All Forum Posts by: Fakaradin Floyd

 Thank you Jerry! I've celebrated by buying a home and traveling haha, congratulations to you to! 


To our continued success! 

 Thank you! Doing my best thus far, luckily my 9-5 is basically getting on the numbers and this isn't my first time taking a risk with a business so I was less likely to get stuck in that scenario of analysis paralysis. 

This is primarily why I plan to get a property in Old Town Alexandria whenever I can (THE HOMES HERE ARE EXPENSIVE) currently I do airbnb arbritage here and it does phenomenal, I read through your report which furthered my confidence in this area, and I'm excited to keep holding onto property here. Can't wait to invest in here whenever I can! Thank you for this insightful post!

1 year and a half update

Hello everyone I am back for my updates, it has been a great journey so far. Just like usual I am back to updating you all. So a lot has happened since I last updated you all, well not too much has happened, I've settled into my personal home that I bought, renovated it and for the first time in my life have a place to call home that I actually OWN!!! Such exciting news, but I will sadly be departing from this home in the next year or so as I plan to buy another home to move into or an investment property I haven't ironed out all the details yet. 

Total Revenue to date for airbnb Arbritage
So this is the part that a lot of people care about INCLUDING myself, so I've been really successful I can say that I have done a great job with researching and expanding so far, in I have made in total revenue *drum roll please*  $204,301.84 with profit averaging around 20-35%. Again I don't have the full numbers out yet because I am still learning the accounting point of things. But I have officially hit 6 figures in revenue and honestly if I wanted to I could just stick to having these 3 and live pretty okay off of 3 airbnbs I am arbitrating. Thing is I hit a wall, I want to expand in my area, but I also want to expand in other areas and I am stuck in a little analysis paralysis scenario. Even though ALOT and I mean ALOT of people on bigger pockets or friends and family have told me airnbnb arbitrage wouldn't work out I have been pretty successful even though I was pretty much self learnt without any form of joining a course or anything like that. But I am glad I took this leap.


Next Steps and future plans
I have 3 airbnbs as of right now that I do Rental Arbitrage at, and can say I am pretty good at what I do, this is my second business I created and both times I was successful and started everything with low funds and youtube being my mentor. Now I aim for bigger and better, I want to buy a home FOR airbnb but I still want to simultaneously still do airbnb arbitrage, the benefits are just too great at the moment and to be honest a lot of the money profit wise I just have been utilizing to put back into the business and further expanding, paying off business line of credit and such.

So I am not in a place to buy multiple properties in support for airbnb, not yet, more so closer to the end of next year. With the real numbers I have now, I know I can make around 250k+ in revenue with 3 Arbitrage properties, if I keep the same trend I can make another 250k+ with 3 more and that's on the lower end, so I plan to keep expanding, the thing is I am having a hard time envisioning expansion in my local area, and kind of hitting a wall when researching other areas. I want to utilize my arbitrage to obviously use for my personal life but also to create a hefty fund for investment properties later on the line. 

After this tax year, I will know exactly what I need to do to progress. I hear everyone though, buying a home for STR is the next step and it is the better choice. Soon once I have the liquid amount. Obviously there are other ways of finding funding and such but I will need to research a bit more on this.

Final thoughts

So its been a journey, I am contemplating going full-time in entrepreneurship as this is my second successful business, my end goal in life is to have the option to retire by 35 haha so I want to do everything in my power now for future me. Now that I have the proven experience, and proven numbers of this working I want to leverage the experience I have in some way friends have recommended creating some form of course but I think I'm too green for that haha I need to buy a home for STR first before I contemplate that. I do want to expand directly in my area and having more confidence when speaking to landlords but that just means my sales pitch still needs work. I do want to thank everyone thus far on this journey the good and the bad feedback is the direct reason on my success so far and I plan to be great. Will update you all in the next few months. 

I will continue to expand, and I will continue this path that so far has been successful.

(Also if you know someone in some markets that are not talked about enough that have good potential for researching for expansion would love your thoughts! Also if you'd like to connect and network with me or work with me my dms are always open!)

