Using Airbnb as marketing & semi long-term rentals

[Zambricki Li]

Hey There, I'm new to Bigger Pockets and am so excited.  I feel like I have found a tribe in the wilderness. 
This my first post!  When the pandemic hit..I flipped half of my short-term rentals into work from home rentals and it's changed my business model moving forward slightly. My clients are mostly people buying houses or relocating to cities I have rentals in. It’s been kind of perfect that I can provide nicely furnished high end rental housing with a flexible end date. We have had tech people, marketers, people in finance, attorneys, film directors, and students all stay and have interesting stories to share as they relocate. Some do not stay in Los Angeles or Lake Tahoe where I am dually based, and I am happy to be that bridge for them to check out the area and refer them out if LA or Lake Tahoe market is not for them.

Would I buy more properties and keep doing this? Yes I would.

The benefits

1. 1.Control your property condition & rental situation (much could be said about this topic)
2. 2.Using the Airbnb platform is way easier to prequalify tenants initially and cleaner than Zillow, craigslist, Radpad in general.. for a semi long term rental
3. 3. You will get higher rents form furnished 3 -12-month rentals than you will from renting it unfurnished long term in many markets.
4. 4. If transferring from a VHR format you are not subject to the less than 28-day short term occupancy tax and restrictions initiated by local governments in many markets.
5. 5.You can ALWAYS go back to long term or full VHR if your city allows; the point is to be able to hold with great cashflow and stay flexible. Even if you are selling you'll get more $ to option a vacant unit in a great area than selling in the same area with an under market rent long term tenant. The units basically all looked they are staged and ready for the open house if needed:)

The drawbacks: 

1. More turnover. Airbnb platform and app luckily make this a litle easier. The platform rents based on listing- only you do not have to show the unit before renting. If people ask if they can see it first, I say no because that is against airbnb policy; which is true.  Overall, the phone app is great. Way better than desktop version for Airbnb in my opinion. W

2. Debt to income ratio for future purchases: Banks don’t like Airbnb "leases". Technically Airbnb is not a lease it's a limited license on your property, and the income looks insane the way Airbnb schedules their pay out.This is part of the reason why I only do it for a portion of my properties. I do hard leases in addition to the limited license as well when needed. 

I want to keep my options fully open. Even if that means keeping my places turning over every 6 months.  If I have a less than perfect tenant, its only for a few months. Furnishing a place tastefully in the "airbnb style" is not that expensive, and can be fun. It’s also super fun to be able to travel and stay at places you own and have set up in a way that you love. Its like a double house hack! Next time you have a vacancy maybe run a budget and see if using Airbnb marketing for semi long-term rentals works for you. Let me know if anyone else has tried this and how your experience was or If I can help.