AirBNB Arbitrage and Make Millions! (Not)

[Jane S.]

A fellow contacted me asking if the rental I listed was in a gated community or had 24 hour surveillance. I was curious so called him. He asked if I was familiar with “vacation renting”. So I knew what he was talking about. I guess he hadnt heard of AirBNB.

He lives in CA but said he travels all over. He talked non stop in a thick accent and had NO listening skills. But basically he wanted to rent my property and then offer it as STR to whoever.

I said I didn't want it to be trashed (again) and he talked endlessly about how he puts up cameras, other security, knows exactly who is going in & out, cleaners are the finest, etc. Ad nauseam.

When i got the chance I asked him to talk less and listen more and then he got really stroppy and said “Don't ever tell me to talk less!” Has probably heard it before.

He hadn't even seen the ad so I asked him if he ever heard of the sales expression, seeing when you throw it, how much s**t sticks to the wall. He did shut up after that for a few seconds anyway. Couldn't believe a woman used a swear!

I got tired of his shtick and said goodbye but I was curious about how much he charges for a night. What really scared me is he said there would be families with kids. OMG! AND dogs …

There was a similar call from a company in Maryland that finds rentals for section 8 tenants that also was kinda scary. I've met with the Housing folks here in my city, and I know how much cash I would lose on section 8 since the printed rate for a property like mine s**ks. And it's run by HUD which is probably never gonna evict. So tenants stop paying their share …