Should I rent it anyways?

I have an entire mother in law suite that I am about to put on airbnb. However, I just had some minor/moderate wall damage from a leak on a wall. The damage isn’t bad, but the wallpaper has bubbled up a good bit. I have fixed the source of the leak, and the apartment is ready to rent other than this. Can I rent this apartment if I am up front about the problem and I include pictures, etc? Or, rather, how much will it hurt me if I do this? I am a new airbnb host, btw. Thanks for any advice.

I stayed in an Airbnb where there had been a leak and the host had fixed it but there was damage to the drywall and she explained to me that they had to wait for everything to dry well before they could repair it. It was totally ok with us. Just be upfront and include a picture in your listing until it is repaired.

1 Like

Yes, disclose issues and under promise, over deliver. Our mother in law apartment is decorated very nicely and clean, and yet we have the ugliest counter top that’s badly joined in the middle and an OLD shower. We’re saving the Air profits to fix these issues. They’re fully disclosed and shown in the pictures and I charge at the bottom of the scale for similar listings in my area. I’ve gotten 70% 5 stars and 30% 4 stars on cleanliness and I’m thrilled with that, because there’s only so much you can do with rust spots on a cast iron tub that you want to replace ASAP.

But, despite that I have awesome reviews and overall 90% 5 star ratings, so as soon as the ugly things are fixed and I’ve got beautiful pictures in their place my prices will go up!

2 Likes

I had bare damaged plaster for 2 of the 3.5 months in the stairwell and hallways and no one seemed to care. So a little wet patch is nothing.

I’ve skimmed the walls and painted now though.

2 Likes

They are not ugly they have character or wabi sabi as the Japanese say!

1 Like

I wish. When we redo the spots, we’re definitely making them characteristic for the age of the building, just new and clean and easier to maintain. I can’t wait to redo the bathroom in white subway tile with accent pieces!

1 Like

For the prices they pay, they should hardly be expecting perfect!

1 Like

I took down a wardrobe that was built in and there was some old wallpaper exposed after we put in a brand new wooden wardrobe. It was from your hand to your elbow in distance and it was behind a door. Had this German one, go nuts when she saw it, I offered her another room, but she wanted to stay in that one as it is the biggest room overlooking a garden. She was an instant book on the day she arrived and I explained, the wardrobe was removed the day before. The day she left it was fixed up, but it showed me how petty some people are, every other guest has given us 5 star status but she gave me 3 stars because of the tiny bit of exposed wallpaper. My advice, sort it out