Short term rentals in St Louis

[Tom Niehoff]

My wife and I have been looking into doing some BRRR's in St. Louis and heard a podcast where someone started that route intending it to be a long term rental but ended up doing short term rentals (AirBNB, and also happened to also be in STL) and were making substantially more off the property (but the numbers could have still worked as a long term rental). Anyone in STL currently doing working that angle in STL and want to share knowledge?

We are current business owners in the software world and going it alone, it's lonely out here!  It seems most of the business owners in our genre keep to themselves, so would rather be a bit more social with this business offshoot.

Thanks,

Tom

[Andrew Robbins]

I have a 12-unit building on Tower Grove in STL.  2 of the units are airbnb's.  My property manager handles all bookings, maintenance, re-stocking, cleaning, and all general headaches -- and for that, I give her 20% of the booking fees instead of the 10% she makes for the long-term rentals.  All in all, the net numbers are pretty similar to long-term rental.  The pros are that you never have to worry about vacancies, deposits, make-ready costs, leasing fees, etc.  The cons are that STL is very seasonal, so we crush it in the spring and summer, but we get destroyed in Jan and Feb.  You also have to furnish the units, pay utilities, etc. so the gross numbers are great, but the expenses definitely cut into your bottom line.  Only been doing it for about a year, but gonna continue with it for another year and then decide.  Hope that helps.