Buying my first AIRBNB property

[Raquel Penas Fernandez]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I am excited to learn from you all and contribute when I can. I am a real estate broker and just starting my journey with short term vacation rentals. I own three rental properties in different parts of the country but I am new to short term. 

For those seasoned short-term investors, what was the best piece of advice you received when you first started? What's the best software to manage the schedules and cleaning appmts? I think the logistics of it are daunting. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Luke Carl]

Read Avery's book. Best advice period. Short Term Rental Long Term Wealth.

[Michael Connolly]

I would say make sure the numbers work. Do your homework . If you want to chat I’ll share with you the systems I have in place in my Airbnb and the ones I cohost for others. Sometimes it’s good to hear best practices from others. I was you not too long ago 

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Luke Carl:

Read Avery's book. Best advice period. Short Term Rental Long Term Wealth.

 Read Avery's book and read through this forum. Any questions you have, have already been asked and answered hundreds of times.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Raquel Penas Fernandez:

Study the numbers and be realistic about expenses. Most people on BP only share their gross income, not their net, so declared income is inflated.

[Collin Hays]

Any time one ventures into a new business, it can seem daunting. STRs are a business, and by self managing, you are effectively running your own small business. 

Thankfully, the VRBO and Airbnb platforms make the software/booking/marketing side of things pretty straightforward.  You pay for that - 7 to 11 percent of your rents for each booking - but it is in the cost of doing business with these platforms.  

One of the biggest things new investors ignore is risk management, yet it represents, by far, the most significant threat to your financial health if you ignore it.  You have to provide a safe place for guests, and you have to have the dwelling properly insured to cover yourself if an accident or fatality occurs.  An all-encompassing rental agreement does not waive your responsibility or negligence.

Finding a handyman and a housecleaner are small change items.  

Keep reading this forum, ask questions, and PM me any time.  Good luck to you!

[Robin Simon]

Quote from @Raquel Penas Fernandez:

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I am excited to learn from you all and contribute when I can. I am a real estate broker and just starting my journey with short term vacation rentals. I own three rental properties in different parts of the country but I am new to short term. 

For those seasoned short-term investors, what was the best piece of advice you received when you first started? What's the best software to manage the schedules and cleaning appmts? I think the logistics of it are daunting. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

One good thing to remember is that you should consider it a "Short Term Rental (STR)" property, not an "AirBNB property" - a good piece of advice I hear from experienced owners all the time is to make sure they are not 100% dependent on airbnb as a platform and rent it out (or have the ability to at least) on other platforms like VRBO, direct bookings, etc.

[Paul Sandhu]

Learn how to do things like plumbing, electric, carpentry, appliance repair, etc yourself.

[Leslie Anne Morris]

Once you have all the basic knowledge and feel good underwriting a deal…don’t over analyze. Take the leap! Learning by doing was best for me. 

[Raquel Penas Fernandez]

Quote from @Leslie Anne Morris:

Once you have all the basic knowledge and feel good underwriting a deal…don’t over analyze. Take the leap! Learning by doing was best for me. 

Thank you for the push. This is my biggest problem. I over analyze.  

[Raquel Penas Fernandez]

Quote from @Robin Simon:

Quote from @Raquel Penas Fernandez:

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I am excited to learn from you all and contribute when I can. I am a real estate broker and just starting my journey with short term vacation rentals. I own three rental properties in different parts of the country but I am new to short term. 

For those seasoned short-term investors, what was the best piece of advice you received when you first started? What's the best software to manage the schedules and cleaning appmts? I think the logistics of it are daunting. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

One good thing to remember is that you should consider it a "Short Term Rental (STR)" property, not an "AirBNB property" - a good piece of advice I hear from experienced owners all the time is to make sure they are not 100% dependent on airbnb as a platform and rent it out (or have the ability to at least) on other platforms like VRBO, direct bookings, etc.

Noted. This is my intention. 

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Raquel Penas Fernandez, you got some good advice here.

But...it's not an AirBNB property. It is a Short Term Rental. AirBNB is a platform. :)

[Raquel Penas Fernandez]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Raquel Penas Fernandez, you got some good advice here.

But...it's not an AirBNB property. It is a Short Term Rental. AirBNB is a platform. :)

Yes sorry about that. That’s what I meant to say. Thank you. 

[William Beck]

Find someone who wants to help you out! Just reach out to anybody on this platform that knows their stuff. *Not everyone knows their stuff so it becomes a vetting process of who can help. Just take every bit of info with a grain of salt but there is a ton of wisdom on these forums. 

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Raquel Penas Fernandez, you got some good advice here.

But...it's not an AirBNB property. It is a Short Term Rental. AirBNB is a platform. :)

 I read an article yesterday that said where Airbnb got its name that I had never hear. Air was from Air matress. 

I think of AirBNB as a house in a metro area that people rent cheap while some one can stay while they are in town for an event. I think of Vrbo as a site for Vacation Rentals where you would take you family for a fun and memorable vacation. 

I do have my Vacation Rental on airbnb too but get very few bookings from them.  This furthers my impression of AirBNB.  This is just my personal experience and perspective I know others may feel differently. 

[Matt Mertz]

I recommend listening to podcasts.  It's an efficient way to passively learn while doing other things.  It helps because there's so much to learn.

Good luck on your journey!

[Greg R.]

I would advise you to be extremely conservative with your projections. A lot of people getting into STR have the tendency to think they are going to have super high occupancy and nightly rates.

[Nicola Rutherford]

Check your market on AirDNA and Pricelabs market dashboard to get a sense of what the competition is doing. Assume you are not the only one adding to the market saturation and run your numbers for a non-optimal year. If it still works, go for it! I recommend trying to give your market something novel, so research research research and use some creativity to stand out from the rest!
Check out the podcast "Thanks for Visiting" especially the first season, which is all about setting up. Those ladies are a wealth of information. 

Figure out what your minimum daily rate is based on the costs of running at 60% or your specific market's low season, including repairs, supplies, and periodic replacements, so you don't end up paying for folks' vacations!

[Michael Baum]

So I agree with @Greg R. up to a point. I am pretty conservative in my calculations, but if you stay very conservative you will never buy anything IMHO.

You can get a pretty good idea by using the tools at your disposal. Checking each and every STR in your immediate area for nightly rate, occupancy and amenities will get you most of the way there. AirDNA and others can add to the mix and provide some more data. It will not be as accurate as looking directly but info is info.

Just make sure the numbers make sense. Maybe you can be flexible on CoC return. If you are only looking for 25% or more, then that will really restrict your purchases. If you are happy with 15%, then that makes for a broader range for you to peruse.

[William Anderson]

I strongly recommend that you consider hiring a property manager who manages the calendar, cleaning, etc.  If you want to scale up your business, you should leave these details and headaches to someone else.  Focus on the acquisition and overall management.  

[William Anderson]

Raquel, 

If you need to manage your property, set up a website using a theme for property management such as moto press hotel booking.  You can set up a sync using the Ical template that will connect Airbnb, VRBO, and other sites.  You can manage all of them from the back-end management calendar on your website.

Having your website for STRs is important regardless.  The property management company that I own part of uses this system.  It's far easier to see everything going on at one time than login into each of the other sites.

Keep in mind that your website does not drive prices or others into the 3rd party sites, you have to go there to do that.  You can block out times and days on your website.  Go to the motopress.com website for a free demo.