All Forum Posts by: Culin Tate

I would start by determining where you are placing in Airbnb search results for various gusts counts.

You can use a web based tool RankBreeze for this.  Once you can monitor and track your Rank placement, you can test making changes to pricing and policies to see how they effect your rank placement.  Its a game changer!

 I agree, I print yards signs from Vista print with a google voice number.  Place a few around the entrance to your neighborhood and cleaners coming and going will see them and phone you.  I also have clients that have had success posting on job sites like Indeed.

Schenectady NY has a strong STR market, it supports over 700 STR's on Airbnb alone.

My advice would be to make your decor unique and inviting and invest in professional HDR photos to help your listing stand out.  

Why not manage them yourself?

I simply maintain a shared google sheet with my cleaners. I upload reservations at the beginning of the month then make any changes as necessary. 

Don't assume you need a property manager.  Their are numerous educational opportunities to learn the craft and Airbnb is supported by third party softwares' to automate pricing and most of your guest communications.  Just ask for help from the many experienced hosts here on BP.

AirDNA is a great tool, but primarily shows aggregated data.  Take a look at PriceLabs market dashboard for your area.  You can sort active listing by number of bedrooms, then by highest revenue, to see exactly how much annual revenue similar properties in the area are generating.  

If you are looking to invest in your first STR and want it to be a little closer to home, then ask yourself where do people from Akron or Cleveland like to go for a weekend getaway? Ohio is a diverse state with plenty of lakes and National parks. You can find good value by looking for areas that families have purchased a weekend getaway homes, but have not yet been saturated with full time rental properties.

Don't underestimate the revenue potential from this property as a STR. You can go to Pricelabs.co and subscribe to their market dashboard for your area and see exactly how much other similar properties are earning. I know that I seriously underestimated the revenue potential of my first STR. It takes a bit of time to learn the craft, but its not that hard to outperform 90% of hosts.

Another approach you may employ simultaneously to your plans for unit expansion is to take a close look at your current STR portfolio performance. Are all of your properties showing on the 1st page of your preferred listing platform? Then if so, are you using a third party dynamic pricing tool to maximize your revenue from each of these properties. I work with a number of mid sized portfolio holders and we usually can find low lying fruit to be extracted from the current portfolio via rank placement and revenue management.