Short term rental in Minneapolis (Linden Hills neighborhood)

[Charlie Gruber]

Looking to purchase house in Minneapolis (Linden Hills neighborhood) for short term rental(VRBO/AirB&B).  Does anyone have experience with this? Here are a few questions I'm struggling with:

1. Do I need any type of rental license.From this link it sounds like you should but curious how hard and fast this rule is? https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/948/minneapolis--mn
2. I've accounted for expenses such as insurance, taxes, Cap Ex, maintenance,utilities, cable, internet, lawn/snow removal, 3% of rent back to AirB&B.Any expense I'm missing?
3. While running numbers I'm estimating having unit rented on average 15 days per month. Does this sound reasonable?I'm assuming summer months higher traffic than winter.
4. Any suggestions on handyman or cleaning service?
5. Any other ideas/suggestions?

Thanks for help all!

-Charlie

[Marc Jolicoeur]

I do not have experience doing what you are planning but I am pretty sure you will need a rental license if in the city limits and will therefore need an inspection of the unit.   You may need to fix issues found in the inspection before getting your license approved. 

Also when buying in Mpls, you may need to accept known issues the seller did not fix as part of the Truth in Housing Report inspection (TISH).

Known issues from the TISH may be showstoppers to make it a rental. 

In your business plan you are going to want to include Water, Sewer, and Trash with the city.

Are you planning to do this remotely?  I assume you are also going to want to have a property manager to drop in occasionally to oversee the cleaning team, landscaper, and handyman - and to make sure the guests get the keys and to replace missing or lost keys.

Regarding Linden Hills, its a great area for guests who have cars and it's a short Uber ride away from the night life in Uptown or Downtown, but I would have thought it would be better to be on a bus or light rail route that has more direct linkage to downtown, or to find something closer to Uptown.   

Linden Hills real estate is very expensive.  Does the location get a premium nightly rate on AirBNB?