All Forum Posts by: Yitzchok Carmen

It may not be a vacation destination but it certainly is a medical destination. I would imagine that running apartments on Airbnb to attract visiting nurses and doctors could work out very well assuming that they are allowed by the city

1 Vote

Originally posted by @James Wise:

Originally posted by @Erin Spradlin:

I'll try to limit my rant here, but since the Wall Street Journal published a somewhat nasty article about Airbnb investors in late April and I represent a lot of Denver Airbnb Investors and Colorado Springs Airbnb investors, I think it's important to point out a few things, and see if my fellow BP-ers are of the same opinion or a totally different opinion.

Airbnbs (and short-term rentals) have classically been a good investment, with returns that were often 2-3 times that of traditional long-term investments. By that standard, even with the downturn, you have a 2-3 year pocket against a long-term investment
Yes, a lot of short-term investors leverage their properties to buy more properties (utilizing a HELOC), but that's not any different than what many standard long-term investors do

This situation is awful for a lot of reasons, and may keep short-term rental numbers depressed for the next year- but a lot of short-term investors already know what a depressed season is like because rentals don't do as well October-March. In that case, they get converted to medium-term rentals, and that can and has been happening here as well
We're a little vulnerable right now, but not making decisions because a once in a lifetime pandemic might show up does not seem like a wise investment strategy to me

It's never been a question of "if" Airbnb would fail, but rather "when" Airbnb would fail. A business built on operating houses illegal hotels has no legs. On top of that you've got all the schmo's out there convincing people to rent 100's of houses and sublease them as Airbnb's....Good God that's a ticking time bomb............And it just went BOOM!

Your argument has zero to do with Covid 19. If airbnb fails now it will have nothing to do with its business structure. The traditional landlords can get messed now the same way as the STRs. But regardless I do not think its gonna fail. Its too beloved and too used by too many travelers worldwide. Maybe some changes but it will work out in the end

2 Votes

@Matt Jones Thank you for this post! I really agree with everything you are saying. Especially point 3 about the news. I listed to Darren Daily and one episode he was discussing how the media needs to intentionally be overly sensational to get us addicted to listening. Why? So they can sell us advertising!! Its all a big business of monetizing OUR brains without us even realizing! That really struck me and I have cut down on talk radio and media tremendously bc of that. In today's day and age especially when everything is politicized and a lot of it is outright fake, you will be much happier turning off the media.

Try it and you will see!!

2 Votes

Originally posted by @Leora Merrell:

I have mixed feelings on this.

1. This is a brand new situation to all of us, Airbnb included. When I did my research and ran numbers before investing in a STR, I certainly did not include pandemic in anything.

2. Airbnb competes with hotels. Hotel chains all offered 100% cancellation, no questions asked. Surely Airbnb had to do the same. I am currently battling with a VRBO reservation I made last September for a family reunion. We are all military with orders not to leave the area we are assigned to before June 30. Of course that is right in the middle of the planned reunion. I offered the owner to keep our deposit and reschedule for next summer. It took a ton of negotiating and honestly begging to get him to agree. But it left a terrible taste in my mouth and made me not even want to stay in his home we reserved. I'd hate for any of my guests to feel this way. I don't want to book on VRBO ever again.

3. I have chosen to list my STR on Airbnb. We all did. No matter what policies we choose, we are at their mercy. I understood that going in. Until I have my own booking platform that I can drive traffic to the way Airbnb does, I have a hard time getting upset when Airbnb is literally not my business. It's a tool I use to rent out my cabin and until I control all the tools, I have to understand that crap is going to happen.

4. Last, (sorry this is long) the number of upset guests had Airbnb allowed their hosts to keep their policies would outnumber upset hosts exponentially. The media coverage and outcry would have been INSANE. They had to choose between two crappy choices. No guests = no platform. Hosts will always be there no matter how upset some get. When vacationing starts again, hosts will come back because the money will be there.

Anyway, I probably don't make any sense. But if another platform comes up, I'll join that too.

You make 100% sense. Airbnb is looking at the larger picture. And they know that you need them a LOT more then they need you. The hosts are not going anywhere, we are will use whatever it is that will fill our places up. We are not "customers" that are always right. Thats just the truth of the matter.

