Author Topic: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?  (Read 5824 times)

hybrid

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Apologies if this ground has been covered before. We currently own one rental and are considering another one in the not so distant future. Rather than have a renter, I have toyed with the notion of getting a small condo, furnishing it, and renting it out as an Airbnb instead. A nearby set of apartments were converted to condos and typically draws about $600-$650 in rent. Rented out as an Airbnb for $60 a night I could bring in about $1200 if rented for 20 days a month. It is situated close to two large plants (Altria and DuPont) who very likely have people staying for weeks at a time, so I see the possibility of getting the road warrior into a place like this. I would have to pay utilities, Internet, cable, etc. and would estimate my costs to run about $800 a month for a property like this.

Has anyone else gone down this path? Has it worked out for you? What were your biggest challenges along the way?

totoro

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2014, 08:09:34 AM »
Yes, I have a vacation rental that is filled in by airbnb for the first two weeks of July which is often not booked. 

I looked at airbnb for another property in a different area and listed it as a test for one year and tracked reservation requests.  My conclusion was that it would only be filled for the summer months and the rest of the year would have high vacancy.  You could get the same type of info from someone in your area doing short term rentals if you can find them - maybe on biggerpockets?

JayKay

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2014, 03:33:30 PM »
I'm not sure if this is the exact situation, but I tried putting one of our guest rooms on AirBnb.

Within 2 months, we took it down - it was just too much hassle and people were incredibly flaky.

There were about 4 people that expressed interest.  2 were wanting to stay for a couple of weeks at a time, but then backed out with no reason.  Another emailed me at 8am and then cancelled at 9am saying I was not responsive enough.  LOL.  The last was just a lengthy email exchange going over details about the place, then we didn't hear back from them.

Sounds like your area may be a little better for the "road warrior", but I would actively try to weed out the flake-factor somehow. Hope that helps.

CanuckExpat

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2014, 01:49:44 AM »
Here's an interesting link on the topic: http://needwant.com/p/buying-apartment-airbnb/

jb_in_DC

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2014, 07:41:51 AM »
CanuckExpat, you beat me to it!  I immediately thought of that article as soon as I saw OP's question. 

It's intriguing...you would need to find a location with a good combination of excess housing stock and also a steady stream of visitors who are staying for a few days to a week or so.  I don't know much about the Vegas housing market and whether it would still be possible. Maybe it would work in Orlando? New Orleans?

boy_bye

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2014, 08:42:44 AM »
I travel a lot for work, and so do a lot of my colleagues, but we all tend to ask our customers/prospects where we should stay. Lots of times big companies have agreed-on cheaper rates with local hotels, and they tend to know the safest/most convenient locations, too.

So I think if you can get on one of the big company's lists as a preferred provider, then it could work quite well. But if not, I'm not sure that airbnb is where people look for accommodations for business travel...

Do you know anyone at the big plants near you? Maybe they could help you find the right person on the inside to see if the capacity is really there for this to be a good idea.

Nords

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2014, 03:47:31 PM »
Apologies if this ground has been covered before. We currently own one rental and are considering another one in the not so distant future. Rather than have a renter, I have toyed with the notion of getting a small condo, furnishing it, and renting it out as an Airbnb instead. A nearby set of apartments were converted to condos and typically draws about $600-$650 in rent. Rented out as an Airbnb for $60 a night I could bring in about $1200 if rented for 20 days a month. It is situated close to two large plants (Altria and DuPont) who very likely have people staying for weeks at a time, so I see the possibility of getting the road warrior into a place like this. I would have to pay utilities, Internet, cable, etc. and would estimate my costs to run about $800 a month for a property like this.

Has anyone else gone down this path? Has it worked out for you? What were your biggest challenges along the way?
Paula Pant at Afford Anything has been doing this.  She's had problems with cleaners who will show up reliably/promptly for her to turn around the unit:
http://affordanything.com/2014/05/27/the-airbnb-experiment-how-much-did-i-make/

totoro

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2014, 09:56:35 PM »
I can happily report that Airbnb has worked for us.  With Airbnb our rental income has doubled even after hiring cleaners for each stay ($50 cost/stay).  Occupancy rate is 86% so far - and vacation rentals are legal were we are.

malacca

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2014, 08:51:17 AM »
If this is a place that is dedicated to being a rental better to list on VRBO.com.


$349 a year. More people looking for longer stays. More mature audience.

totoro

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Re: Anyone have a property being used as an Airbnb destination?
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2014, 09:25:00 AM »
It is not better for us to list on VRBO alone. 

It is better to list on VRBO for high season and Airbnb for off season.   Costs you nothing to list on Airbnb btw.

In our case we have seven weeks at a high rate through the summer.  We block this out on Airbnb as not available and rent at a very high rate weekly on VRBO. 

The rest of the year it makes much more sense to do a lower-rate three-day minimum rental on Airbnb at less than half the price.  We never get VRBO rentals in the off-season even though we are listed.

Airbnb folks are generally shorter term travellers on business or coming for an event of some sort and they will rent in the off-season.   Our guests have been great.