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How long did it take for you to get your hosting going full steam? This question is specifically for homeowners to purchased an investment property or who had a second property that wanted to rent and decided to go STR vs. LTR.
I have just purchased a rental property with the idea of keeping it as a holiday rental, but my lease will be up in 6 months and I might need to move in the rental unit (rental prices are spiking in my area right now), so I am unsure on the amount of effort to put in STR if I cannot get a quick return.
Our rental wasn’t purchased specifically as a STR property (it had been a long term rental previously) but we found that the rental was booked for several months as soon as it was listed on Airbnb.
I suspect that the new host boost helped considerably.
I’ve published my listing on AirBnB about 3-4 weeks ago - I didn’t want to advertise it sooner as I was still in the purchasing phase. Now that the purchase has been completed I still find myself unbooked (except for two guests who booked with the previous owners). I have lowered my price considerably, especially for the 11 vacant nights later this month. It’s a steal, really, but I am hungry for reviews and I’d like to make some improvement to the new place, so I need the cash.
However, no matter how low I put my price, I get no inquiry and no booking. I am also advertising on expat groups, but this is no place to come on a short notice - most people plan their holiday in Buenos Aires months in advance.
As @Helsi says, it would be helpful to post your listing here. Then people can offer suggestions. And dropping prices isn’t necessarily a good idea. If people aren’t seeing your listing, for example, then dropping your price may not help. Though it seems to be what Airbnb wants you to do. I suppose it’s understandable if you have no reviews, however.
We had a photographer booked to take some pro shots but the only available day had bad weather, so we had to call it off and now the property is occupied.
Very nice place – I’ve rented small studio units before in your neighborhood and yours looks very nice – I love all the windows and light. One issue you will deal with is competition. When I stayed in BA, I recall there were hundreds of units to choose from. My apt rental in Chicago does very well in the Spring and Summer but in the slow season (Nov-Feb) there are thousands of apartments in my city and many of them go vacant, including my own. I had zero new bookings during Dec and Jan because I didn’t lower my rent by 50%. Some nearby apartments did lower rents by 50% and were still only occasionally booked during the slow season so you need to figure out if you will make enough during high season to cover your slow periods. If you have no use for a vacant apt in the slow periods (my friends and family visit during these times) then LTR is likely a safer option.
If you know BsAs, then I can add some considerations:
there are a lot of properties bought by foreigners as investments when the prices were low and the dollar was very strong. Hence, they are up to for rent 365 days a year, except when the owners come on holiday here. Even if the rent is low, it is better than nothing.
inflation is sky-rocketing and right now Argentina is as expensive as Europe and definitely less attractive than it was before. A lot of digital nomads, freelancers, and retirees who moved here because of the cheap cost of living are leaving.
they are building like crazy in the area, a lot of condos have a appeared. Despite regulations to preserve the historic feel of Palermo, there are many construction sites all over the places. A cheap and smaller place is easier to rent (and clean) than mine.
According to Beyond Pricing we are still in high season, and May-June will be low season. However, the weather will be nice and warm for more months to come.
There are more tourists and less long term expats. A tourist comes here for 7 to 21 days to explore the city. Nobody come here last second, so I don’t think I’ll ever get a booking for the next day.
This brings be to the point about price recommendations - I am using Beyond Pricing as it is the only dynamic pricing tool available for Buenos Aires to date, but I think it doesn’t take into account point 5) above.
If leases keep increasing with inflation and the peso/dollar exchange remains the same, moving into another LTR leasing might be VERY expensive, hence we’d occupy the unit ourselves until things normalize. I am trying to make some money off the property during these months.
