. I don't want to mess with LTRs so my second plan is fix & flips with the capital and credit I plan to have in a few months. I wouldn't arbitrage 200 properties but I don't think a few will hurt. 

I say try it out. Start small. 

$10k in costs to start and break even in 2.25 months? i dont think there are many arbitrage opportunities that cash flow $4k+/month. many people have had to adjust expectations on profit when buying. Add in the extra step of the owner adding in their profit to rent that you have to pay, just doesnt seem like it would work well, except in rare cases you find someone who has owned for a long time and their mortgage is very low and they dont want to manage it. just very rare cases