Two Years on Airbnb: Worth the Effort?
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- We're finally here! Two years on Airbnb and we are here to break it all down for you guys. Join us as we delve into our two-year Airbnb hosting journey in Joshua Tree, California. In this insightful video, we share our real experiences, challenges, and financial insights from hosting a short-term rental. Discover how we navigated the saturated market, maintained consistent five-star reviews, and adapted our property to enhance guest experiences. We also discuss the realities of managing a rental property, including budgeting, seasonal fluctuations, and the importance of having a good relationship with your cleaner. Whether you're a seasoned host or considering Airbnb in 2023, our transparent breakdown of earnings, expenses, and personal stories offers valuable lessons and tips. If you're looking for authentic, practical advice on making the most of your Airbnb venture, this video is a must-watch. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and check out our other videos for more insights into our California Dream journey!
Signing up to host on Airbnb? Get $40 by using our link: www.airbnb.com/r/kristenm1725...
Create your own Direct Booking Website through Lodgify:
bit.ly/LodgiKrisMic1yr
Thanks for joining us as we navigate through the trials and triumphs of our DIY adventures and a big thank you for all of the support always... we appreciate YOU!
New to our channel? Well, hi there! We're Kristen and Michael, a couple embarking on a wild adventure of transforming our dream desert home into a short-term rental biz!
As crazy as it sounds, we decided to ditch our beloved Los Angeles (which we called home for 7 years) and chase our wildest dreams of owning a piece of land in California. And guess what? We did it! We finally bought our desert house in the summer of 2021, and we've been DIY-ing our hearts out ever since!
We're talking about an (almost) complete renovation, from top to bottom! But that's not all! We're also building our business from scratch, with the goal of sharing our little oasis with our family, friends, and even strangers from all over the world.
So come on and join us on this crazy ride! We promise it'll be full of laughs, tears, and lots of DIY fails (and wins!). Welcome to our channel!
Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions or questions for us.
Check out our listing and website:
www.airbnb.com/rooms/51232282
www.theseventhrayhouse.com
Find us on Airbnb: bit.ly/3UPajHZ
Follow our Airbnb on Instagram: bit.ly/3Wt5C7v
Full House Tour | Before Renovations bit.ly/3BUq5tW
Full Airbnb Tour | After Renovations bit.ly/3BWvmBb
Shop Our Patio Furniture:
bit.ly/47551hE
bit.ly/43uNLzh
Shop Our Gear:
DJI Mini SE (Drone)
amzn.to/3L3Qecq
iPhone 13 Pro:
amzn.to/3d48buT
Music via Musicbed (Get one month free):
www.musicbed.com/invite/DvQ9E
Shop Our Home:
Our Home Decor, Kitchen, and Bedroom Essentials, and MORE
LTK: bit.ly/3tj5Twj
AMAZON: amzn.to/3UH6qUq
Shop our new (& old) bedroom decor here: bit.ly/3FaPwHM
Get 40% off Cozy Earth sheets -- aka: the coziest/cool sheets we've ever slept on & they're 100% bamboo -- using code SEVENTHRAYRBO
cozyearth.pxf.io/kjrM7N
00:00 Introduction
00:51 The Realities of Managing an Airbnb in 2023
04:19 The Importance of Budgeting for your Short Term Rental
05:32 Diversifying Booking Sources
06:41 Adapt or Die
09:33 How Much Money our Airbnb Made
11:28 Graphs and Other Percentages
12:40 Our Outlook Going Into 2024
13:52 How To Make Extra Money with your Short Term Rental
16:01 More about Kristen and Michael
#airbnb #airbnbbusiness - Навчання та стиль
I appreciate the transparency. I love to see owners like myself rather than the 100 door owners. There are things to be learned from them but you guys provide the example for me to keep persevering with my 1 door. Thank you.
You bet! There's something for everyone from all of the perspectives but it's nice to find people you reallllly connect with on this! Appreciate you being here and the kind words! :)
The greatest part about watching your journey is your dedication to your bnb business and these youtube videos! I think most people don't realize how incredibly time consuming, creating, editing and then sharing this content can be. I love that you've taken the steps to get on the "path" and while there are many people in front of you on their journey, you're continuing to inspire all those behind you!
