Renting bedrooms 30+ days on AirBnB

[Joseph Weisenbloom]

I’ve been tinkering with the correct approach to renting bedrooms in Austin. First I tried to rent unfurnished rooms on a year lease but didn’t get much interest. I then furnished the rooms and offered shorter term leases and got a little more interest but no serious prospects. I have been advertising on craigslist, facebook marketplace, zillow and trulia.

A few days ago I decided to give AirBnB a try with minimum stay set at 30+ days. Within 24 hours I booked the 2 rooms for April at prices higher than anticipated (smart pricing feature).

Anyone out there rent bedrooms for 30+ days on AirBnB? Any downsides I should be aware of? I know that this is outside of the regulations of what the city of Austin considers a short term rental which is less than 30 days.

Im concerned that it might be foolish to rent 30+ days without a traditional deposit and lease. On the other hand this model could be the best of both worlds, higher monthly premium but lower hassle of turnover.

Thoughts?

[Kristin Caras]

@Joseph Weisenbloom that's great that you have had such high demand. I believe Airbnb gives you the option to contact people before approving them, so do as much screening as you can that way beforehand. I would think that if any issues arose/damage to the property you could contact AirBnB and work through them? Doesn't really matter if it's 30 days or 1 day, if you get someone in there who does some damage...something to look into if you're interested in going down the Airbnb path. Maybe even add some type of clause to your information section so people have to agree to it before staying with you.