Airbnb arbitrage is great if you are just trying to stack some cash quickly - but its not real estate investing. Ultimately you will be creating another job for yourself versus a passive source of income. Sure you can outsource everything but eventually if you want to walk away from it, your income would come to a halt. Not to mention.. if city rules/regulations, the property owners you were subleasing from, etc were to suddenly stop allowing short term rentals (which frequently happens)... your only exit strategy is to stop arbitraging. With traditional Airbnb investing where you purchase the property and househack or just airbnb out the whole house/unit, you OWN an ASSET that is appreciating and therefore building equity, capitalizing on major tax incentives, paying down your principal, etc.and you have several exit strategies .. you can sell, refinance, Airbnb, long-term rent, mid-term rent, flip, BRRR, you name it.
I understand that buying a property to Airbnb isnt feasible for everyone but I started Airbnb'ing by househacking and purchased my first one with a USDA loan which meant I only needed literally $900 to close. Then I repeated that process over and over. Just my two cents though!! I know many people have immense success but just ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish and if arbitrage will help you meet your objectives.