Thank you Both for being candid. So encouraging
I love you guys for being so transparent. I plan to do an airbnb when I get my property. I'm a total clean freak, so that's a plus to start. I've traveled the country and stayed in airbnbs since covid hit. I learned to go for the superhost postings only (because I am a clean freak!). But not all of them were tolerable. I can tell you stories!
Thanks for sharing it!
I really enjoy watching your videos. I am new to vacation rentals having started in July 2023. Had a bumpy start with a property manager but am now self managing and doing much better. I get plenty of inspiration and tips from you guys so thank you for creating your series. It is very helpful for a newbie. Wishing you all the best in the coming years.
My wife and I love you guys. We just started ours in North Texas. “Unique Barn” located in Honey Grove, Texas.
I love your ideas. Thank you!!
Brent & Cindy K,
McKinney, Texas
It is not passive. If you want those 5 stars you gotta work it. People working for you don't care as much. They just want it to be good enough and get paid. I clean my own. But that is because I really want the good reviews. Thank you for sharing your numbers. Everything you guys share on here I really enjoy because I have had lots of similar experience.
I was cleaning this morning in one of the units and I remembered that Kristen was asking how to change it the easiest way. I have become an experienced pro at making the beds. This is the secret. When you take off the duvet cover, take it off inside out and leave it inside out. Throw it in the wash. Take your fresh duvet cover which is already inside out, out. Put your bottom sheet on the bed and the top sheet---as far to the top as possible on the top sheet, so as not to short sheet someone when they get in the bed. Take the naked Duvet and put the tag up at the top of the bed, upside down. Then take your duvet cover and put your arms in it while it is inside out and go to the top ends with your hands. Grab the corners inside. Then with your hands looking like mittons inside the duvett, grab the corners of the duvet from the bottom of the bed. Shake the duvet into place and flip the top to the top of the bed. Straighten and you won't have to fight the lumps. It evenly puts the duvet in the insert cover properly. Fold your bed down and then do the pillows last.
I cannot tell you how much I hated the bed, now it is a breeze. It helps to be tall, you are kind of petite. So maybe you won't get that arm span. You can also have your husband help you shake it down by holding a corner each. This is why maids usually help each other with them. This took a long time for me to learn the hard way. Good luck.
I mean you're always going to "work hard" differences is if you want to work hard for someone else or for yourself?
@@carlosvillalta9974 true
This is awesome thank you - the bed and changing the duvet every time has been such a struggle ( I am short) but this could help so much. Your method is going to change this for me thank you!
@@lizreuter2410 you’re welcome ☺️ !
The transparency helps so many people. Move videos are teasers and click here to learn more types. Y’all are just laying it out and helping. Thank you!
Sincerely,
A fellow Airbnb host.
Great work! I’ve followed your journey for 2 years! (Started my first bnb around same time) you are doing great! It’s ok to become wealthy if you are working hard at it!
I don't watch all of your videos, but I do check in from time to time. I love how far you have came with this place. Keep up the great work!!
Thank you so much for watching
Thank you for the info!
Imo allowing pets is a great way to stand out in a saturated market and increase occupancy. We have allowed pets for 5 years and are consistently more booked than a similar listing down the street that has a hot tub and fire pit which we don’t have. We don’t find there is much extra cleaning involved, less than when we have toddlers stay!
100%! we noticed a big jump in bookings with pets when we started allowing them! The biggest headaches are the big fluffy dogs, but totally worth it.
Agreed. Toddlers are waaay more messy than dogs…but no puppies…
Best video you guys have made so far. Thank you!
Thank you so much! Working on stepping up our filming and editing so this comment made our day. Thank you :)
Wow ! Love seeing how much you've grown w/your STR rental.The star gazing platform looks amazing. keep up the good work!
Thank you so much Ines! Good to hear from you. :)
Thanks for the kick ass video update 🙏 Giving me news ideas in this saturated market to be creative in Toronto Canada 🇨🇦
Thank you guys 😊
Our pleasure!
Thank you so much for all of the experiences and information you guys take the time to put out! We started our STR in a different country than we are from (Because we moved!) and your experiences were so vital to us just taking the leap and starting up last March! We got Lodgify because you recommended it and it's been a great resource to manage 2 platforms and keep us newbies organized!!! We are also working on redirecting to our Lodgify direct booking, so it'll be cool to work side by side with you guys to make it happen! Happy new year, and happy STRing!
