To buy or not , let hear from aibnb hosts

[Eric Perez]

Considering purchasing a property but in disagreement with business partner. Want to open another Airbnb but undecided if it's woth it 

House cost is $135k

20% down 

Payment with tax and insurance $917

With a expected expenses we would pay $1,594 a month 

Charge $125  a night we could prob do 25 night a month which would give us $1,531 a month or $18, 372 yearly.  Split two ways $9,186 a year each. 

Experienced Airbnb hosts would it be worth the work?

[Patrick Diamond]

Hello Eric -

As someone who has personally and directly been involved with over 700 Airbnb reservations in my own properties, and over 100 in other people's properties, I have played around with the models quite a bit and have found many successful (and not so successful) methods of operating a short term rental.

Let me start with this:

One mistake that freshman short term rental or Airbnb hosts make is gearing their rental towards tourism only...  Often times there is a focus towards tourism, however, a growing number of people are using Airbnb for business.  

Also, there has always been a not-so-visible marketplace in real estate that has been around since way before Airbnb... Traveling nurses and doctor's are some of my client's most prominent guests... and though they may list on Airbnb... I often recommend that they go down to the local hospital's HR department and say hi, drop off a flier, and ask them who handles the housing coordination for their researchers and providers.

Military bases (I believe there's a big AFB in SA, no?), tech and other industries, government contractors, universities, oil and gas companies, and many other institutions have constant need for short-term housing for their visiting staff.  A way to get some more information to answer your question may be looking some of them up and even giving them a call...  

Just like many other areas in real estate, this segment is all about relationships (at least if you really want to rock out with it).

Also, as a follow-up to @Prag Patel 's well-worded response (remember of course to talk to your own tax advisor), but be sure to avoid the mistake many new hosts make in lumping the tax in with the Airbnb rate... you won't be able to line item it out easily for your taxes.

From what I see from a cursory glance: at http://www.sanantonio.gov/Finance/taxeslicensesfee...

The local taxes will be 10.75%.  If you are able to get in with people at the military base, etc., and/or hospitals which need spots for nurses and doctors for more than 30 days, the tax issue will be moot.  If mixing the stays, it could become more of a pain to manage.  

Just make sure you have good systems in place no matter what :)

Best of luck to you, and if you'd like some pro-forma templates or sample financials put together specifically for Airbnb type listings, feel free to message me.  I'm just setting up a new website this weekend or I'd point you there directly to download.

Patrick