AirBnB????
Peoria, AZ · Member since 2015 · 9 posts · 7 votes
Hello fellow BPs! As a new member this is my very first post on the forums; with many more to come I hope, I'd like to say hello!
With all that I have been learning about multi-family rentals, I came across AirBnB and got to thinking about it as a full time business as you would with any other real estate niche. Has anyone had success with it? I'd love to know what thoughts you guys might have on this subject. With all these P2P (peer to peer) business disrupting major industries, such as uber, I feel like it could open new doors to the investment world. However, scary and new at the same time.
My business is vacation rentals, it's my full time job, produces decent income and the start of a nice RE portfolio.
I use VRBO, HomeAway, TripAdvisor (Flipkey), VacationRentals, GlampingHub, Airbnb and even Craigslist for my rentals.
WARNING about Airbnb - their cancellation policies are very lax, not good for the property owner, so if someone gets sick or has a death in the family (or any "extenuating circumstance" they can cancel at the last minute and you will not get paid for the rental. This is not good business for our investment properties, we cannot afford to lose a peak week of income due to this policy (and we have!).
So - we use Airbnb ONLY for last minute reservations. It's more work updating the calendars on each of our listings, but we get quite a bit from Airbnb for dates that might otherwise not get booked. We lower rates for last minute availability, offer even lower rates for midweek dates, etc. Lots of strategy, but it's worth the efforts.
Yes, RI has just started the short term tax for < 30 days. Also for short stays you have the cleaning costs. For a week you can tack that on but for < 1 week not so much. I always associated AirBnb with those shorter stays and haven't used it just going through craigslist.
@Nick Jacaruso I am curious are you doing short term in Peoria yet ? How much do you get booked aside from snowbirds? In the processing of getting something in Apache Junction for us but have considered some rental eventually too. Wondering when besides " the winter" is occupancy good. Special events? holidays?
@Colleen F. I haven't actually used this avenue yet. I'm on the fence about selling my property in Peoria or useiit as a vacation rental. So that's kinda why I created the thread. Wanted to get a general idea if it would be worth the hassle.
I've been doing the short term rental gig for a little over 2 years, and I'm about ready to step into a second unit. Mine is in a ski town outside of Denver, about 90 minutes away. As has been stated by others, systems that template and automate the processes are key, as is a good local team. I have a realtor that keeps her eyes peeled for deals in the area, a housekeeper that I've kept busy enough that she needed to hire an assistant, and a regular guy who delivers my annual load of firewood. I've got backup housekeeping and firewood delivery. I do my own maintenance right now (did my remodel on my own as well), but I'm currently looking for a handyman so that I won't always need to do it myself, especially as I grow my business.
I tried all the listing sites initially, but then paired down to VRBO only. I've since added back AirBNB, but only due to it's popularity. Most of March was rented to AirBNB folks, as opposed to VRBO, but they just got there first. I would have filled it regardless. AirBNB are a different type of renter, they require more hand holding, and don't take care of the place as well as VRBO renters. I'm liking the idea mentioned above, dropping the rates and catering to last minute renters with AirBNB, to fill in the weeknights between the weekends that VRBO people want. A little more work maybe, but I'm only putting about 4 hours a month into managing it now.
While I've considered the implications of the short term laws changing, I don't believe it will have an impact on my rental, since I'm in a ski town where most rentals are geared for short term. However, the fact that this business has become so popular means that a) it might become an issue at some point, in order to force people into long term rentals for seasonal workers and b) that's a perfect exit strategy from the short term game should that occur.
Feel free to hit me up if you have any specific questions. For me, this has been a great investment, very lucrative and while not requiring much work after it's up and running.
@Monika Haebich, I'm interested in the link to that tool that you mentioned.
@Al Williamsonundefined
what type of marketing should i do to attract rental property to a longer than a month long stay?
@Monika Haebichundefined
do you have any management companies that you would recommend for the pocono's area or the philadelphia area for fixed rental costs and traditional costs.
@jason d
Dog whistling for long stsy is a pricing tactic and coming out and saying it in your ad. Too much to write. PM me if you want to know more.
Have you ever heard of short-term rental funds? These funds would pool money from investors, buy and convert homes into short-term rentals and then return rental revenue to the investors. Any idea how they might be structured? I'm interested in how this is done on a small scale, but mostly on how it could/or could not be done on a large scale.
Hi all, I'm new to BP and also interested in the airbnb model type of rental. Seeing that a lot of BP content is on multi unit / more complex type of deals, but not on smaller operations like the one I have in mind...a lot of the analytics and numbers usually refer to larger operations...any thoughts as to what numbers to look for when dealing with more niche/specific units like a ski house in upstate NY vs. a condo in Miami Beach from a numbers perspective? Thanks!
My business is vacation rentals, it's my full time job, produces decent income and the start of a nice RE portfolio.
