Airbnb?

[Harrison D.]

Hi BP, After a tenant recently moved out of one of my units, I decided I wanted to give the short term rental market a try. A little background: This was a 2 bedroom unit in a Duplex in a trendy neighbourhood in Ottawa, ON. The rate for a long term lease is $1150/month. I rented it out on Airbnb for $2,145/month (gross). I have yet to get the utility bills so I can't make a direct comparison yet. It was a lot more work, but the cash flow seemed to be worth it. It also made it easier to show the unit, I could block off a night per week and do showings without bothering any tenants or dealing with a dirty unit. I have signed a tenant on a year lease starting in the fall. My thinking is that the market will be significantly lower in the winter (Ottawa has a lot of festivals & tourists in the summer). Just wondering if anyone has had any experience in Ottawa or Canada renting full time on Airbnb? If so, what was the difference in summer to winter months? It was an interesting experiment and I may be tempted to do it again after another tenant turnover. Cheers.

[Haseeb Awan]

So I had a place in Gatineau just across the bridge and I rented it for 2 months on AirBnb at average110$/night. It was like 2 KM from US embassy and parliament. It was 100% occupied and I got around $3000 in revenue after fees. Apartment rent including internet was $1000 So it was a 2k profit. Only issue was that since it was a rented unit, I couldn't scale it and it was taking lot of my time to manage it on regular basis. 

AirbNb would for sure average out much higher than the long term rental. If you can keep 2-3 units free, you can hire a cleaner on regular basis and that will free up your time.