Feeling Frustrated with our STR

[Ashley Bitner]

In January of this year I started renting our primary residence full time on Airbnb and VRBO (we moved to a rental one town over so our boys could be closer to friends/school).

The house is a 3/2 in North County San Diego, walking distance to the beach and restaurants. I self manage and have learned a lot throughout the year. At first I was pretty picky about bookings but I've learned to be much more flexible in this department.

Airdna estimated our STR could bring in ~120k per year. I estimate if we were to transition to a LTR we would bring in ~$56.5k annually. So far, our STR has grossed $46k.

We have professional photos, dynamic pricing, an optimized listing, I have 32 reviews (all 5 stars), I'm in the top 5% of homes according to Airbnb, etc. etc. However, I feel like I am just bleeding money. The costs of getting the STR up and running has felt relentless. September and October are the absolute best months (weather wise) in San Diego and our occupancy is 12%. I feel like I am doing everything right, but I am clearly doing something wrong! I guess this is just a vent post but man I am feeling so frustrated!

[James Carlson]

@Ashley Bitner

Charming place. I work with STR investors in Colorado, so I'm not in your market. Take with a grain of salt.

A few thoughts:

-- First and easiest change? Tweak the headline. "Walk everywhere" is too generic. Be specific. "4 Blocks to Beach," or whatever. 

-- Throw in some nice photos of the beach and restaurants nearby. 

-- Do you have a drone shot at all? If you're walking distance to the beach, having one of your first few photos be a drone shot of the ocean with an arrow pointing out your spot would be helpful.

-- Again, I'm not in your market, but we have some nice Airbnb markets here in Colorado and $120k gross is a pretty good revenue for most areas. Might be a high expectation. Also, if you're really close to the beach, I bet AirDNA's projection are skewed by oceanfront properties near you. Revenues are likely waay higher for those properties and are pulling up your estimate.

-- Do you have a full AirDNA subscription? Search San Diego, then click on "submarkets" and find yours. Under the dropdown for "listings" change the criteria to close to yours (say 3-4br, 2-3ba, etc. but don't go super super specific). It should show you the top-performing listings in your area. What are they doing?

-- Your place looks nice. You've photographed it well. I'd totally stay there. That said, the STR market is so saturated now that a "nice" place doesn't really perform that well. Design matters a lot from what I see in Colorado. A crazy wall of wallpaper. Big-bold art. A massive TV (like 65" minimum.) A cohesive collection of furnishings.

Don't give up. You've got a great set of reviews. I'd do a few tweaks and see what happens. Good luck!