I use VRBO, HomeAway, TripAdvisor (Flipkey), VacationRentals, GlampingHub, Airbnb and even Craigslist for my rentals.
WARNING about Airbnb - their cancellation policies are very lax, not good for the property owner, so if someone gets sick or has a death in the family (or any "extenuating circumstance" they can cancel at the last minute and you will not get paid for the rental. This is not good business for our investment properties, we cannot afford to lose a peak week of income due to this policy (and we have!).
So - we use Airbnb ONLY for last minute reservations. It's more work updating the calendars on each of our listings, but we get quite a bit from Airbnb for dates that might otherwise not get booked. We lower rates for last minute availability, offer even lower rates for midweek dates, etc. Lots of strategy, but it's worth the efforts.
@Maura Paler You can change the cancellation policy on Airbnb. There are 3 options! I am a property manager and we have several vacation rentals in South Florida, we get 50% if they cancel more than 1 week out, and 100% if they cancel less than a week before! It's under the "Terms" section on each listing.
@Elizabeth Maille hi I just sent you a PM.
@John Thedford I just saw your message. I have two companies and they are both registered with SunBiz and the DBPR and fully licensed. Global Real Estate Asset Team Opportunity Realty (GREAT Opportunity Realty) and GREAT Opportunity Management. I am one of the owner, you don't have to be licensed to own the company. We have a Licensed Broker and a Licensed Community Association Manager as well as Licensed Agents. I will respond to your message and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have and help out in anyway.
I have a property in Tallahassee and just graduate from one first year. It wasn't by choice but I had an unpleasant experience with Property Manager and made a business decision. But through the process, I learned that you cannot take for great customer service. I put a electronic key lock because guest check in at multiple times. Wi-Fi thermostat to keep electric bill down but also ensure guest check into a comfortable room. I send the guest a welcome guide prior to check in which talks about the check-in process, wi-fi password, and key code. It also includes direction and mileage to get to football stadium, Starbucks, and mall. I remove the carpet from house and replace with tile to make turnover easier. I usually stock frig with water, because don't want to jeopardize providing liquor to underage guest but also don't make guest uncomfortable. If your going to manage yourself, factor in your opportunity cost but if you turn it over to someone, ensure you establish the ex[expectations on cleaning quality and customer service. But there is some value in doing the work to understand the process and establish internal controls. Having roku is awesome because guests like watching movies but providing entertainment is very inexpensive. Unless its long term, most stays are short.
My wife and I have been running an AirBnB out of our Casita at the front of our house for about two years now. 99% positive experiences except the time a couple of relocating college students stayed with us and snuck their cat into the unit. That was unpleasant.
Anyway, it has been a great experience. We only use AirBnB as their cut is low, the management tools are intuitive and we haven't felt like managing multiple calendars with other services. We've averaged enough monthly income to basically cover the mortgage on our house each month.
Be warned, it is not passive income, though with ours being at the front of our house, the work load is typically minimal. We recently began to use a housekeeper to clean the unit and she does a great job. Even with that off our plate, you still have customer service with the guests, mostly answering questions during the booking and check-in process.
Funny enough, in exploring the possibility of buying a condo or two here in Las Vegas to turn into AirBnB rentals, it led me to @paulapant site, where she had done the same thing, and then to here.
I'll echo one last thing that's been said here. Know your local regulations. Regulations from city to city and from county to county vary widely. Ultimately, that things with short term rentals are in such flux here in Las Vegas is what made me steer away from expanding.
Good luck! It can be very fun and financially rewarding.
I have two properties on AirBnb, contra to some opinions I would be willing to handle all the management myself except for I don't want to deal with the self-entitled, overly demanding, hipsters that tend to love booking my paces on AirBnB. Scheduling cleaning, online booking confirmation, and giving people codes to key-less entry locks is pretty trivial; handling tenants that think they are staying at the Four Seasons with their incessant requests is not.
One thing I would suggest you pay attention to is seasonal variation in your area, I make 75% of my money May-October. The dead months don't even equal normal rents.
Hi @Nick Jacaruso ,
Welcome to BP. I got started on airbnb a little while after I bought my condo money was tight but I still wanted to vacation so I rented my place out when I would leave for the weekend. I would recommend this for anyone looking at getting into short term rentals because it gives you experience before making the plunge. Also many of these sites rely on reviews so the better your reviews the more you can charge and even if the property is a new one of yours potential guests can see your reviews for your first property.
I was the victim of changing regulation in San Francisco so make sure it will still cashflow as a mid-term rental.
I live with my fiance and now rent on airbnb for 30 day minimums and probably get about 25% more gross rent than a long term tenant but there would have been more startup cost furnishing the place if it wasn't already. I've found guests to be very gentle on the place with minimal cleaning/repairs needed between guests.
there is a service called pillow at least in SF that will handle everything for you. Not sure about your area. People have done cool things with smart locks and emailing the code to guests to be more hands off.