Amazing!! Thank you so much for following along and it sounds like you are doing great. Best of luck only our STR journey, let us know if you have any questions and we are happy to try and help!
It is a lot of work at first. I have it all set up so it is now passive income. Having it as a passive income business is very possible. If I can do it, anyone can!
I’m wanting to turn my TX house into a rental in the future and y’all are giving me good ideas. I realize they’re totally different (short term vs long term) but like you say being creative is key 😊
Thank you for being honest!
Thank you for watching and best of luck on your TX house! Are you going to be long term renting it?
thank you for the transperancy
Thank you for watching!
Good that you included the peripheral revenue streams. I think a lot of hosts either fail to see them or just ignore the opportunities.
My place is a farm within a national forest. I offer guests an opportunity to book hunts and will have mountain bikes for rent next Spring.
Oh wow, offering hunting is so cool! Mountain bikes are a great idea
Good job explaining STR experience. Hopefully you purchase the home before the market surge.
Our goals on this journey are very much aligned. My husband and I are in a different stage and we're thinking ahead to our retirement. We have our primary home and the goal is to have guests pay for our retirement home. Equity is important and not spoken about very often. Great video.
Thank you so much for watching! Yes, we have a brother in law who has used equity to his advantage and been very successful. Love the idea of having guests pay for your retirement home, that's an awesome strategy!
New subscriber here. I’m thinking of doing the short term rental hustle just like you guys. Thank you for giving me ideas. I hope to find an affordable place to buy. Good luck to me.
Thank you for another great video! We have done very well with Airbnb, but it isn't for everyone.
yes that’s the key “re-invest “ in your own property
Awesome! I am on a similar journey but only 6 months in!
Amazing, How's it going so far for you?
Thank you for sharing and being transparent, your on five acres how about add a Casita or two!
Keep up the good work 🎉
Happy hosting 😅
I had my own solar contracting business in California for 10 years. In the later years I was grossing about $80,000 per month, I could not even afford to pay myself $100,000 per year salary. 😂 It was so expensive to run a business with permitting and insurance and employees and workers comp And dealing with homeowners and local building authorities I got so stressed out I threw in the towel. It was one hell of a roller coaster ride, and I am so happy to now have a regular every day job where I can turn off my phone at 4:30 PM. Stick with it, I wish you guys all the best.
I looked up Cozy Earth something that might be a good idea is get their robes and sell or from a different company 😊 Everyone loves robes and/or slippers
How do you get that glitch/dark effect on your video - you use it when you’re showing stats. Ty as a fellow creator and awesome video!!!
Been thinking on ways you might be able to increase ADR. First question is are you using any pricing tools like price labs? That can really help optimize for seasonality and for special pricing. But considering you are allowing nightly stays I would probably take this general strategy. Keep your baseline price quite high. Then if folks book a single night you are maximizing since this is likely a friday or saturday and those are in shorter supply. I would then price out 2, 3, 7 and monthly discounts. I would also have far out pricing significantly higher and provide discounts as open date become closer. High season should also have a pricing strategy that is much higher and low season have discounts. With price labs you can create each of these scenarios and apply them to dates on the calendar. Then if overall occupancy goes up or down it will automatically raise or lower prices accordingly. The cost for price labs is pretty inexpensive for a single STR and would definitely pay for itself.
finally the last type of strategy would be special addons for shorter stays after they book. If you have some orphan dates just send a special deal to those folks to stay longer. If those dates would never be rented anyways if a few take you up on it then it's basically free upside! Good luck!
Yes we use price labs and love it. We haven't dove in as extensively as you have. But will look into doing that! We have started messaging guests and ask if they want to add a night on to their stay if we have an orphan date for a huge discount. This is great information, thank you so much!
So true. As a host myself, worst Airbnb experience as a guest has been with Property Managers (companies who don’t take pride or care)! It’s a must to live nearby my property to manage it with care and quality.
Great video!! I was looking in Joshua Tree but didn’t end up buying in that area. I just started my direct booking website so I look for to see how you will market yours so I can get some tips. 😊
Thank you! Curious, where did you end up purchasing?
