Airbnb hopeful: found an apartment but getting cold feet

[Yankel Raskin]

Hi bigger pockets,

I am a new aspiring real estate investor looking to venture into the STR market. I've done some research via articles and podcasts (thank you bigger pockets) and feel all that's left Is to jump in.

I’ve been following this great blog post https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/airbnb-arbitrage-convincing-rental-owners step by step.

I found a fully furnished condo. It’s in a great part of town, near a tram stop and close enough to the city, parks and even the beach.

It Rents for $2400/month and has $9000/pa HOA fees (=monthly $750).

When I looked at Airbnb I found that all the rentals of similar status had 90+% vacancy for the next 3 months. At least when I look at the availability option on Airbnb. So... I’m struggling to moving forward. I know that people are successful with Airbnb. I even see an apt of a friend who’s a successful operator and his has 95% availability as well.

Essentially I’m asking is:

1) how can I double check the local vacancy for this apt.

2) I’m currently banking on min $180-200/night. Is that a good enough figure? I will self manage.

Thanks!