AirBNB Side Hussle

[Brittany DeWitt]

Hey all!  My boyfriend and I bought our first investment property (an owner occupied duplex) about 2 years ago.  We spent a lot of money in the first two years bringing it up to date some and cleaning it up.  Now we're ready to start saving for property #2.

We were brainstorming ways to save up our down payment even faster and settled on AirBNB.  We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a bonus room in a walk out basement that we rarely used.  They were all already furnished (as a bedroom, office, and living room), so we listed it as a suite on AirBNB.  

I spent about $600 on startup costs: two sets of sheets, blankets, towels, a nice single cup coffee pot, some other decorative touches, and keying the walk out basement door.  

This is our second month using airbnb.  The first month we made back the $600 in start up costs.  This month we're looking to bring in at least $850 (and still have 7 days free that could get booked!).

Every dollar counts, right?  So far I'm really excited at how successful it has been for us.  

[Account Closed]

I used to manage an apartment building next to a university, and we rented month-to-month, but learned that there is a big demand for summer rentals in university towns.  Students go to different universities for summer internships.  

For my purposes, we allowed current student tenants to sublet their units to other students.  Once in a while, I'd also have a tenant who wanted to move in at the end of summer, but the unit was empty at the beginning of summer.  I advertised the unit on the university website as available short term for the summer, and I couldn't believe the response.  We rented it for those couple months at a premium, and the tenant was thrilled to find any place cheaper than an extended stay hotel.

So, I think you're really on to something.  If you can also advertise for free on the university off-campus housing website, you wouldn't even have to pay any fees at all.

And, I still ran their credit reports, like I would any tenant.  You can also list your property on Yelp, if you want reviews, and ask your tenants to leave you reviews.