All Forum Posts by: Evan R.

@George You I've been looking at all 'entire home' listings, no shared apartments.  

I don't have any case studies from the researched areas. In my experience, airbnb operators are very cagey about sharing details. My theory is many urban operators are in violation of HOA regs, or their lease. 

Do you have Vacation Rental experience in San Diego?

I've been tracking three markets for vacation rentals since August; Mammoth Lakes, Temescal in Oakland, and the area surrounding Dolores Park in San Francisco.

One of my favorite graphs is vacancy rates. Temescal and Dolores Park track each other pretty well. Mammoth isn't doing too well with vacancy rates around 85%. 

Price per night is flat in Temescal, while being more volatile in Dolores Park and Mammoth. 

There is very little churn, or growth in the three markets. Churn is when hosts leave airbnb, and growth is new listings. Rather than show the graph for growth/churn for the last couple months, this is growth/churn for Q3 with a line fitted. 

Temescal and Dolores Park are growing faster than expected, while Mammoth is down. Bay Area growth could be attributed to the Dream Force conference, Mammoth's decline could be operators quitting after a dry summer with many fires. 

Where this data gets really useful is calculating gross rents. Looking at the average vacancy rate and average nightly rate, we can estimate gross rents. 

From talking to people about rental prices, the Temescal gross rents are higher than long term rents, while the Dolores Park gross rent is around the price of long term rentals. 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

Hey Kate, Your 25% vacancy rate seems a little high. 

In looking at airbnb listings in the North Conway area, the vacancy rate is 65% across 31 listings. 

Looking at just two bedroom listings, the vacancy rate is 61% across 7 listings. 

@Juliette V. Did you continue to use airbnb and vrbo when you moved to Nashville?

Looking on airbnb, I don't think too many investors are banking on the busy season to cary them though 100% vacancy for 3/4 of the year. 

Even in Phoenix, during the summer, the vacancy rate is still around 50%. 

I've heard of this sort of thing happening in Berkeley where two houses were sold for $1 each.

A couple years ago, Tom White and Dmitri Belser moved a house from College Avenue site to 62nd Street. 

Hey @Matthew D. Welcome to BP!

The real estate market is slowing down in the Bay Area right now. It might be easier for you to find internships in SB, or LA because you can leverage the connections you have now. 

Also, just saw EverBooked, which does dynamic pricing as well. 

Hey @Ian McHenry 

The VR business is ripe for yield management. I am surprised that airbnb doesn't automatically raise prices a few percent when demand is higher. 

Does your dynamic pricing algo take into account neighborhood boundaries at a greater level of detail than airbnb, or do you use airbnb's boundaries?

@Jean Bolger brings up a good point about bars being holdovers from when there was more crime in the neighborhood.

Go around by the neighborhood by bicycle. Do the bars look older? Do newer houses in the area have bars? On which side of the house are the bars located. Some houses have a larger, inaccessible front window that is unbarred, but all other windows have bars. 

Just little things to look for that point to resident's expectations.