Will you rent your house for short term rental arbitrage?

[Justin Brin]

Will you rent your house for short term rental arbitrage?

What to watch out for?

What you think will cause more ware and tear on your house. Short term rental or renting it to a family long term?

[Lauren Kormylo]

You'd think STR would cause more wear and tear, but the host has to keep it up in great condition to get 5 star reviews. And with cleaners going in after stay, it gets cleaned way more than with LTRs. I have an LTR that was occupied for 8 years by one tenant, and it was sooo much work after they left. It cost us a lot of time and money to get it back in shape. With an STR, it would have been kept in much better shape.

Short term guests are frequently on vacation, and are outside of the house a lot of the time, sightseeing, eating out. Versus long term guests who are home most of the time, cooking most meals in, putting maximum wear and tear on a place. I would consider allowing someone to arbitrage a rental house of mine for STR it if it were empty and I was having a hard time finding a tenant. I would be a stickler about making sure they had the correct insurance. Unlike some people here, I don't think arbitrage is any riskier than having a bad tenant on your own.