AirBNB Wear & Tear

Research
1

Hi, everyone!

My husband and I are currently doing the math as well as weighing pros/cons of AirBNB vs lease-based rental on the home we currently live in. We are planning on traveling for a year and are considering AirBNB as a way to supplement our travels and avoid having to move out of our home and find/pay for storage. We did a three-week trial and it actually went really well! There were minor things like spill stains on the original hardwood floors/baseboards/walls, broken glasses, a chair that was broken and the needle to our vintage record player was pulled out. We were able to fix that, though.

Basically, we’ve got quite a few expensive pieces of furniture in our home along with one-of-a-kind vintage pieces that I would really hate to see damaged. They’re sentimental since we bought all of it together after we were married. We realize that general wear and tear on the property and broken items should be expected. All we really want is peace of mind during our travels. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this. Any and all feedback of similar feelings you may have experienced is welcome!

If we’re going into this whole thing with this mentality, do you think it’s a good idea? Just interested to hear opinions!

2

Is there somewhere in the house you can move these more unique items where guests won’t be using them while you are away?

3

I would put in storage items that are precious to you.

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4

We don’t. None of the bedrooms lock or anything like that. We have an outdoor shed we could move things into. During the trial run, we put all off-limit and personal items in the attic and it worked out fine.

5

But obviously, that’s trickier with furniture. Can’t just store that away in the attic. :wink:

6

Who will handle the management and cleaning for you while you’re away? How many of the items fall into this unique category? At least locally, storage companies are practically giving away their space at the moment with all of the competition.

7

We would be using an AirBNB management service. This person is local so they know the area really well and has previously managed their own AirBNB property. They are a very trusted friend. We also have a trusted cleaning service that specializes in AirBNB maintainence.

8

It is pretty easy to add a locking door to a bedroom. I figured out how to do it in my college rental when I lived with partiers!

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9

This is quite true. We were lucky enough that the same manufcaturer/style was available at Lowe’s so the supply closet got a lock in less than 5 minutes.

Turning one bedroom or other room into storage for that interim could save a great deal of trouble with moving these sorts of heavy items and you aren’t paying someone else for space.

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10

That’s certainly what my husband and I plan to do if we ever have the opportunity to work abroad for a year: move all of our stuff into a bedroom, lock the door, and rent the rest of the house out.

I would prefer to just find permanent tenants if I were in the OP’s situation. A house of our size in our city rents for $2500-$3000 a month, and I have a hard time seeing being able to make that much a month on AirBnB, especially once you have to pay the manager. And you have to worry about your stuff getting wrecked. I mean, tenants can wreck your place too, but at least they aren’t wrecking your furniture too.

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11

Very true! The permanent tenant market here is great, too. The pro to going with AirBNB is also that we could come back and have a place to stay or block off dates for when friends/family are passing through.

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12

Not only that, you’re only gambling on one set of people destroying items, as opposed to potentially having a different group every other day.

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13

I wouldn’t call any of those things minor! That’s complete disrespect of your belongings and furniture. I’d pummel a guest who did that (in a review) and I would have taken the damage of the furnishings and flooring to Resolution.