AIRBNB Chicago

[Dan B.]

Hello All,

The wife and I own a small studio apartment in the Wrigley Field area. We use it occasionally to get away from the suburbs and enjoy a night out. Recently, we have been weighing our options - sell or rent? In doing some research I am finding that AIRBNB is very successful in this area. Wrigley Field is a national attraction despite how good the Cubs are in a given season and there are no hotels near by, thus demand is high.

I understand that there are some headaches that go along with AIRBNB and it will required a bit of a time commitment on our part, which we are prepared for. All things included, the studio costs us in about $760 a month. Studios in Wrigley area are going for as much as $160 a night and as low as $87. I personally do not want to sell this and I'm hoping we can average about $1200 a month in revenue over a given year. We have taken pride in our place and it has been upgraded and well cared for, this would not change if we were to offer it up on AIRBNB.

My question to all is what can we reasonably expect in return if we were to take this venture? I have paid for the airbnb market reports in our locale and it seems viable, but instead of looking just the raw data I would like to get the opinions of some that have already taken this path.

Thanks!

[Diana Rdzanek]

Hi Dan,

I have been an airbnb host in Chicago (Lakeview and Gold Coast) for three years and have found it to be great supplemental income.

The first thing to consider is whether your condo association has rules regarding airbnb hosting. The City of Chicago is currently considering an ordinance that would limit the number of units in any building that can be used for airbnb, and additionally allows individual condo associations to ban the practice all together.

Next you will need to decide how you want to prep/clean for guests. If you are planning on doing it yourself, and you live in the suburbs, you may find it too great of a time commitment. I have used services such as Handy ($40 per cleaning) to turn over between guests with mixed results.

Finally, my best advice is to screen all prospective airbnb guests with similar discretion as you would a long-term tenant. I made the mistake of renting my condo to 5 college-age students who were looking to party exactly once. $1,000 of damage to hardwood floors and marble countertops later, I will never do it again (airbnb was great and fully compensated me for the damages, however dealing with the entitled monsters was a nightmare). I think this advice is especially important in the Wrigleyville area. I currently only host guests who are older, have good reviews, are in town on business, etc. You will get a feel for this when going through messages from prospective guests. There is a setting on airbnb called "instant book" where any guest can book your space without exchanging messages with you first. I strongly advise against this.

It seems that you have the potential to easily cover the expenses for your condo by hosting guests through airbnb. Let me know if you have further questions. Good luck!