Airbnb and Coronavirus

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Airbnb and Coronavirus

Sarah Young
Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes

I have an Airbnb in Charleston, SC, which has done very well the last 2.5 years I've been doing it. It pays our mortgage at minimum every month, and during peak season, it's double that. 

Since corona hit, I've not had one booking since mid-March. I'm considering converting it to a long term rental (it's our garage apartment, so at our home), just to bring in *something*. I could probably get about $1,000/month for it. On Airbnb I get $2000-$4000/month. I was about to cancel all my upcoming bookings with Airbnb, because if I do it before April 30th, due to CV, I can do it penalty-free, and not lose my Superhost status. Then I realized my 3 bookings in May will bring in almost $1,500, which is better than if I find a long term tenant for May. What to do? I don't know if tourism is going to come back anytime soon, and I'd rather make some money than having it sit empty like it's currently doing. But if these bookings in May stick (which none have so far...everyone has cancelled), I'd be better off that way. I don't want to just look at the short term though. I guess I'm asking for a crystal ball to see the future, and what is going to come of this economic impact on the STR industry?

Thoughts? 

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Nick Rutkowski
Rental Property Investor 路 Ithaca, NY 路 Member since 2015 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
6y

@Sarah Pursell

First, take a deep breath. People will always need to travel, whether for work or pleasure. Charleston seems to be a place where you can do both. Calmly calculate if you can survive until your next couple bookings. If not, then you might want to look at other VBROs platforms other than AirBNB before switching to LTRs. Right now others are fearful, you need to be greedy.

I run STRs in Central New York, my tourist industry is dead, 6 feet under, incased in concrete. Yesterday I got a 28 day booking, so anything is possible.

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  • Jack V. Ospina
    Real Estate Broker 路 Miami, FL 路 Member since 2018 路 236 posts 路 99 votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young April 30 is 5 days away. Will you be able to find a long term tenant by then? Usually takes a few days or weeks to find a quality long term tenant after screening and reviewing employment verification so this will run into mid May possibly. Probably best to sit tight and see what the May tenants do and in the meantime start promoting June as the long term available date. It's a tricky situation and you would have to adjust the dates depending what happens in May.  Good luck!

    1Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    Ya, I understand the time crunch. If I wait until after April 30th though, I will not be able to cancel these penalty-free. I listed it for rent on a couple platforms and will see if I get any bites. At the least, I can keep it on Airbnb and try to ride this out. I just have a bad feeling about tourism really coming back anytime soon. I don't see it happening. 

    0Reply
  • John Semanchuk
    Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2013 路 380 posts 路 157 votes
    6y

    I've polished my crystal ball to no end and it's still cloudy... Maybe you could compromise between your two scenarios and cancel your current Airbnb's but not rent it out for a full year to see if things clear up enough to make the airbnb scene feasible again.   Renting it for a few months might be possible with travel nurses or a similar situation.   That way you can reassess in a shorter time with hopefully a clearer picture of what the future holds. 

    1Reply
  • Nick Rutkowski
    Rental Property Investor 路 Ithaca, NY 路 Member since 2015 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Sarah Pursell

    First, take a deep breath. People will always need to travel, whether for work or pleasure. Charleston seems to be a place where you can do both. Calmly calculate if you can survive until your next couple bookings. If not, then you might want to look at other VBROs platforms other than AirBNB before switching to LTRs. Right now others are fearful, you need to be greedy.

    I run STRs in Central New York, my tourist industry is dead, 6 feet under, incased in concrete. Yesterday I got a 28 day booking, so anything is possible.

    2Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    @John Semanchuk I鈥檝e had it listed in Furnished Finder, but once Covid hit, all traveling nurse contracts were canceled, so even that is a dead market. 
    I have someone coming to look at it tomorrow. I鈥檓 definitely going to do month-to-month if I rent it to her. 

    0Reply
  • Michael King
    Rental Property Investor 路 Navarre, FL 路 Member since 2019 路 913 posts 路 640 votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young why don't you call your bookings to see if they are coming?

    If it was me, I'd assume they're going to cancel on May 1st. Getting someone in long term now may be your best bet, at least you've got income from it. 

    2Reply
  • John Semanchuk
    Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2013 路 380 posts 路 157 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Sarah Young:

    @John Semanchuk I鈥檝e had it listed in Furnished Finder, but once Covid hit, all traveling nurse contracts were canceled, so even that is a dead market. 
    I have someone coming to look at it tomorrow. I鈥檓 definitely going to do month-to-month if I rent it to her. 

