Is that Airbnb calculator accurate?

[Jacob Prelle]

I'm looking at properties in the Oceanside CA area and hoping to make it an Airbnb. According to the calculator, I could make $1,400 a week. Am I missing something? That seems crazy high but if it's accurate, i'm buying! Thanks

[Julie McCoy]

Just plugged in all four of my properties, and the estimates were wrong on all of them.  Too high for my Pigeon Forge cabins that sleep up to 4, and much too low for my CA house that sleeps 6.  It's always tricky for calculators like these to function well, because the solid information is not readily available, so the algorithm has to do a certain amount of guessing.  And you never know how "smart" the algorithm is!  

Another thing is we don't know what kind of data points it's pulling from... is it looking at nightly prices, or is it looking at the full booking cost (including AirBNB's booking fee)?  The Pigeon Forge estimates would be pretty close IF they're looking at the "out the door" cost to renters - including tax, booking fee, etc.  But that's not terribly useful to me as I care more about what I can set my nightly rate at; I don't want to reverse engineer the math to extrapolate what the property owner is charging, if in fact that's how the number is calculated.

Do some old-fashioned research, don't let this calculator get too excited. :)  And research the local laws!!!  Oceanside may very well have regulations limiting or forbidding short-term rentals, you want to know that before you buy. :)