Hows baltimore for Airbnb? Anyone successfully doing?

Question

How is the baltimore market for Air bnb? Would you mind sharing your numbers and insights? Would like to find out more! Much appreciated!

John D. · Answer

I have a good friend who's doing really well with what we call "mid-term" rentals in Baltimore. His typical rental period is 1-2 months, and he gets roughly double the monthly rate of a standard year long renter. So far, vacancy is rather low. He rents primarily to people working in hospitals, and to grad students. They are typically looking for a place to live for a month or two as they get to know the area, before they move to something more permanent, after they know more about the area.

Airbnb is not a magic bullet though, he's on a dozen or so sites, and airbnb is less then 25% of the overall volume.

John D. · Answer

@Rafael Floresta I keep 2.5x the number of sheets, towels, etc. required at our larger properties.  Makes for a quick turn by the cleaners when required to have clean inventory on hand rather then having to wash then, and they can bring the cleaned sheets back another time.  We also use only large flat sheets and tuck the bottom sheet (that therefore can fit any size bed) so instead of full fitted/full flat/queen fitted/queen flat/king fitted/king flat we just have one sheet to deal with.  Thought that might be helpful as you scale your operation!

Rafael Floresta · Answer

I own a place near a hospital in Philly and it works wonders.

George P. · Answer

I am very familiar with Fells Point. The closest hospital is The Johns Hopkins Hospital, which is 5 min ride away. I would not suggest walking since you'd have to walk through shady areas (yeah, it's Baltimore).

Rafael Floresta · Answer

And I go weekly to DC, I am curious about Baltimore, but honestly it makes very little sense to invest away from home when I have a pretty good supply of deals here. I think Baltimore is like Philly, highly distressed but in a strategic location on the east coast. Property within Philly metro has gone up like crazy, and people with deeper roots in Philly are saying there is lots of money coming from NYC.

Rafael Floresta · Answer

Sent.

Jae Ham · Answer

@Rafael Floresta wow! Great info. This def motivates me to move forward. I would be interested in taking a look at your listings if you can pm me! Im always here if I can be of any help if your ever interested in the rental market here in baltimore! Thanks much!

Rafael Floresta · Answer

In Philly taxes are collected/withheld/remitted automatically. In Baltimore you have to do it on your own.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/653/in-what-areas-is-occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-airbnb-available

Rafael Floresta · Answer

Ok, numbers; I think the key is the combination of high number of bedrooms with full/queen beds and low cost to purchase. I own one that is located in south Philly and it brings about 3k consistently, I spent 120k total between purchase and rehab. It has been running for about 9 months. I just opened a second one in the suburbs of philly, delaware county, where my purchase and rehab is about 65k. Furniture is not included on the purchase price, but give an take about 10k for all of it. Mostly ikea stuff. The other one is on a less desirable location, but it is working, bringing is about 2.5k for the last two months. I just opened it in the middle of march.

The biggest cost of running an airbnb is the cleaning cost. So having one isnt the best, so I'd say three is the sweet spot where you can have a cleaning person to turn your units financially efficient. I use to charge 35 bucks per cleaning, but I upped to 45 because I was struggling to find a cleaner.

My cleaner also does the laundry at her own place, because she doesnt want to wait for the three loads of laundry to finish.

If you want to see my listings I can pm the link.

Hows baltimore for Airbnb? Anyone successfully doing?

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