    I just rented one of my houses for 4 months through a nextdoor.com connection. There and FB are places I would advertise and look for potential 30+ day tenants.   My daughter is selling her townhouse downtown and since it was for sale, she had been renting the other bedrooms on a 30 notice basis.  She's had two great housemates up until just recently (her closing is April 30).   There are people out there looking for that situation, you just may have to beat the bushes a little.  Your place is in a great location to get downtown quickly and that will help.  FB has a Charleston Housing page that's generally pretty active.   

    0Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    @John Semanchuk thank you for the suggestions. I did post it on the Charleston Housing FB page, and CL. Haven't done Next Door. I will do that next. I have had a couple people contact me, and one person wants to come see it today, but I keep wavering. She wants it unfurnished, and I think if I do that, it will be much harder to go back to STR or medium-term renting in the future. Can you try polishing your crystal ball a little more please? 馃槈

    0Reply
  • John Semanchuk
    Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2013 路 380 posts 路 157 votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young It just keeps saying "Reply hazy, try again".  ;-)

    I think there are other FB pages as well.  Search Charleston rental on FB.  I agree, it's a lot of work to change back and forth from furnished to unfurnished assuming you even have a place to store the furniture.

    0Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    I was just told by a friend who has rentals that long term rentals are currently illegal in Charleston. Do you know if this is true? She said it was by order of the governor! @John Semanchuk

    0Reply
  • Avery CarlBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent 路 USA 路 Member since 2016 路 909 posts 路 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young I have never heard of a city banning long term rentals. Do you mean short term rentals?

    Podcast Guest on Show How to Get More Airbnb Bookings This Spring and Summer Break
    1Reply
  • John Semanchuk
    Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2013 路 380 posts 路 157 votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young Your friend must have mixed up "short term" and "long term".   How could they ban long term rentals?

    0Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    @Avery Carl @John Semanchuk She definitely meant long term rentals. She has STRs and she mentioned both as being banned. I'll see if I can confirm it with some research. I lot of things I "never thought could happen" are happening now. Like my *legal* STR has been banned from having guests until May 14th, under penalty of fines or imprisonment if I don't comply. Or the government telling businesses who is allowed to conduct business, and who is not. I wouldn't be surprised if this is true, but I will confirm and get back here with what I find.

    1Reply
  • Reid Matthews
    Member since 2020 路 14 posts 路 8 votes
    6y

    Is it certainly a tough time and a tough decision. We have been able to rent a few STR rentals as multi-month stays (2-4) months. Obviously, we had some reservations still on the books for June, July, and beyond. We called those guests, told them that we were taking it to a longer term rental and why. The guests 100% understood and i assisted them in finding comparable airbnb to book. THEN I ask the guest to initiate the cancellation on airbnb and when they do, I offer a full refund. This by-passes AirBnB punishing the superhost. The most important thing is to have an honest and open conversation with the guest that is having their reservation cancelled.

    Do you know someone else who has an airbnb at a comparable location and value.  If so, maybe you could send your cancelled guests to that person.  It does create a lot of extra work but it may be necessary for the cash flow you need.

    I have not heard anything about banning of STRs right now. If that's true, a lot of people are in trouble. I do know that they banned people from NY, NJ, and CT staying at any SC hotel or STR. There is a lot of information out there and it is definitely hard to stay up to date.

    1Reply
  • Jacob D Adamczak
    Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2018 路 182 posts 路 73 votes
    6y

    @Sarah Young I was in the same situation with my Charleston Airbnb, deciding weather to go month to month or the long term route or keep it on Airbnb where all I had a full calendar for April and then when the virus hit, everyone had cancelled. I didn't feel right cancelling on my late May bookings so I blocked off further availability (starting in June) so that way if the STR bookings didn't pick back up, I could rent it out long term at that point and if they do pick back up that leaves plenty of time to find someone else to stay. Luckily, I was able to get a few bookings for the end of April and it was enough that it was more profitable than a long term rental. I did drop my prices about $10 (back down to my winter rate). I saw that once SC started to open up the state, my view jumped back up and I had a few bookings. For now, I intend to keep going the STR route.

    0Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    @Jacob D Adamczak thank you for sharing your experience! That is helpful for me, and I like your thinking. I鈥檓 going to follow suit. 

    1Reply
  • Sarah Young
    OP
    Realtor 路 Charleston, SC 路 Member since 2017 路 116 posts 路 88 votes
    6y

    @Avery Carl and @John Semanchuk I contacted the governor鈥檚 office and asked about the LTR banning. I just received an email back saying LTRs are not banned, but must follow CDC guidelines. 

    0Reply
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