schwack schwack said:
We have several rental properties in our smallish town. We tried one on AirBnB and it was not for us.
It did really well during the fall for holidays & some local events & was booked most weekends Nov-Dec. Once January hit - we had pretty much nothing because our town is not a big travel destination & we barely made enough to cover costs. There are a few others listed here in town & a couple do really well - but the key to those is that they are guest houses on their own property meaning that they are already paying all the bills. On a "stand alone" somewhere else, you'll be paying all expenses: electric, gas, lawn, high speed internet, etc. all year long - with or without guests.
Skip this part if you don't want to hear a rant:
Be prepared for liars. That was the most disappointing aspect for us. We had one security camera (outside showing the driveway & it was disclosed per the rules) and we could see extra guests, dogs, etc. When confronted, they would act like we were the liars. The one time we allowed a small dog (I unwisely caved because they were coming in for a funeral. From Austin.) we said it that would need to be kept in it's kennel and off the furniture. They had other people come stay & they brought 2 other dogs. When they left, there was spilled dog food in the kitchen & dining room, dog vomit behind the Christmas tree & the cleaner said there was a considerable amount of dog hair on the furniture & bed pillows that they had put on the floor for dog beds. They denied it all. They were the final straw for us.
We decided it was much better for us to stick with our 1 year lease people. Most of them stay for years and require almost no thought or effort on our part.
To add to this, we have 2 friends that do/used to do AirBnB. One had a nice house in Ruidoso that was on Air, VRBO, and listed through a management company. She hated it. She allowed dogs, and the cleanup was a nightmare as they would pee on the walls, get hair everywhere, and generally be a pain. She also said you can't have anything you care about there as it will get trashed/broken. She gave it up and now lives in her property.
The other friends have 2 houses, one in Galveston and the other across the street from Nasa in Clear Lake. They are very successful, closely screen the guests themselves, have family members that clean, and have a pretty strict policy list. He says the key is to NOT have a management company and closely screen the guests. His wife does the screening and they have a list of questions they ask. If you look at their policy list, it obviously appears to be the the result of learning from incidents.
From personally renting AirBnBs, you can tell the owners are relieved when renters are normal, don't lie, aren't complainers that waste their time, and don't leave a mess.