Airbnb listings (newest to oldest)
(Hit a snag in lower reviews haha I promise I'm a great host): airbnb.com/h/familydelight
airbnb.com/h/homeoasisfloyd

airbnb.com/h/sereneoldtownsantuary

@Sarah Kensinger
@Ika Sargeant

 Thank you! I celebrated back in October and went to Japan! But after I get this third airbnb set up I plan to celebrate by traveling again. I will keep doing my updates, for both for future readers that may need inspiration and just to add to this thread! :) 

Yup thats the goal, I personally own a home that I'll be "house hacking" soon not for STR but more so LTR, I just bought the home about 4 months ago so just settling in first before I start looking for others to move in. But by the end of this year I should have a good size downpayment saved for another property :)

Celebrating 10-12 Months of Airbnb Arbritrage: Milestones and Growth

Hey everyone!

Can you believe it’s been 10-11 months since I embarked on this Airbnb journey? Time really does fly when you're having fun (and working hard). I’m excited to share some big news with you all—I’ve recently onboarded my third Airbnb property in the area I’m "invested" in (the lease starts June 1st). It’s been quite the ride, and I’m thrilled to have reached this milestone in such a short span of time. I may be onboarding two more but I'm still working the nitty gritty out with that landlord since they're 1 bedroom apartments still debating if its worth it, as 1 bedrooms are notorious for their low-profit margins, but they always have high occupancy rates.

When I started out, my main goal was to expand my Airbnb portfolio, and now, with two successful properties under my belt and a third on the way, I couldn’t be more grateful for the journey so far. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have been with me every step of the way.

Profit margins and numbers

Now, let’s talk numbers. Over the past 10-11 months, I’ve been able to maintain a steady "profit" margin averaging between 17-36%. My occupancy has been averaging 87% - 96%. What’s even better is that I haven’t touched these profit.s Instead, I’ve reinvested it back into the business, paid off business debts, and focused on scaling further. It’s incredible to see how these investments are paying off, and I’m on track to hit the six-figure mark in revenue by the end of the year (With just the two airbnbs I was already on track to hit that figure, the third Airbnb will definitely help haha!).

Networking and growth

With this growth, I’ve realized that it’s time to bring in some professional help. While I’ve been managing my own taxes since college, operating three different properties warrants the expertise of a CPA to ensure efficiency and compliance. For those of you who have scaled your businesses, I’d love to hear your advice on building connections and finding the right team members to support further growth. What are the key areas I should focus on to ensure I have the right people in place? A CPA told me they charge 65$ per 15 minutes per consultation which I thought was ridiculous but I don't know the current rate in the area. I also plan to build a website so I'll also be looking into that too.

As I prepare to onboard my third Airbnb, I’m also shifting my focus towards optimization. While I’m proud to be in the top 5% rated hosts in my area (for my, I’m determined to maintain a consistent presence on the front page of Airbnb. Reviews play a significant role, but I’ve noticed some hosts with slightly lower ratings consistently appearing on the front page. Learning the intricacies of Airbnb’s algorithms will be my next challenge, but I’m up for it!

Overall, I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved with this business so far, and I’m excited about the future. My next goal? Saving up to purchase homes that will support this business model sustainably because that's the end goal anyway to own these homes instead of rent them. It’s all about setting new goals and continuing to grow.

Thank you once again for being a part of this journey. Here’s to many more milestones ahead! Will update you guys again when I have anything new and to showcase how my Airbnb arbitrage journey is going.

I do want to give a shout out to @Michael Alexander he gave me amazing advice when we got coffee a while back, and was there when I first started my second airbnb, he really inspired me and I always look back to his advice he gives me which greatly help me out when I'm stuck.