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

This is the problem. You essentially hire AirBnB to market your rental and they start acting like they own it.

All because of a virus with a 99.9% survival rate, but that's for another thread.

That is because unfortunately they do own it. The proof is how scared everyone is of this.

1 Vote

Just for the record, I have a cabin in Sevierville in Sky Harbor. Across the street from the cabin is a neighbor that I am friendly with that lives in the area full time. He sent me a text on Saturday telling me that the mayor has banned all cabin rentals for sure through 4/14 possibly through 4/30 and he even said that the sheriff drove by and wanted to know who was renting! I have guests until tomorrow (tue) but I have blocked the remainder of the month bc of this. Not sure if thats the correct approach but I dont want to anger the local esp bc he is not a youngster and in the vulnerable population

1 Vote

Just got my first COVID-19 cancellation. Cancelled today for a reservation for tom thru Friday. Military folks though. So should I be discounting these dates nicely to try to get refilled or maybe leave them higher as families with no school are looking to escape to the woods?

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Franky Aikens:

The outlook on what’s transpiring, for the most part, is trending one of two ways. Optimistically or pessimistically. Since money is at the root of this conversation, few people with skin in the game are neutral. With so many unknowns you can’t afford to take that stance.

The fact of the matter is, never in history (and please fact check me on this) has there been an event that has had such a massively negative correlating effect on all sectors of industry all at once. This is a different type of fear the world is experiencing. It’s the type that touches everyday life. And it’s being exasperated by unknowns. Unknowns about the virus itself and unknowns about how wide spread it will become and how long it will take to start seeing significant containment, then decreases in cases.

Hence, there are few, if any, verticals of industry that are insulated from this. If you haven't seen much of a negative effect in your STR business yet, it doesn't mean you wont in the near future.

There are no fundamentals to reference that can proof or disprove the viability of any businesses in this environment. People are in survival mode. There is no financial model for survival mode.

I agree with all this. And while I agree that in a typical downturn all Averys points are correct, this is not typical. Bc people are locking themselves at home more from health fear than economic fear. Any place that has many people will get hurt. If Dollywood closes (Like Disney world, Disney land and others) that will scare lots of people. For now I have no cancellations and I hope that will continue. But this can be very serious for everyone. We shall see...

1 Vote

Hi Folks,

I have a cabin in the Smokies, and we have a "no pets" rule. The Airbnb listing says clearly that if you try to sneak in a pet you will lose your security deposit. Well we just got a guest that I can see in the camera has snuck in a small pooch. How do I handle something like that? I dont know anything about the dog and I have not reached out to them about it. My listing is pretty new and I am afraid that if I confront them or leave them a negative review they will leave me a negative review back which will hurt the listing at this point. Despite the fact that they are clearly wrong and broke my house rules and I have video footage to prove it I highly doubt that airbnb will give me much sympathy here. Is there any way to make a claim for this? Any tried and true way fwd here?

I do not have any personal pets so in general I am not sure how much such an animal will ruin things. If they house needs a deep clean after these guests leave is there anyway to make a claim and not risk getting a negative review? Should I just suck it up?

Once on this topic, if someone with a service animal requests to book do I need to allow it? If yes can I charge a higher cleaning fee or is that discrimination?

Any help would be appreciated!

0 Votes

You could put the money into a REIT though and get a 7-10% annual withdrawl. Though I would think that that is somewhat riskier as you dont directly have control over the investment...

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All Forum Posts by: Yitzchok Carmen

Yitzchok Carmen has started 7 posts and replied 53 times.

Post: So What If Airbnb Is Crashing Right Now...

Post: So What If Airbnb Is Crashing Right Now...

Post: What have you learned from COVID-19?

Post: Will a new STR platform rise from Airbnb's COVID Missteps?

Post: Airbnb To Require 24 Hours Between Rentals

Post: Cabins open or closed during Governor order?

Post: Coronavirus STR Data

Post: Coronavirus STR Data

Post: Unauthorized pet in STR

Post: Smokey Mountains current situation on the ground