If you haven't already check out podcasts 156, 114 and 57 for some good info.
I only have 8 months of using airbnb so take it for what it's worth. We have had some good success with it last year. Like it has been mentioned, you need to put together a good team to make this work.
The only problem I have come across and luckily we haven't experience, is Airbnb and its security deposits. I have read and heard some horror stories about getting that money to fix issues in your cottage that guest destroyed.
It sounds like you have a great rental with the full year of tourism going on. Where we rent our cottage is more of summer rental. We get some fall and holiday rentals but lots of vacancies between then. As long as those types of people who visit your area are people who use Airbnb, you should have no problem booking your place up.
Also, if you decide to have a set schedule of when you want people to come and go, do not change that. We originally had it where people would show up on Saturday and leave a week later. We made some adjustments during the summer for people and it really cost us in the end.
I hope what I said makes sense and good luck. Lots of great people and information here.
@Sherif Taher I have a property management agreement in place with my co-hosts that describes their management duties and their fees.
I'm not 100% sure on this, but my concern when your co-host creates the listing is that you won't be able to remove them in the future (if you part ways with them) since they own the listing. You might have to create a new listing. Perhaps AirBNB can clarify this for you?
If you create the listing under your account you'll show as owner, and when you add co-host and they will have the ability to make all edits to the listing and they can be listed as primary so they show at the top of the listing. And you can remove them in the future if that was necessary. You would have to put in all the payout info - the cohost would not have access to it.
For some of my listings, I receive 100% of the funds and reimburse co-host monthly, and for others cohost receives a percentage from AirBNB with each stay, and then reimbursed for anything else monthly.
Not 100% sure on this one either, but I believe superhost is tagged to the listing, so your listing will not show as superhost until the listing earns it, even if owner or cohost has other listings with superhost status - it will show on their profile but not on the listing.
Maybe start a new thread with some of these cohost questions and others will chime in?
@Sherif Taher, you'd probably have better luck starting a new thread and not reviving one from 2 years ago.
That said, this is how I typically co host for people. (I do several)
1. Either YOU create the listing and then I make some changes as I see fit, OR (more often) I will create the listing using a new e-mail and airbnb account and give you the passwords so you can take ownership of them, then I add myself as a co host. It's important for the co host to have access to the main account since there are a few things a co host isn't able to do and it saves you the headache. If you already have the listings up; its a quick add to make someone a co host.
2. I use a running a google sheet to track every reservation and all expenses related to it.
3. You would be responsible for ensure the deposits in your account match the books. If you find a discrepancy we (or I) would figure it out.
4. I invoice monthly, within a few days of the first of the month for the agreed upon % and any reimbursable expenses.
Keep in mind AirBnB destroyed their Co Hosting feature by removing the ability to get paid through AirBnB. You now MUST pay OUTSIDE AirBnB platform, which makes no sense to me since AirBnB always preaches keeping everything in their platform but thats another discussion. This makes it more complicated but not impossible.
This would all need to be in writing so you're both protected. Shoot me a message if you have any other questions.
@Sherif Taher it sounds like you're working with an individual to manage some of your vacation rental properties and not an established management company.
If that is the case, as @Caroline C. said Airbnb no longer supports co-host payouts, so you'll have to pay them some other way. Easiest for you is to add them as a co-host on Airbnb and just have them send you a bill for their management fee. All funds go to your first, then the co-host at the end of the month. Airbnb typically disperses funds the day or the day after a guest checks in. If you give them access to your profile they will have the ability to change the payout methods.
It can absolutely be a great full time gig! I quit my corporate job after we bought our second STR. The catch is to make sure you buy in the right market. Not only in an area that cash flows well, but one where the STR legislation is friendly. My suggestion is to invest in a TRUE vacation market, i.e. a beach or mountain tourist town where the economy is heavily dependent upon tourists staying in short term rentals. For example, ours are in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of TN where we get 12 million tourists a year and they all want to stay in log cabins. If the city ever decided to put limitations on STR's it would significantly affect the tourism industry, so it's highly unlikely we will ever have to worry about that type of legislation in our market. Hope this helps!
Don't limit your potential market for STRs to just vacationing people. I have 24 STRs with 82 beds in this town and rent them to refinery contractors. They are the people that work on those large upright erections you see at a petrochemical refinery. Those steel structures are fractional distillation and hydrocarbon cracking units.
My renters do maintenance and turnarounds on the units.
@Maura Paler hello I want to Airbnb my primary residence. I own a triplex and a single family home and the spaces are rented. I also live in the the triplex myself.
My question for you is have you ever done Airbnb on your primary residence? Should I worry about my belongings in the home? I want to make the guests as comfortable as possible. Will my clothes and other things like that deter that?