@@kristenandmichael I used Hospitable (my PM company) It's only $5 a month per property and the clients pay them directly. The pay a small fee, but it includes insurance through Superhog. I think they have 3 different options.
Occupancy is where I overestimated on my property. I switched from a quarterly review to a 2 month review and then running pricing specials to get longer stays. It has worked out nicely going into the new year.
We did the same. We estimated 75% occupancy at first. Do you do your pricing specials in Airbnb or Pricelabs?
@@kristenandmichael I do mine through AirBNB. I tweaked it further with some tips from another AirBNB influencer.
Thank you for your transparency! Would love to hear how you used Chatgpt to create that bar chart! Were you able to use the free version?
We use the paid version that you can use ChatGPT 4 and then I download the data as CSV from Airbnb, then uploaded it to Chat GPT and asked it to give me a visual representation of income generated. It's a game changer for a lot of things!
Hey thank you for all the videos, i just watched your one month, 6 months, 1 year and 2 year updates. Great information. If you rent the unit on your website, how do you manage the legal aspects of it? Did you draft a contract? Worst case scenario, what if, let’s say, the renters don’t leave, or damage the property, etc.
This is a common question and also one we fear never happens. But there are a few things you can do. 1st we have inquiries only, so someone has to request to book the home. We require that the person sends us a message and we ask them questions about their stay. We also require that the guest put a security deposit that we refund once the cleaner has cleaned the house and made sure nothing is damaged. You can upload your own rental contract in there as well! It's definitely a risk but we've had nothing but positive experiences so far.
my wife and i were thinking about our Florida house that we only go during the cold winter months up here in New England. We are minutes from the springs of the rainbow river in Dunnellon Fl. Great Kayaking, hiking and Scuba diving within minutes, very close to shopping and restaurants, we wouldnt rent it cheap but competitive any thoughts on some first steps.??
First steps would be to assess the market, go and act like you're going to book a home in your area and see what it's like out there. See what other homes look like, what they are booking for and what amenities they have. If yours fits well and you think is similar to other listings that are getting booked then you can feel confident to start diving into setting up your STR.
Hi from AZ
Hi!
5 stars from me, from CROATIA...gretings..
Thank you so much!
Thanks for the update. I used your link to set up my Airbnb listing recently. We have had 3 guests already. When does Airbnb send both of us the commission money?
Thank you so much! If the property you listed is your first and its the "entire place", once you hosted a complete stay there, you should have seen it get deposited.
@kristenandmichael should I contact Airbnb? It is my first, and it is the entire place. and we have had 3 complete stays, but I have not received a $40 deposit, only the 3 payouts.
Is it possible to earn more money renting by the room? Great video!!
Hey, as landlords (correct me if I’m wrong) if someone wanted to rent out your property to someone basically manage ur property what would you expect them to cover. (Furniture bills small maintenance ) which is what I know of but what else does the person paying you guaranteed rent cover ?
so we could say expenses could reach 2500$ per year , not bad
wish u all the best ، I learned so much from u guys thx .
lol, about the 5 star reviews.. I have an airbnb in Joshua Tree as well, I got up to ~60 5.0 star reviews, then got one 4.0 review because my brand new AC just behaved and the guest (that loved the place and said he will return) didn't consider that little hiccup and downgraded the review..it is frustrating :(
Oh wow, yeah we think some people just don't understand that a 4 star is kind of a bad thing for hosts haha
Hi! Thanks for sharing your guy's experience as a host!
We are starting our business as well in Joshua. Could you please tell me where you find a reliable house cleaner ?
Thank you in advance!❤
We found our cleaner on the "Joshua Tree Vacation Rental Resources" Facebook page. Tons of great information here: facebook.com/groups/1482990748412857/
I do rentals for Hollywood productions, its not much but its something :)
Thank you for sharing. Did you do your own website also how is lodgify working for you.
Yes, we have our own website through Lodgify. It's working great for us. It takes a little bit to figure it all out, but if you're interested in more information on it we made a whole video about setting it up here: ua-cam.com/video/olK9mjZfzfU/v-deo.html
Great info and numbers! But where is the little man? I want to hear Finn's review on allowing dogs in the house! Does it kill the vibe, does he resent them laying in his sun spots on the rug? Or do the interesting smells make up for the intrusion? Speak your truth Finn!
