Giving it up, with some regret

A special home will sell for a special price to a special buyer, but you may need to wait especially long for one of those to come along. Up to some point, maintenance, restoration, and upgrades pay financial dividends, but beyond that point, their value is going to be mostly non-financial and mostly for the residents that devote the loving attention and investment required.

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I gave it up in April and don’t miss it. I found that with COVID even if I booked I was getting sketchy guests and no support from Airbnb. I did have a “roommate” in the space for a while and realized that it’s some much less stress. It also allowed me to not have to be on call all the time and cleaning the space. I’m downsizing but I’m looking at spaces with in-laws apt. and may go the “roommate” option again without having people in my space. Plus I don’t have to have expensive STR insurance. I enjoyed it when I did it for the last 4 years but I don’t think I have the patience to do it again. Good luck.

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I’ve noted that I’m much less patient now with the Airbnb as well. It’s just the general stress that we are all under I’m sure. I’m averaging 2 bookings every 10 days but am getting more 2 and 3 day stays. I keep experimenting with settings and prices trying to find my comfort zone.

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I had the opposite experience. When I put my Canadian house on the market back in 2010, which was a hundred year old house, which I had upgraded and reno-ed, but was still an old, eclectic house that needed a new roof, the real estate agent told me I’d never get what I wanted her to list it for. She just couldn’t see past the fact that it wasn’t some automatic, generic box. The walls inside were painted really nice colors, and she told me I should paint it all white.

But I knew that the house was unique- there just weren’t many of those old houses left. And that it was going to appeal to someone who didn’t want some generic box.
So I insisted on it being listed at $20,000 more than she told me I’d be “lucky to get”.

Five days after listing it, she held an open house. The very first people who came to see it said they’d been looking for a house like that for 2 years and put in a offer right then and there- $10,000 lower than the asking price. We met in the middle, so I walked away with $15,000 more than what the agent wanted to list it at.

And as far as repainting the whole inside white (which I had no intention of doing) - the first thing the buyers said when they walked in was “We love the colors!”

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I have a collection of 100 year + homes and at least once a month I have enquiries at my door, through the letterbox or some agent trying to reach me with a possible will you sell inquiry.

Well, I don’t doubt your anecdote, and sometimes you do find that special buyer right off the bat, but IME, usually it’s a long wait, often longer than the sellers are willing to accept.

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I used to look out the window to see some real estate agent, actually on my front walkway taking photos of my house and making notes on a clipboard. I’d come to the door and say “Can I help you?”

“Oh, this is such a lovely older home- there aren’t many of these left, would you be interested in selling?”

“You’re trespassing.”

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I am a little blunter than that and I now have a reputation for being “unapproachable” among the agents…:joy:

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WIsh I’d see someone like that on my front lawn!

Had an agent bluntly say that he had someone who was prepared to offer me something over $600K for my house. My response was for me to be prepared to sell my home, his buyer would need to put a 1 in front of the 6 and then we might have a conversation!

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I think you might have missed the point the OP was trying to make. It’s the market that determines the price if you want to get booked, and airbnb adjusts their price tips according to the market. I’m in the same boat as the OP. I’ve been doing airbnb for 8 years and when I first started I could get way more per night than I can now. It seems everyone in my area (close to Yellowstone Park) who has a spare broom closet that a bed can fit in, has listed it on airbnb. I’m still hosting and this year has been a good year for me with everything considered, but my prices have gone down every year. If this trend continues, I’ll give it up too. Won’t be worth the trouble.

Curiously, we got an un-requested valuation of our rambling, rattly, in places still dilapidated old building yesterday.

Anywhere between €489,000 and €550,000. As I said to my OH, if anyone is so fucking stupid as to pay that, then we would for sure take the money and run. Maybe :smile:

After almost forty years of working with property, I know there are two prices. What a person wants for a property, and what a person will pay for a property. Rarely are the two close to each other!

