Small town Airbnb vs. long term rental

[AaronFaith Riddering]

Hello BP friends.  We have a 4/2 property we are currently remodeling to be used as a rental in a small town.  We are leaning toward long term but also had thought about short term.  I checked out the Airbnb site and their calculator says we could make about double net profit after cleaning and other expenses with the property only rented 160 days a year.  
While this seems like a no brainer, we live in a small town with no other short term rentals showing up on any sites to compare. We don’t want to go to the expense and trouble to furnish and list on Airbnb if there isn’t much demand in our area.  Would y’all trust the Airbnb calculator for pricing and demand or just go long term where we know there is demand?

Thanks for your input!

[Carolyn Fuller]

There is a big difference between managing an STR versus an LTR besides cash flow. Is cash flow your only consideration? If so, you should also check out VRBO to see if there are any nearby listings on that platform.

Personally, I would not trust a calculator based on such scant data. What data is Airbnb using as the basis of their calculations? It is a black box and they have a vested interest in you choosing to be a host so it is unlikely their calculator is designed with your interests in mind. It is definitely a no brainer for Airbnb because you would be taking the risks, not Airbnb.