New to Short Term Rentals

[Brian McMullen]

I am looking to purchase my first short term rental home.  I have accessed Airdna, but the property address is not coming up.  How would I start the process of evaluating a luxury property without the help of Airdna?  Help!

[Sergey A. Petrov]

check the actual listings on airbnb, vrbo, etc. Pretend you are going on vacation in the area and looking for a similar place to stay at. where would you go to book it? how much would you pay? that'll give you an idea of the market on the micro level.

[Ruben Kanya]

Brian,

You're most certainly going to want all of the below and/or atleast one. Short term rentals are case by case and one luxury property can sit empty while the exact same property down the street can be constantly booked based on 4 key pillars

Technology | Furnishing & Design | Analysis (before buying) | Management

I would start working with a realtor who specializes in short term rentals, the more information you have the better, then when you set your eyes on making an offer based on an area that allows for STRs, run the numbers. You mentioned not using airdna.co but I would definitely keep tools like airdna.co, STR insights, rankbreeze, give you some insights on occupancy and average daily rate.

I personally like to be in market that supports the demand then I know what I need to do to stand apart. So to recap:

1. Identify your goal in wanting an STRs (numbers wise)

2. Get a realtor who can understand those goals and point you towards the most desirable zip codes

3. Understand who you're serving in that marketplace (i.e. families, business travel, ..)

4. Use as many data points as possible to verify (airdna.co, rankbreeeze, str insights, look up airbnbs in your area) the reason I like the tools mentioned in brackets is some people have cool listings that are priced high but have zero occupancy because they don't cater a true avatar and/or aren't priced correctly.

[Brian McMullen]

Thank you for your help.  Your answers are helpful and insightful.  Maybe we can connect sometime. 

[Patrick Drury]

@Brian McMullen
Airbnb and Vrbo are great sources to show you what people are doing in that market and more specifically in certain neighborhoods in terms of quality and prices you can expect. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

What @Sergey A. Petrov said. Use the actual platforms to get real info. AIRDnA is just an algorithm......

[Scott E.]

If the address isn't pulling up in Airdna, you can still use Airdna to study the competing properties surrounding the one that you are looking at purchasing. Check out their finishes, their furniture, and average nightly rate on these other comparable properties in the area.

[Susan O.]

I think you have to be careful valuating airbnbs at this time. Just with the macro economy, quantitative tightening for a while and higher interest rates for a while will lead to less gov stimulus/ stagflation

So expect less commerce/ vacationing etc. Just be super conservative with numbers like extra high expences, plan for larger vacancy %

So what do people think are best analytics for evaluating STRs?  Other cheaper versions than AirDNA? or is airdna the best ??

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Susan O.:

1) So expect less commerce/ vacationing etc. 

2) So what do people think are best analytics for evaluating STRs?  Other cheaper versions than AirDNA? or is airdna the best ??

1) Not necessarily. We've discussed this before, but people that travel and particularly those who stay in STRs, tend to have more money than average. There may be a slight downtick until people wrap their heads around the new reality, but there may be no long-term difference either...

2) None of the online tools are guaranteed accurate. The only method that is accurate is to do your own research....look on VRBO and AIR and check out properties that are very similar to yours. I've looked up my exosting STRs on AIRDnA just for fun and they're not even close.