Air bnb or traditional rental

[Karla Castro]

Hi - I am completely new to this. (other than the buying and selling of my own homes) I want to go the old school route at first of buying to rent out.  Is it better to find a property for long term rentals or air bnb type rentals?  Also, how can you find out what the average rental income would be for a property?  Is there a way to know if a specific area is good for air bnb?

Thanks

[Emily Lange]

Short vs long term depends on the area. If it’s touristy short term would probably thrive. But be careful of the slow season if there is one.

A good way to go about it is find a home that the numbers work for long term and then you always have to option to short term-you’d then make even more. 

There’s pros and cons to both. Long term you have less turn over, you’re not cleaning, you’re not a hospitality centered business. Your property will get more wear because the home is being lived in full time. Less expenses usually.

Short term generally makes more money, but higher expenses because you pay all the utilities,and fees for air bnb or any platform you use. 
less wear on property, larger vacancy rate, hospitality centered and lots of parts moving to get guests in, clean property and set up for next guest, plus get a good review. 

As for average rent try rentometer. Also search rental listings on Zillow and see what the going rate is for the size house you want. A general metric is the property should rent for 1% of purchase price of house. 
so $200,000 purchase price should rent for $2000 and if it’s not CLOSE to that it probably won’t cash flow. Then take those numbers and compare against going rates in that market. Just a VERY general metric to figure out numbers.