Link to airbnbs:
airbnb.com/h/homeoasisfloyd
airbnb.com/h/sereneoldtownsantuary

@Nicholas L.
@Michael Baum
@Josh Uhlenkamp
@Sarah Kensinger
@Marcus R.
@Dave Stokley
@Lisa Marie
@Dan H.
@Cody L.
@Ika Sargeant
@Don Konipol
@Richard Elvin
@John McKee

Hi Everyone, just like clock-work I am back it has now been 8-9 months since my journey started and I am so glad I embarked on this journey. 

Current status for first Airbnb:
There's not much to update to be honest, I have been pretty successful for my first airbnb thus far. 

I am continuing to be able to make a 20-30% profit every month for my first airbnb.I won't lie I was a bit anxious for these coming slow months, everywhere on the internet I was told from October to March will be super slow and in my area the average occupancy was around 61%. Because I am doing Airbnb Arbritrage and working with someone else's home I was a lil anxious on if I would have leftover cushion money for the slow months as I started on the last half of summer.

I profited well but not enough to cover 6 months if they were all slow months. But to my surprise I have averaged an occupancy from 87% to 97% from October to now It looks like in this final "slow" month I have a 97% Occupancy rate (just shy of 100%) which just brought a tear to my eye because I was so happy that the research paid off, if I went into this blind who knows what would have happened. 

I am now currently a Superhost my first Airbnb has over 50+, 5-star reviews!!! I will say this I am reaching a wall in honing in on why I am outperforming my local market occupancy wise and trying to fully understand what exactly I am doing different and how I can add to that whilst maintaining a niche that others will have a hard time replicating. I just extended my lease to a 2 year lease because of this success and fully believe that this airbnb will continue to do well.

The newly onboarded airbnb:
So the new airbnb had a little bit of a rough start, the laundry machine had to be replaced as it stopped working whilst I was testing things out in the home, I had a bit of a higher cost setting up the airbnb, (painted and filled in cracks that were previously present) but to be honest I spent around the same I would have spent if I had to fully furnish the home.

This airbnb was already furnished all I did was spend money on a couch and some other things the home needed like wine glasses or extra towels.

The current landlord for this property is kind and is more willing to pay for replacements on the home which I believe is mainly because she used to live in the home so I didn't really need to spend much for any problems that arrived other than minor things the home is over 150+ years old so it has its quirks.

The tough part is that I am paying a bit more in rent for this home but it has a lot more potential than my other unit, it has a good-sized backyard which I'm debating on adding a hot tub or a fire place but seems like a fireplace may be better maintenance and cost wise. The home has been doing okay Occupancy wise it is following the same occupancy as the average occupancy in the area so around 60-77%  but it is a new unit, this march it has increased to an 81% occupancy and April and May its picking up in occupancy fast so its a perfect time that I started this airbnb. 

Profit wise it is also around the same which is about 15-25% but I have only been hosting for about a month in a half for this new one so I am still collecting data on it. 

For this unit I am going for a more affordable choice for the travelers in the area, more so more of a homey feeling whilst my first airbnb I am going for more of an upscale experience but not sure yet. 

Tl;Dr I am doing pretty good and doing a lot better than I thought I would, as profit usually should be average 10% which is what I expected. My goal for this year is to get one more unit in this area or in the DMV area maybe Virginia beach but that is for future me to worry about. This is all for my future goal of owning a home specifically for Airbnb but that will be some time from now. For anyone new reading this, do your research and take your time it will all be worth it. Airbnb Arbritrage is not all cookies and cream and if you have the funds I'd recommend buying a home and doing it that way if not this is a great step to get into the industry.

Thank you,

@Nicholas L.
@Michael Baum
@Josh Uhlenkamp

@Sarah Kensinger
@Marcus R.
@Dave Stokley
@Lisa Marie
@Dan Heuschele
@Cody L.
@Ika Sargeant
@Don Konipol
@Richard Elvin
@John McKee

 Thank you! I plan to keep going and then some! I will update you guys in 3 months-6 months or until something more interesting happens haha I hope my updates/forum replies and more really helps other people and their journey and one day the good karma comes back to me or my loved ones 

@Sarah Kensinger Thank you! I'm going to see where I can apply my knowledge I'm still a young padowon haha