We purchased a short term beach house rental around the same time as you guys. We've enjoyed following your journey and have definitely picked up some good tips. We wish you continued success in the future.
Oh wow! Thank you so so so much for the gift. We truly feel so grateful to have this community of like-minded people on here that we can talk about all this stuff with.
Hi, 1st video of yours I’ve seen…I played back your words to my wife…this is much more work than you think…✔️✔️✔️
Lots of good thoughts thank you!
Agreed you should manage yourself.
OWN BOOKINGS - we have 3 beach Airbnb’s on our property. We have been reluctant to take bookings through our own website because of a short term contract, and managing paying taxes to the government (province) we live in Canada. (Airbnb does that for us)
How do you manage that?
We haven't had enough bookings through our own website for it to be too hard to track. Our county sends us a Transient Occupancy Tax form quarterly and that's where we have to pay the things that aren't through Airbnb.
It is very scary when we do bookings through our direct booking website because there definitely as much protection, but we do ask them questions when they request to book so there has to be a dialogue in order for us to accept. Thank you so much for watching! Hopefully that answers your questions.
Hi from west coast canada
Hi! Thanks for being here
Thank you. I used your cozy earth code from your website or IG bio and used it 3 times (bamboo sheet set, duvet and insert ) then I signed up to get a code too and they sent me the tents cards .
Have you tried monthly rental?
Hello Kristen and michael,
Appriciate your hard work and efforts as beautiful couple, Please could you guys share the cost of buying this airbnb, Purchase Price, renovation cost.
You guys are so sweet. Great guys. Big hello 👋🏻 from Australia 🇦🇺
All the best of success to you .. would you also manage the air bnb clean teams. In Australia Noosa 2024 a team of 4 people will charge $250 Australian dollars per clean. Not cheap right. So managing other air bnb and managing clean teams in your llc should help you a lot to grow and reach your growth faster. I met one air bnb person here in Canberra they drove a $150,000 new suv Mercedes how. She was managing 12 air bnb for owners landlords and she managed cleaning teams for them also. This might be an extra nugget for you and others here. Cheers 🥂 all the best. ❤ love your posts
Kristen and Michael. Airbnb says there may be an issue ssue with your referral link:
Below is a message from Airbnb support.
Thank you for this. As per checking on your account, there were no referral reward for the referred Host. What I can suggest is to let your friend reach out to us directly so we can check on their account the reward.
This is why I followed you for these types of vids with info and numbers . I don’t like the vlogs without numbers
Understandable :)
I would do a "Tree House Room" it brings in $150k per yr or a Silver bullet Stream in the middle of the desert land.
Live in Ontario and might have missed the direct link for booking your place, not through Airbnb (cheapest) what month is that?
www.theseventhrayhouse.com
I have a house in Charlotte NC, luckily it’s paid off, it’s an older home that needs renovations though, I’m thinking about 40-60k, but it’s close to the airport and some other attractions, I’m hoping to rent it on air bnb, but I want to be able to live overseas so I’m not sure how that would work.
You just need to build the right team, find cleaners, a handyman and even a property manager that you trust. Tons of people do it!
Hi Kristen & Michael, I have been following you on this journey for over a year since I was interested in the JT market. Thank you so much for putting these videos together and sharing your numbers which will help others decide on whether they want to get in this business or not. I do think some data is missing though which I think would help give more transparency. I think it would be good to include how much money you needed to put down on the house, ballpark of how much the renovation and upgrades cost over the years, and how much taxes you expect to pay on the rental income. Also, what is the appreciation/depreciation are we looking at so far? I just saw a property close at 6081* Alta Loma that was listed for a long time. Original owner bought in 2021 for 600k and sold for 340k. That is like a 45% decline in just a couple years. I think this info is good to know for anybody that is new to investing and really interested in buying a property to rent as an Airbnb.
That's a good idea, we can do that in future videos. It was our first home and we put down $40k, and put in around $15k for renovations (we saved a lot by DIYing) and furniture.
As far as that property on Alta Loma, just looked it up and it seems that that person just really didn't do their homework before buying and paid way too much and that's on them. It's a 1 bed, 1 bath on not even half an acre (plus it's not even that cool). That's definitely an exception of someone who really messed up.
