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I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

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Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#171

Post by oijaf888 »

woofyman wrote: post #89
crbnw00ts wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be kidding! This is "disruption" we're talking about, after all. That means all precautions, regulations, contingencies, licensing, and everything else are out the window , full stop. What are you, some kind of last-century luddite who hates progress? What do you want, for the bad old pre-startup ways to contaminate things and spoil the party? "Insurance" is for non-entrepreneurial losers, and no one cases a…

The only way to buy insurance would be to lie and commit fraud. Home owners associations also require insurance.

Why? Do no insurance polices cover landlords? Or do those policies specify a duration for a tenant to stay?

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#172

Post by geebee »

bradly wrote: post #145
mbreese wrote: post #108

If anyone is interested, this looks like the link to the place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/643721 Another thing to add to the "if you're thinking of doing this" list - don't write a post about it where you and the location can be identified. This is probably against the HOA agreement (short term leases are prohibited). It also could be a safety issue if you aren't actually living there. Once someone knows the apart…

I recently bought a condo in Maui to rent and those places are sent up for this sort of thing. They even call them Condotels. Being designed for short term rentals brings a lot of benefits like resort manages check-ins/outs for you. Also, there is an echo chamber in the tech community regarding AirBnB as the standard for short term rentals. From my experience, VRBO has been much better and provided significantly more…

Rather than saying "don't do this", it would probably be better to say "Step 1: make sure it is legal to do this".

As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. My guess is that it's harder to find a profit opportunity, though, because the more profitable use (legal use as a short term hotel) is already priced into the unit.

I suspect that one reason airbnb is so profitable in areas where it is not legal is that the restrictions on short term rentals suppress the sale price of the unit. So you buy a unit that is cheaper precisely because it is illegal to use it as a hotel, and then you profit by using it as a hotel. So in cities with very strict zoning and tenant protection laws (like SF), I guess they're selling the assumption of risk.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#173

Post by yannisp »

Hmm I don't see any mention of equity here but only profit. If you're able to cover the cost of mortgage + HOA/property tax + expenses of running the place then the equity is the profit. Assuming the price of the place is the same in, say, 10 years. Then you've built up 10 years worth of equity buy having someone else pay your mortgage...

Of course if this place was bought cash, you could have done the same thing in reverse. Take that money and loan it to an individual to buy a house. The only difference is there's no extra profit to be made but also no added risk of not finding clients, repairs, etc. (unless someone wrecks the place and it becomes worthless)

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#174

Post by DanielBMarkham »

tptacek wrote: post #81

Exactly what is the difference between what this person is doing and running an unlicensed extended-stay hotel?

Or having a guest house on your property and running a Craigslist ad to rent it out for the summer.

At what point does somebody giving me money in return for staying on my property turn my property into a hotel? I'm not talking the legal definition, I'm talking common sense.

The only working definition I can come up with is "when you reach a scale where the government can start taking a cut"

Back in the old days, that was a good-sized establishment. With computers, however, the government can go after anybody -- including lots of folks that earlier slipped through the cracks.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#175

Post by beginagain »

samspenc wrote: post #26

$200 monthly for a local cleaner who does unlimited cleans AND handles the bookings/inquiries??? That's quite a steal!

Not really. It doesn't take much effort to manage properties like this. Most guests on Airbnb don't want negative feedback as the author mentions, so they make an effort to leave the place as they found it. The person managing the property is probably not the same one cleaning it. She sources her own cleaning team most likely, and very may well have 60 or so properties under her wing. @ 80 properties & 200 bucks per month, after paying the cleaning team, she is pulling 12000 without lifting a finger. Also, I would be willing to bet she does not report all that income.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#176

Post by lotsofpulp »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #37
dave5104 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not that familiar with the Airbnb situation in NY. Why is this a "bad" pattern that NY state has deemed to be a violation of the law?

Illegal hotels aka slums. There is a reason hotels are fairly highly regulated. My first (and only) stay at an Airbnb rental resulted in me getting bedbugs.

It is unrealistic to expect any dwelling, whether it be hotel or hostel, to be free of bed bugs, especially if you're in a region with lots of international travelers. There is no effective insecticide for them, they can be impossible to see, and they don't need to eat for months.

Now, any decent hotel will be doing periodic checks for bedbugs around the box spring and headboard, and any other wooden furniture. But there will always exist a small chance that the last person to be in the room brought a couple and you will get them.

Good news is they don't transmit any disease, and if they bite you, it just itches for a few days and goes away.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#178

Post by umsm »

JackFr wrote: post #121
tedunangst wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're disrupting an obsolete industry.

No, travel agents were an obsolete industry. Hotels are not obsolete, AirBnB is 'disrupting' the industry by ignoring local laws and regulations. It may be that these regulations exist to protect an obsolete business model but it also might not. When your path is blocked by a fence before you tear it down, its a good idea to understand why it was put up in the first place.

In my personal experience, I love travel agents. They were able to:

(1) Make valuable recommendations (2) Offer me a better price than any website (3) Save me hours upon hours of wasted time

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#179

Post by tptacek »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #174
tptacek wrote: post #81

Exactly what is the difference between what this person is doing and running an unlicensed extended-stay hotel?

Or having a guest house on your property and running a Craigslist ad to rent it out for the summer. At what point does somebody giving me money in return for staying on my property turn my property into a hotel? I'm not talking the legal definition, I'm talking common sense. The only working definition I can come up with is "when you reach a scale where the government can start taking a cut" Back in the old days, tha…

Easy: at the point where your sole use of the property is for short-term rentals.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#180

Post by bolder88 »

tedunangst wrote: post #96
tptacek wrote: post #81

Exactly what is the difference between what this person is doing and running an unlicensed extended-stay hotel?

They're disrupting an obsolete industry.

Is insurance obsolete? How about tax? How about making sure businesses aren't run in inappropriate locations?
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