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Hi, I’m new here. I’m transitioning from renting long term to AirBnB. Per the HOA, there is a 30 day minimum. Right now I’ve got a one month gap between tenants and I’m wondering how to avoid this in the future. I’ve considered only booking next available, since there seems to be plenty of demand, but I’m not sure I should be declining future bookings on the hope something better comes along. I also wonder how to manage that in AirBnB - currently my calendar shows available from June though December so it shows up in searches for longer term, but it means I get a lot of inquires I’d be declining.
I’ve looked at the previous threads on this so just to head off a couple issues: I’m using multiple platforms and most of my inquires are coming through AirBnB, though it’s the most expensive for the renters and biggest payout for me. I’m also requiring a lease, ID, background checks as with longer term since 30+ days have tenants rights. So far my renters are: corporate, people relocating and looking for a place while they house hunt, grandparents visiting for new babies.
Nov-April is slow rental-wise for me so I do mostly 30+night rentals.
I’m Curious-does your HOA property management company do the background checks? For Rentals greater than 30 days, mine will for a minimal fee; $8, which is much cheaper than the $35 charged by Zillow. The Property management company does it as a service for Landlords & it benefits the community.
A little over a year ago Zillow changed to charging $9/week for its rental postings. The first one may be free for maybe 2 weeks(?). You may wish to try it and see if it helps you fill in a gap.
Any relocation will rarely need exactly 30 night rentals or exactly calendar month rentals (e.g. 3/1-4/1). Consider allowing mid-month start dates and/or writing your leases to allow extensions if the property is available.
Gaps are going to happen. I use those for maintenance and personal use of the condo.
Craigslist is tricky but this year I’ve gotten a couple of good 30 day rentals to fill in between Airbnb booked rentals.
Airbnb has a last minute booking automatic discount option. A discounted rental may be better than no rental for those 30 days.
I second this. Some folks are uncomfortable with Craigslist but I’ve done well on there. I mitigate risk by referring anyone from Craigslist to my Zillow listing where they will have to do the background and credit check. Of course, some of them I never hear from again, but that is okay with me. For the last year, I’ve gotten half of my mid-term tenants from Craigslist.
The Zillow background/credit check cost the potential tenant $35 (or $39?) but they only pay once for as many as they need for 30 days so for me, it seems fair enough.
I also have it posted on Zillow. I get inquires daily through AirBnB and maybe weekly through Zillow. The Zillow inquiries are almost always people who want to rent short term at long term rates, so then they ghost. I changed that recently so it rent full month only because people where balking at the higher rental rate for short term. Inquiries through Airbnb , on the other hand, think it’s a great deal - a downtown apartment for the price of a hotel! - even though it’s 50% more to go through AirBnB then rent it from me directly and pay a refundable deposit. My conclusion is that my place is a better fit for people who are using AirBnB.
I was booking as requests came in , but now I have a 33 day window - Mid March to Mid April - which I can’t fill, I’m just declining requests for monthly starting in April. I don’t want to do the same thing over the summer when my rates are higher. I just opened mid May to August for booking and have received a couple inquires for August… wondering if I should book sequentially only, since it’s much easier to get a book with open end dates than hoping someone will come along who wants 30 days within the 31 day window I have available.
Oh 1 more thing, I use DocuSign for my lease agreements. $120 a year but because of ease of getting the lease to the tenant, getting signatures, and access/recordkeeping and speed of processing, it is worth the investment
It all depends on who your market is. Vacationers - calendar month only may work.
Relocations or house hunters - can’t (or maybe won’t) do calendar month only.
Either way, you will have occasional gaps.
To reduce my gaps, my check-in / Check-outs are based on condo availability and rentals over 28 nights are considered long term. For example I have a current 3/1-4/1 rental. Next is 4/15-5/23.
Food for thought, depending on your market you can’t compare your pricing to hotels. What are other Airbnb & vrbo rentals actually getting a 30 day rental?
As you look at their pricing, are they really getting it? Several of my neighbors are listed on Airbnb & VRBO at $3,000-$5,000 a month in the off season. They are empty. The ones that rent tend to be $1,500-$2,000.
I agree with @georgygirlofairbnb. We did well with Furnished Finders, the winter of 2019-2020. We easily found a travel nurse who was a great three-month tenant. We had her sign a lease. All went well.
I’ve read that others have had more problems with travel nurses since then (wanting discounts, for example).
Since winters tend to be slower for us with Airbnb, we might consider Furnished Finders again. We’d just be careful about background check, references, deposit, lease, etc. And of course that wouldn’t be through Airbnb.
One nice thing about renting to travel nurses is that they often are on the same schedule for new assignments. As one leaves, you might already have another one lined up to start a few days later.
Can’t you say that the stay that happens within that window is 30 days, even if the only show up in part of it? If you find someone who will be there for a few weeks, who is to say they had the space for the entire time but vacated early?
I technically have to provide the lease to the HOA, so can’t cheat much on the 30 days. I did change the minimum on Airbnb to 28 days since most seem to be looking for a month at a time so there’s a little more wiggle room.
I elected to book sequential stays only since I have a pretty good location, and I’m now fully booked through the end of August!
Hi Sarah. I’m new here and trying to set up a property for 30-day minimum stays. This is my issue - how to minimize gaps. How do you set up your bookings as sequential stays only?
I only use long stay 28+ days. But lately I didn’t have any requests for the last 2.5 month. Not sure what is the reason. I am in Nashville and priced very low. 30% than it was before.
Also use Zillow for rent.
Any suggestions?
I think it depends on your market. I use furnished finder and Zillow to advertise, most of my tenants are 3 month contracts, traveling medical professionals through FF, though I just got one through Zillow that’s 6 mo. But definitely far fewer inquiries than a year ago. Airbnb and vrbo were not great platforms for me - it’s much more expensive for tenants , they’re looking for shorter stays, and the platforms have no support for long term rentals so I have to do all the landlord stuff anyway. I wonder if long term furnished is not a good fit for a discount place. My place is a large apartment with amenities, nicely furnished and equipped, in a walkable downtown area. I charge market rent plus about 500 a month which includes all utilities. I allow pets. Think about who your target market is and what they’re looking for.
If you post your listing You can request feedback.
Sarah, thanks a lot for your response.
There are so many traveling professionals on FF. Which one you use? I just recently registered there but no movement at all. I am thinking now contact realtor for help. But the realtor fees is expensive. And I do like airbnb because of the support and not worry about get payment.
Best regards,
BB