Please do a video on tax advantages to add to this evaluation. :)
there is that ago old saying never ever make any additions to a rental property . ???? i do like your ideas about making extra income from the property
Omgosh how do you get a direct booking website?
We made a video all about it here:
ua-cam.com/video/olK9mjZfzfU/v-deo.htmlsi=HI-yc9VF1Cwr4PWh
How’s taxes works ?
Do you know the laws when it comes to owning
themed Airbnbs? For example a Disney or Nintendo
themed house. Is it legal do I need permission? I
can't find any answers online
Honestly... I would do it until someone told you you couldn't. Just don't use logos or the names, just characters and colors.
As long as you don't DIY the logo, font, or anything with a copyright, you can use the theme as a niche. Just like you can have a Disney or Minions themed birthday party, your decor can certainly have registered trademarks. You just can't DIY the specific items. For instance, Disney has its own font that you have to pay to use, so you can't copy that on your wall freehand and advertise it, but you CAN purchase a stencil of the Disney font and that gives you license to use it as decor. You can't charge for a "Disney package", or a "Disney experience" but you can certainly say that "you will feel like a princess sleeping in a bed made for Sleeping Beauty, surrounded by the dwarfs to watch over you after a long day in the princess bounce house!
It's all about verbiage and what you are actually charging for. Make sure you charge for the stay and not the themed experience. This way you haven't actually made money off of someone else's copyright or trademark.
Airbnb might have their own rules, but I think it's a great idea!
Just like you can advertise that the beds have Serta comfort mattresses, or the sheets are Luxe, you can advertise what you purchased and a are providing. You just can't copy it and sell it without permission.
Do you list on any other websites besides Airbnb?
Yes. We broke it down in this video. 92% of our bookings come through airbnb. Others are our direct booking website and VRBO
Why 150 fee to pay for cleaning the hot tub ? I’d that for the whole cleaning or just only the hot tub?
That is what it costs us for the month for weekly service to come clean the hot tub.
Hello Kristen & Michael, are you available to speak to my group, we have a Virtual RE Summit coming up on Feb 19-21st and would love to have you guys share your story
Not clear if the money they made was profit (I.e. net income) or gross
What is your time worth? How many hours a week on average you spend on the business? Sometimes we forget our value. Add that in. Some months I’ve realized airbnb is just a very expensive hobby.
Hahah you're 100% right. It is an expensive hobby haha
$185 per month for an airbnb cleaning? I cannot believe it.
What’s the catch.
My cleaning lady charges $130 each time.
Ours is 130 also, not sure where you got 185?
I think it's great what you guys are doing and trying to build wealth. However, your numbers have a big flaw that you are not letting the viewers know about. That is the cost of your labor/time. You are making money each month but you are not deducting the cost of your labor (driving to and from the house, doing house work, renovations etc.) You are spending time at the house etc. If your billable time was $50/hr then you would probably be losing money each month. That is something very important your viewers should know.
whats with the loud volume (sound) spike? ..
Someone else is paying ur mortgage so breakeven is ok in the interim.
You are losing money. You need to put in all expenses including what you could have made with the initial investment. Wealth in real estate is usually a long term endeavor, take it from someone in the game for 40 years and with all the new rules and liabilities, glad I just finished getting out.
Airbnb is imploding. I hope you see that and get out immediately.
Thank you for watching!
So in a very broad sense do you both have regular jobs…..? Aside from Airbnb…..
Not necessarily "regular" because we are both self-employed and earn an income outside of airbnb, but yes.
Thanks 🙏 we just have long term renters but we could do an angle to Airbnb our basement suite. But my wife doesn’t want to clean after others and our old house the sounds travel very clearly between basement and main floor. So we just hope that the 1 yr lease renters don’t make our basement a party zone which has less of a guarantee with Airbnb
Are y'all gonna bone after this episode?
It wasn’t worth it to your neighbors
What are you going to do when the fact there is no housing left for people causes your state to change the laws? Short term rentals are killing the housing market. Many cities are changing the rules for short term rentals. You are part the problem
What you are saying is false. And San Bernardino County (the market we're discussing here) did a $1M study compiling the facts. Check it out: www.sbcounty.gov/uploads/LUS/Planning/STR_STUDY/FINAL%20STR%20Tech%20Memo%20and%20Report.pdf
Cry harder.
What are you doing to help the homeless population?