Airbnb vs. Furnished Finder

[Brandon Spurlock]

I'm a realtor/investor from Richmond, VA. Looking for some mid-term rental thoughts. Quick background: I currently rent 3 doors long-term. This would be my first crack at a mid-term rental.

I've got a property that I'd like to rent mid-term (30-90 days) to increase cash flow compared to a 12-month rental. Furnished Finder charges $99/year to advertise the property, and the landlord handles the rest (screening tenants, lease, rent collection, etc.). I'd likely use apartments.com to handle those details, as I do with my 12-month rentals. I'd assume the tenant base is mainly nurses and professionals.

The other option is to do a 30-day minimum on Airbnb, who collects a 3% fee, but handles the rest. A downfall of this process is the lack of tenant screening (background, credit, eviction checks) as far as I'm aware of. Feels like slightly more risk not being able to screen tenants outside of their personal Airbnb ratings/reviews.

Lastly, I could also market this by word-of-mouth to other realtors in the area and in my firm, as clients are always needing mid-term stays in between buying and selling their home. 

What else am I missing that may be a pro/con to FF vs. Airbnb? Are there other options that I'm not thinking of? Thanks!

[Kenny Smith]

@Brandon Spurlock

Furnished Finder, in my opinion, is the best advertising platform for medium term rentals.  We get 80% of our medium term rentals through that vs airbnb.  

So, something to think about, the guests will be paying airbnb's taxes/fees etc.  So it will actually cost you both more money to use airbnb.  So a booking on airbnb where a tenant is paying $2500 a month after airbnb fees is most likely closer $2000 in your pocket after airbnb's cut on the booking.

Vs, paying the $99 for furnished finder, paying for someone to manage the application process, is going to be a lot more money to you over the course of the year while also potentially being able to offer the tenant a better deal (no taxes or fees).  Sure, you don't get the air cover, but any good landlord should have the proper landlord insurance anyways on your property to cover you.

Best of luck!