Should I set up a studio unit as Air BnB
October 20, 2015 3:07 PM Subscribe
I have a studio apartment/converted garage that I rent out. Should I put this up as an AirBnB unit?
I've been renting units either as a manager or as a landowner most of my adult life. I pretty much have it down. Currently I have a small studio attached to my home, a converted garage, that I've been renting for several years now.
I live in the Pacific NW in a college town where there are occasional events that demand overflow housing. There's one this summer where people with available bedrooms will be renting them at 2-3x the monthly rate.
I know next to nothing about AirBnB markets. I understand I would have to upgrade the unit so it would be fully tricked out for living there, bed, sheets, tables, chairs, whatever. I would have more tenants numerically, but less total time rented with a higher daily rate. Presumably doing this would be financially advantageous given a higher time commitment of doing turnovers and a larger initial investment over the monthly rental scenario.
How could I educate myself about this so i can make an informed decision whether to proceed with an AirBnB rental? It sounds interesting but then I would be a relative newbie in this type of endeavor. There's also the question of whether I would get enough clientele to support the extra costs involved. My studio rents out pretty easily now and stays occupied, which is a good thing.
Thanks for any tips for how to go about learning more about this.
I've been renting units either as a manager or as a landowner most of my adult life. I pretty much have it down. Currently I have a small studio attached to my home, a converted garage, that I've been renting for several years now.
I live in the Pacific NW in a college town where there are occasional events that demand overflow housing. There's one this summer where people with available bedrooms will be renting them at 2-3x the monthly rate.
I know next to nothing about AirBnB markets. I understand I would have to upgrade the unit so it would be fully tricked out for living there, bed, sheets, tables, chairs, whatever. I would have more tenants numerically, but less total time rented with a higher daily rate. Presumably doing this would be financially advantageous given a higher time commitment of doing turnovers and a larger initial investment over the monthly rental scenario.
How could I educate myself about this so i can make an informed decision whether to proceed with an AirBnB rental? It sounds interesting but then I would be a relative newbie in this type of endeavor. There's also the question of whether I would get enough clientele to support the extra costs involved. My studio rents out pretty easily now and stays occupied, which is a good thing.
Thanks for any tips for how to go about learning more about this.
Research available and comparable AirBnB units in your area to see how much people are typically charging. Work out how much you're willing to spend on "upgrades", and how much time you'd need to have it rented out to make that worthwhile. Don't forget to count your time, or a paid professional's time, to clean and reset the unit after each guest stays.
We have a sort of standalone apartment on the ground floor of our house, and we started by renting it out to a college student, but after she moved out we put it on AirBnB. We make more money this way despite only having it rented out around 50% of the time, and prefer it in some respects because it means we don't have to be tiptoe-ing around our sound-conducting second floor 24/7, but it is more work to clean it, do all the laundry, make sure all the guests are having a good time, interact with the ones who turn out to be a bit high-maintenance and expect more socialization, etc. I mean, you can say on the listing "you're on your own" in terms of interaction with your guests but you inevitably get the one who finds some tiny thing in common with you and decides NOW YOU ARE BEST FRIENDS and wants to hang out. But to me, that's worth it, when I can otherwise block off time we just don't feel like having strangers in our house, or we know we have a busy week and want a weekend where we don't have to worry about anyone else, or when we don't REALLY feel like hosting anyone but you know if they want to pay some ridiculous jacked up price to make it more worthwhile for us, then fine, they can. (You have a lot of control over rates on a daily basis)
You can try putting the listing up ASAP and just put some crazy high rate on (and make it clear it's not yet furnished) to enable you to join a local host group without being likely to get anyone trying to book (or just block the calendar for the next month or two). In the host group you can ask around about what people's experiences have been hosting in your area, when they tend to jack up rates and when bookings tend to fall off, etc. It's a decent sounding board.
posted by olinerd at 7:10 PM on October 20, 2015
We have a sort of standalone apartment on the ground floor of our house, and we started by renting it out to a college student, but after she moved out we put it on AirBnB. We make more money this way despite only having it rented out around 50% of the time, and prefer it in some respects because it means we don't have to be tiptoe-ing around our sound-conducting second floor 24/7, but it is more work to clean it, do all the laundry, make sure all the guests are having a good time, interact with the ones who turn out to be a bit high-maintenance and expect more socialization, etc. I mean, you can say on the listing "you're on your own" in terms of interaction with your guests but you inevitably get the one who finds some tiny thing in common with you and decides NOW YOU ARE BEST FRIENDS and wants to hang out. But to me, that's worth it, when I can otherwise block off time we just don't feel like having strangers in our house, or we know we have a busy week and want a weekend where we don't have to worry about anyone else, or when we don't REALLY feel like hosting anyone but you know if they want to pay some ridiculous jacked up price to make it more worthwhile for us, then fine, they can. (You have a lot of control over rates on a daily basis)
You can try putting the listing up ASAP and just put some crazy high rate on (and make it clear it's not yet furnished) to enable you to join a local host group without being likely to get anyone trying to book (or just block the calendar for the next month or two). In the host group you can ask around about what people's experiences have been hosting in your area, when they tend to jack up rates and when bookings tend to fall off, etc. It's a decent sounding board.
posted by olinerd at 7:10 PM on October 20, 2015
Since you live in a college town, could you possible rent the unit for a 9-10 month term during the school year, then Airbnb it during the summer?
posted by kevinbelt at 7:30 PM on October 20, 2015
posted by kevinbelt at 7:30 PM on October 20, 2015
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Check the AirBnb website to see if anyone else in your neighborhood does this.
posted by mareli at 4:37 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]