Airbnb in Atlanta?

[Prachel C.]

Hello all ~ I'm in the beginning stages of putting together my investment strategy for Atlanta and just considering every possibility.  I was wondering if anyone had any experiences (positive/negative) with Airbnb rentals here in the city.  

[Dafina Smith]

I have a home that we rent on AirBnb.  I've had the gamut of experiences from good to bad to life alter bad.  Some stuff feel free to reach out to me via a direct message. 

These are my lessons:

We rent our home furnished to a lot of movie productions and corporate rentals.  Location is key for Atlanta.  Intown homes near the Beltline and Marta and Piedmont Park or other attractions are going to yield higher nightly rates and better overall rental rates. 

I don't exclusively rent my home on AirBnB but what I like about it that in between corporate rentals or movie production rentals we don't have a 0% occupancy rate and we keep people in our home which keeps away other issues that come with owning a vacant home.

The name of the game in this is to keep your neighbors happy. So be very judicious about who you rent to and how large the parties are. 

I don't allow for Instant Book.  I only allow guests who have atleast 2 other positive host reviews and I don't allow parties.  This has kept our neighbors happy after we had a few people who were having wild parties, threatening our neighbors, running illegal operations (yes!!) on our property.

So I would say if you use it be very organized and mindful of who you allow in the home.  I would also look to diversify your income and I would never ever want to solely rely on AirBnB income. I'd always rather have a longer term tenant. 

I hope this helps.