How to find Apartments suitable to run an AB&B?

Hello All,

New here so please bear with my simpleton questions

I currently have some capital saved up and live at home (where space is limited by siblibgs) so i not only want to move out but also find a place where i can run an airbnb business out of.

How can i find Apartments suitable to run an AB&B business out of?
Why would a building owner allow me to AB&B if i we’re to disclose it and he we’re to allow it?

Not sure what you mean by building owner … Won’t you be the owner?

I am looking to rent a property to live in as well as Airbnb another room. So i wouldn’t be the owner of the building

It would depend on your lease and where you live but mostly it’s not allowed.

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Why would you need approval from a building manager to rent a place out. If you own it and have approval from your mortgage provider (if applicable ) then it should be fine…

this would be a rental property not ownership

Oh I missread. Yeah you will find it very hard to sublet someone elses property legally.

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Liability is the big issue here. You are placing quite the additional liability on the owner by running a commercial enterprise out of the residential dwelling.

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If you owned the place, in NYC you need co-op or condo board approval to run a short term rental - even if you live on premise - which you won’t get. For which I am grateful. I am actually fighting to rid our NYC building of Airbnb.

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It’s a big fat no here in the U.K. And probably else where like the states. It’s called subletting. Just be careful if your living there and airing a spare room you may be able to get away with it I the landlord isn’t really arpund much.

@segagenesis
Don’t know where you live but I would recommend just getting a roommate and save up your money to buy something. Here in NYC so far you can Airbnb a room in your home if it’s a single or two family home and you are present on the premises. Multiple dwellings 4 fam or more are not legal Airbnb rentals even if you own the building. Every state, county, locality, city has different rules so it’s pretty confusing and difficult to answer you. And as catskillsgirl points out, condos and coops are on to this and will fine you if you break the rules.

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And let me add that ABB hosting is exploding, I think much faster than ABB booking. So if you are counting on the income, don’t. Unlike having a room mate with a set dependable monthly inflow, you have little control over how many bookings you get on ABB. And if you rent on air for more than a month that person gains tenent’s rights and it’s difficult to get them out of your place if things go bad. You can google examples of where this had happened and it’s not pretty.

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@KKC Solid and timely advice. Frankly, I would think twice before starting this venture now. Most markets are saturated.

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Unless you are in a hot hot area - I agree with the above, the market is saturated. Also - you need to clear this with your landlord BEFORE you rent the apartment. If you end up buying, most condo buildings do not allow vacation rentals and/or are in the process of modifying the condo doc’s to prohibit short term transient vacation rentals.

Plenty of good advice above from everyone. Another thing potential hosts have to consider, especially if people are coming into their own home, is that it can be too stressful for some people to be an ‘on duty’ host - being nice to guests all the time, fixing their problems, dealing with their complaints, coping with maintenance issues and breakages, ensuring that guests don’t disturb the neighbours in any way - and many more issues.

All these things, in addition to keeping the place immaculate at all times, do need to be done to avoid bad reviews. One mediocre review once in a while won’t hurt but get a few not-so-good reviews and your business has gone kaput.

Agree with all the advice here. If you do it on the sly, you could get evicted. Hosting is hard work. Not easy money as some would have you believe.

It’s not steady income either. I’m in a resort area and the seasonal nature of AirBnB creates months of “dead zone.” If I were you, I’d keep saving, buy your own place and later on, if Airbnb is feasible, you could try it. To make finding a rental and putting it on Air as your business model is just not smart.

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Like with every make-quick-money schemes, by the time one hears of it, it is too late.

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True!!! Air is the Amway of STR. Like I say now, everyone has an Airbnb, just like everyone has a gmail account. :smile:

@konacoconutz I’m not trying to be combative, I’m just wondering why you keep saying everyone has an airbnb and it’s ubiquitous, etc when that is not what the data and surveys show. I believe it’s half of Americans have heard of ABB and 17% have used it. I think host supply is outstripping guest demand but there is still a lot of room for growth.

No offense taken… Of course I am generalizing and every area is unique.

I guess it’s just the difference between when I first started in 2010 and now. No one had heard of it. I mean NO ONE. And now look at how popular it is now. It’s a household name.

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