You Can Now Find Short-Term Rentals For Sale Easier With AirDNA—Here’s How Investors Can Use It

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If you’ve been on the hunt for your next short-term rental investment, there’s a new AirDNA tool at your disposal.

The short-term rental analytics platform has been on a tear lately, releasing several new features that real estate investors might find valuable. Chief among them? An STR-specific MLS search, a tool lets you browse nationwide MLS listings with short-term rental potential front of mind. 

Are you looking for a new STR investment? Here’s what you need to know about AirDNA’s new feature.

Search For Properties With Short-Term Rental Potential

AIrDNA’s new search tool basically takes MLS listings and gives them an STR slant. You can browse listings across the 99 markets AirDNA tracks, which range from coastal spots like San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Bradenton Beach, Florida, to big cities, popular suburbs, and mountain towns, among other options.

Within each city, you can view for-sale properties that AirDNA has flagged as a potential short-term rental investment. For each of those listings, you can see stats like projected revenue, occupancy rate, and the expected daily rate you’d be able to charge for the home. 

You can even see charts that track projected revenue over the next year or compare the listing to other similar short-term rental properties in the area. There’s also a heat map that lets you view the property in relation to other STRs in the area—getting an idea of how saturated the market is in any given neighborhood. It can also help you decide if a property is even a viable option, given local ordinances.

“Seeing for-sale properties mapped alongside known STRs is particularly helpful in locations with regulations that require a certain distance between short-term rentals,” AirDNA said in a press release. “If you see an active STR close to the property you’re evaluating, you know that property isn’t a viable investment before spending your valuable time diving deep into due diligence. Or worse, buying the home before you realize you can’t use it as a short-term rental investment property.”

Each listing also includes the basic MLS data—details like square footage, bedroom/bathroom numbers, and the number of days the home’s been on the market.

It Comes at a Cost

AirDNA’s new tool doesn’t come for free, unfortunately. While you can view listings as a free user, if you want to see the STR-specific stats, such as projected revenue, occupancy, daily rate, and comparison to other properties, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher-level membership, which ranges from $15 to $1,199 per month, depending on which features you want to access.

Also, keep in mind that AirDNA isn’t the only platform to offer rental-related listings. Mashvisor does as well—offering projected ROIs for both Airbnb and traditional rental models—and there are also sites that offer turnkey STR properties for purchase, like Revnest and Vacasa. You’ll want to compare all your options before deciding how to proceed with your investment.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.