Nuff said…

JF

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Yes - but a young know it all agent, who had no idea who he was dealing with…

With corona virus, everyone here is tied down to their home, like it or not. Fortunately our place is big enough to enable social distancing…

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I am in the same frame of mind as you.
We have a similar setup and have had a good 4 years.
Having been in lockdown really made us appreciate our home and garden and PRIVACY!!!
we have a new host near us who’s property is amazing…right on the sea shore and who’s price is the same as us and his bookings are going crazy. We just cant compete.
What’s also been nice is being able to have our grandchildren here without areas of our home being out of bounds.
I understand there are many hosts who rely on the £’s but this pandemic has shown we cant rely on it.
I wish you luck in whatever you do but you will absolutely enjoy the peace!!

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I know what you’re going through, as we have had a similar experience. We have been superhosts for 6 years now, without any lapse. The first few years were pure joy as we made money to supplement our retirement income, and got to know many wonderful guests. A few years ago we started seeing many more listings in our area…I have no problem with competition, as long as it is honest. Many new listings were rather misleading - i.e. stating the nightly rate as $25 when they had a minimum of 4 guests required, so essentially the nightly rate was really $100. And other types of “bait and switch” deals were around in other listings too. I found this to be not only annoying, but also did not put hosts in a positive light. I have always prided myself as a host who consistently underpromised and overdelivered. To your point of Airbnb always suggesting lower prices, yes…it’s been a real thorn in my side. First of all, the majority of hosts within a 300 mile radius of us do not offer complimentary hot breakfasts, dinners in winter time, boat rides up our lake, free use of kayaks, appetizers and wine. When you add all of these amenities up, we should probably be charging twice what we are now, not less. I understand that the Airbnb pricing suggestions are automatic, and no human being is actually looking at our listing to see what we include for guests. None the less, it is still annoying to me. Since the pandemic, we had to close up for months, and are now opening slowly. We are only open 2 weekends a month and even at that we feel nervous when we get a booking - we are over 70 and have underlying health issues. We live in the same house that guests rent a room in, so it is hard to socially distance. I have had to significantly increase our rates to cover extra effort on my part to disinfect a room before and after a guest leaves. Even with the higher rates, we have lots of inquiries, and would probably have more bookings if we wanted them, but at this point, we really don’t. So Airbnb can keep sending messages to lower our rates, and I will continue to ignore them.

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You are sooo right about Airbnb and their relentless attempts to exert downward pricing pressure. Market rent for my property is $3,000 per month so that is $100 per day. I have both Air bnb and prospective renters lobbying me for discounts. I respond this is Only market rent. (If you were a tenant then you would be paying even more for utilities and Verizon). I rent them my whole house, offer contact free check in, opportunity to quarantine, enhanced cleaning but it’s never enough. Why are folks not satisfied with what I have for them. Oh I forgot, no pets so they always want to bring some dog but not clean up after dog. So very annoying.

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I’d be tempted to at least try at your preferred price point. You never know; you might keep booking at the same level you have been. However, it sounds like the work and stress have become too much. Best to you.

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I feel like I post this same response way too often. AirBnB is not exerting downward pressure on you regarding your rates. They are not emailing you suggesting you lower your rates. When you signed up for AirBnB you were automatically opted in for their bot mailings and push notifications. If they bother you, or make you feel pressured, simply turn them off. Not your booking notifications, just the marketing notifications. Simple.

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I have so many strategies on making additional revenue with packages, addons and also a direct booking platform off Airbnb. Relying on Airbnb to do the marketing means that you are continually on a roulette wheel and the price pressure downwards.

But I see Airbnb as one of the marketing channels and I have created a full business using multiple other channels and revenue streams.

But it isn’t for everybody. It is a full time job and requires me to have a brand, build relationsships with realtors, relocation people and insurance companies to bring in direct bookings. Plus I direct market to past guests who were awesome and I want them to come back.

If you are looking for passive income then this isn’t the job for you. That is fine - not everybody is built for this. I can name dozens of jobs that I am not built for. Hospitality burnout is real.

Have you considered working with a local co-host who is motivated to really monetise your asset? Sure you will not make as much but you will not be involved on a day to day basis.

You already have it set up - so hire somebody to do the branding, marketing and guest management.

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