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Firstly, yikes at mortgaging a house just to AirBnb it.
I bought my AirBnb cottage, cash…I found the lowest price decent house I could afford in an area where there’s year round tourism, and even I don’t make a profit some months.
Secondly, you do not need a property manager for one rental house! Learn how to do it yourself. Mine is 3 hrs away and I manage it all by myself, with a few emergency people nearby. You might need to get cleaners that charge a bit more and CARE a bit more (I pay about $125 per cleaning but they’re awesome, check everything including lightbulbs, the hot tub, they do the laundry, and are super communicative and responsive) I raised my cleaning rates because of them and I also raised my overall rates, my minimum # of nights, and things have been really good.
Sometimes managing can be a pain but there’s a lot you can do to make it easier, and when I realize I’m making $1000+ / month just to answer some bookings & messages and schedule cleanings I realize it’s not so bad. Send pre-made messages for different things. Directions. List of restaurants & things to do. Make a detailed guidebook & put up laminated signs around the house with instructions. You get to the point where you can do most of the property mgmt in your sleep.
I have to disagree. Sure, it might be a turn off if it sounds like a corporation wrote it, but there’s a huge difference in a slick looking listing (with nice photos) versus someone who walked around their dark house with their cell phone. Long before I was a host, homes with nicer photos were more attractive to me. That said, I think you can take nice photos with a cell phone and don’t necessarily need a professional. Similar to real estate, it gets people to book in the first place and likely allows you to charge more and still get bookings. I think ABB figured this out themselves and launched the Plus program (which includes professional photography).
Come on, she didn’t say she wandered round with a ten year old Nokia. If you’re going to disagree with someone, don’t take what they said out of context.
I agree with @jaquo, however it was a bit irritating that a recent guest marked us down on accuracy, because she felt the place was soooo much better than the images suggested.
I don’t know how I took it out of context. I disagree with “AirBNB listings shouldn’t look slick or professional”. But, I do think you can have a slick looking listing with nice non-professional photos.
I’m concerned that this dynamic is changing rapidly here in the States at least, …
What worries me (a lot) is that unfunded pension liabilities for retired public employees are going to lead to whacking great increases in property taxes. This seems to be happening in our U.S. states of Illinois, Connecticut, California, etc. I’m looking at charts showing where the problem is most dire, and least. And also considering abandoning home ownership in lieu of whatever alternatives present themselves, as I see a big big squeeze coming down the pike.
On top of this Stateside is unfunded CITY liabilities, which in my case, have me thinking it is time to vamos at top speed.
Would be interested if others have observations on this and if it also pertains to the U.K.
@Liface2; why not continue using the cleaners and handyman that your friend/property manager has been using? By the way, with all due respect, I would revisit your “friendship” with someone who has been happy to take your money knowing that you were overpaying him…
I must confess, that I have not read this whole string. Sounds like you’ve received a lot of good feed back and are rethinking things. Not sure if anyone touched on this, but one other consideration is that some of your improvements and some of the furniture may also fit into a separate balance sheet category from the “expense” list. While true, that a bed is an expense, it is not a “supply” item like soap that is used up quickly. It has a long life and the cost should be spread over the time that you are renting. For a simple example, let’s say that it cost $1500 for a bed and the life expectancy of that bed is 7-years. Then the cost or expense of that bed, would be spread out over 7-years, which would be $214/year. Same idea for tables and chairs, pots and pans. They have a cost and a life expectancy, so their cost should be spread over a period of time that is appropriate for those times.
Improvements to the house, should considered as part of your investment. For example, if you remodeled the kitchen, that is part of your investment and would not be categorized as an expense.
I also checked out your pricing. There was a weekend open it July, so I tried setting for 2 people up to 6 and it didn’t seem to change the price on your place, while some of the others in the area did increase as I added or reduced the number of guests. You might consider adding fee for additional guests after 4 - to $10/per person. Just a thought.
Finally, let me say that I have found running an Airbnb isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of business venture. I am constantly checking my prices vs. comps in the area and making pricing adjustments to keep pricing competitive and attractive and I’ve been doing this for over 5-years, with increased revenues year over year. I do not rely on Airbnb’s suggested pricing. While it is a good gauge, of what is currently happening in the market, there is no formula, website, or program that really knows your place and how it compares to the other places out there like you do. It is also different from places that are at vacation spots in the mountains or by the beach, than it is for those in or near a big city where people go for work or play. Whether or not you live in your place, are across the street, or across the country, may also be factors, because if you are not there, no one has the same dedication to making the place a success as you do. Just my 2-cents.
Constantly adjusting prices is a waste of my time. Use pricelabs, wheelhouse, beyond pricing, etc to do the heavy lifting. Some people occasionally tweak those due to local events.
If that works for you, that’s great! It didn’t for me. I found that I was loosing out on revenue because the prices weren’t adjusting properly. I also dislike paying for something that I can do just as well or even better. As far as I am concerned, it’s just another way for someone to put their hand in my pocket. I don’t check prices everyday - just when I need to, or as seasons change… or the mood strikes. And I enjoy the time looking at other Airbnbs - makes it fun for me. I am also the cleaner and handy-woman. Once the waterheater stopped working. Turned out to be the thermocouple. I had a house full of guests, and I replaced it myself (the thermocouple - not the whole waterheater, although I could have done that myself too).
Well, let’s look at that sensibly. (I don’t think anyone adjusts prices constantly).
We have a particular local event that means that I can more than double our nightly rate. For that period, I also need a five night minimum. To change the prices, and the minimum, within Airbnb might take me what? Five minutes? Ten, even?
By doing so, I up the price of the rental for $200 per night for five nights. That means that for my five minutes work, I’ve gained $1000.
Now that to me equals $12,000 per hour - not a bad hourly rate.
Ditto! I had to repair my A/C (luckily I was told possible fixes for free since I am a part of the Energy Wise program where they shut off the A/C for 4 hours 2 days a year in exchange for a $25 annual credit) while guests were here last weekend and had to get someone to fix a broken pipe the day my next set of guests arrived on Thursday!
It was the first time I had so many guests and so close together in my private room at my farm house. And it was while I had a month long booking at my whole house rental where I installed my own sod in the side yard a few weeks ago.
Most don’t but I do it daily (nightly actually). I raise the next two days $10 each at all of my listings and the one after that I raise $5. At least half of my bookings are same day and about 1/4 are within the 3 day window of my raised prices.
I also raise prices like that the 3 days before and after all bookings. Additionally I add at least $5 to my private room listing at my farm any days that I also have dogs being boarded at my house, sometimes more if it is not one of my regular boarders or if it is a particularly loud dog that I will need to work more to keep quiet.
