I have a house next door that I am thinking about renting some through air bnb,
It's a 2 bedroom / 2 bath with both being master bedrooms and master bathrooms with walk in showers, Garden tubs, double sinks, etc.
living room, kitchen & dining room. Rear deck faces lake.
Has 20 x 20 carport. Lake front in a small cove at Cedar Creek Lake. As Long as Lake has water, you can tie boat up to retaining wall and walk 50 ft (up hill a little) to house.

I have more stuff to do to get it ready (new beds, etc.) so I haven't fully committed to renting it at all, just kinda want to hear from others that have done it and maybe have some idea what I'm dealing with.

Also thinking about just selling house (to be moved) and just build me a shop.

How much you think I can rent for? Thinking only offering from Thursday at noon till Sunday at noon for a certain amount as a minimum, then maybe, $100-$150 a night for added nights?



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Looking at VRBO in your area, $150 seems to be the going rate for similar properties. I have some clients that have done it and they have all really liked the experience. According to them, they project the property to be leased 150-180 nights a year.

Doesn’t hurt to try. You’re coming into the busy months for lake rentals, they do have off seasons as the lake is its biggest draw.

If you don’t want to handle any of it, check out Evolve for property management.

Easy as pie, fix it up a minimum and rent it this summer. That’s going to be the high demand months. If you like what’s happening put a few dollars more in and have at it, if not sell it this fall and build a shop. I sure love my shop. Having electric and water there is a good starting point. Also on the shop, I would go as small as I needed to in my budget to include insulation, bathroom, and a mini-split.

One of our daughters had a place at Angel Fire and they did the Air BNB thing for a year or two. It brought in good money, but there was a hassle factor to deal with. Having your rental place next door should lower the hassle factor problems. And we have some friends that have a little rental house on their place near here and use Air BNB and make good money off it.

Your place being on the lake should really bring in folks.

We have a small guest house here on our place, and the wife has hinted about Air BNB, but I just don’t want to deal with having strangers inside the fence line.

Rented many over north texas when we take weekend trips to new lakes, I am usually in charge of boat and let other party do the reservations.

2 day minimum for weekends seems to be the norm for lake properties.

Put out some string lights. Folks like em.

A tip for just getting started, price yourself below the market. People book based on pictures and reviews. Anybody can post nice pictures, but top dollar booking are those with a history.

Friend of mine has a condo in Sedona, with all the competition for VRBO’s especially condos, he knew he had to be different. So he included a street legal golf cart in the rental and made his place $15 per night less. He barely gets to use it now as it stays booked

Add a fire pit with a nice sitting area and don’t “fee” people to death. I refuse to rent properties that have a ton of fees built in.

I hate Airbnb and VRBO for this reason. I understand taxes are mandatory, but all of the BS cleaning fees and service fees add a ridiculous amount to the total price. It's all BS that these fees which don't appear in the nightly rate and severely inflate the total price when a guest books a property.

Lots of rental places also have the audacity to force guests to do chores at the end of the stay or face additional fees.

Obviously, many vacation destinations don't have enough hotel rooms, but give me a nice hotel over a rental any day. I don't get charged for cleaning or admin and there is an standard of cleanliness, amenities, and service that is maintained. Often, this comes at a price that is much lower than Airbnb or VRBO.

I have rented a few and have never had a bad experience. When traveling with 3 dogs hotels are pretty much out of the question.

That's why it's important to look at the fee details that are disclosed prior to booking.

I probably spend 14 days a year in a VBRO. I’ve never had an issue

Do it often, just got back from our ski trip, great as always. We had a 3-2-2, about 1800 sf house for my wife and I, three daughters and three grand kids. We always divide it up by room. This was about $140.00 per night for wife and I. Had a full kitchen for breakfast every morning, dinner there a couple of nights....

We've used VRBO/AIRNBnB from Colorado to St. Lucia. Best option for us.

Yes, that's obvious...the point I'm making is that when browsing properties, there is a nightly rate shown. That nightly rate does not include all of the additional fees until you begin to book the property. So a place that shows up as $200/night in your search can easily become $300/night. Again, exclusive of taxes, when I go to book a hotel room and I see a nightly rate of $200, when I go to book it, I'm not going to get hit with cleaning fees, booking fees, service fees, etc. like I do on Airbnb/VRBO. The exception that I can think of is resort fees. All in all, I've never had a hotel to tell me I need to strip the sheets and take out the trash or I'd be hit w/ fees. And I've never had a hotel charge me a line item fee for cleaning.

Stayed at many. As others have said, watch the fees. Some have tried to push the envelope by making you load dishwasher, put sheets in washer. Etc.

Last week, we stayed in a 3 bedroom in Tuscaloosa for sorority weekend. My daughter wanted an unexpected break from her roommates and crashed 1 night with us. They charged us 20 extra bucks because we told them 2 people and 2 beds were used.
It’s a 3 bedroom. Whatever

I agreed to pay it. But told the dude I would responsibly make note of this “fee” in my comment, which I didn’t want to do. He agreed to not be a DB and took off the fee.

Preach!

Every nice hotel I've been to has resort fees, outrageous taxes, and many have parking fees added on top as well.

We use AirBnB/VRBO every chance we get...it's typically cheaper for us for the size we need with a family of 6.

Great advice here! CC--go for it! Would love to hear how it works out. Another plus, if you ever decide to sell, the STR revenue will add quite a bit of value to the property.

I’d rather stay at a hotel over Airbnb/vrbo besides some of the ridiculous fees or requirements they usually have such cheap Ikea or Walmart crap in these houses or condos.

Good advice. Will their be a place to dock their boat? That seemed important when My neighbor did AIRBNB with theirs.

Don’t let them know you live next door. People will bother you to death…

Another option you may be interested in is renting it on a 2-3 year term to someone that’s going to VRBO it. It’s very popular way to generate monthly income, these people generally pay for half the term up front, they are responsible for all repairs that aren’t acts of god, and they generally take pretty good care of the property. Good way to generate true mailbox money while someone else does the dirty work.

Think I shot a few of those docks back in the day with Jigum.

I beat you to it CCBIRDMAN, I just listed my guest house on VRBO and will see how it goes. I plan on offering discounts to THF friends and family that book directly with me.

https://www.vrbo.com/3312745