AirBNB Primary Residence?

Question

Hi everyone.  I was wondering if anyone here has any experience utilizing their primary residence for STR/AirBNB while away on vacations or long weekends? If so, how was your experience with it?  We tend take weekend trips somewhat often as well as a couple 1-2 week vacations throughout the year and I am wondering if AirBNB'ing our primary residence is reasonable or not.  I'm sure there are horror stories out there but does anyone have any success stories doing this?

Ethan Cooke · Answer

@Jon S. - I’ve rented out my San Francisco home for a week at a time over the past 7 years whenever my family takes a 1-week vacation. I’ve never had a problem, and usually the revenue more than pays for my family vacation—it’s beautiful!

@Michael Nelson and @Julie McCoy make great points about how to cover all your bases. Good luck!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I need or do I want the extra money?  Probably not, since you take a lot of vacations.  That implies you already make good money.

Is the extra money worth the headache, worry and hassle to me?  Probably not.  I've dealt with overdoses, break ins, burglary, vandalism, prostitution and a death in my STRs.  You will too, eventually.

Michael Nelson · Answer

@Jon S. plenty of people go the part time host route without experiencing the nightmares that @Paul Sandhu seems to have the bad luck of experiencing. I’ve hosted hundreds of thousands or guests and have had very few issues. Just because you can afford to travel doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want to make a little extra cash while you are out of town.

To make it worthwhile and to have the best experience for yourself and guests follow a few simple steps. 1. Price accordingly. Don’t want headaches? Don’t give your home away for low prices, make those nights in your house worth it for you and get top dollar for your market. 2. Remove all personal items, this is for the comfort of the guests, to ensure nothing you hold dear is stolen or broken, and if you have a basement/closet that locks put it all in there. 3. Have someone who can assists guests while you are out of town. Nothing can ruin your vacation quicker than having guest issues that you physically need to be there for. Have a neighbor who has an extra set of keys, is friendly, and maybe throw some extra cash their way. 4. While you are looking to get out of town, ask yourself.. is there a huge draw to come? Some days/weeks/months are just slower for travel and you may not be able to get guests during that point of time. 5. Minimum nights, I’m assuming you want 1 guest to stay the entire time you are gone. Set minimum nights to ensure that that’s most of the nights are covered. If it’s going to be more than one booking make sure you have a cleaner in place.

I hope this is helpful, feel free to dm me for our free webinar that covers so much more.

Julie McCoy · Answer

@Jon S. I plan to do something similar when I move to my new primary home in Nashville.  @Michael Nelson gave some really solid advice.  (@Paul Sandhu is an expert at this but I suspect his demographic is very different from what you'll get in Orange County)

What I have to add is: see if your homeowner's insurance policy offers a rider for short-term rental usage.  Last thing you want is some issue to happen while a guest is there, and your policy to refuse to cover it because the home is occupied by a paying guest.

And review the local laws.  Depending on where you're located (if you're in Anaheim, for example) it may not be worth it if STRs are heavily regulated or outlawed.

Good luck!

Cody Z. · Answer

Paul you should write a book!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Jon S.

@Paul Sandhu  Sorry to hear about the difficulties you've had. I take it you are no  longer doing STRs? Money is definitely nice but so is gaining the  experience of the STR game.

Sure Jon, I'm no longer doing STRs.  That's why I just post answers online here in this forum.  Here is my Craigslist ad from yesterday.

Furnished Houses

Ethan Cooke · Answer

@Jon S. - I lock up just a few personal belongings, like laptops,  jewelry and  personal/financial information.  The house is nice but does not contain many valuables.

I get 70% of my bookings from AirBnB, 15% from repeat customers, 10% from Zillow/Trulia and 5% from craigslist.  I have posted a couple listings on VRBO/Homeaway and  Tripadvisor, but have not gotten any bookings that way. AirBnB is my bread and butter, and I take being a Superhost seriously.  Let me know if you have additional questions, and good luck!

Jon S. · Answer

@Paul Sandhu Sorry to hear about the difficulties you've had.  I take it you are no longer doing STRs?  Money is definitely nice but so is gaining the experience of the STR game.

@Michael Nelson Thanks for the response!  Great tips.  We do have a two car garage that I could easily outfit to be inaccessible to guests which could store our personal belongings.  One question for you, how much of an impact does not accepting "instant bookings" have on your listing?  Is it significantly safer to not allow these in order to vet the guests ahead of time?

@Julie McCoy Thanks, I will definitely look into our insurance and city regulations.

@Ethan Cooke Thanks for the response!  Do you generally remove your personal belongings when renting it out?  Also, what site do you use?  Have you tried different ones?  Any tips you can provide on the whole process would be greatly appreciated!

AirBNB Primary Residence?

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