Starting An Airbnb In 2024 Is Insanely Scary

Now, put all the scary feelings aside, you can still make money in this business. And it’s good money. You just have to know where to invest and how to analyze a potential deal.

In this post I am going to go through all the different ways you can start a successful Airbnb in 2024.

This post is all about starting an Airbnb.

Best Tips For Starting An Airbnb

First, you need an Airbnb business plan

You need to understand your goals here and what resources (money) you’re starting with. You also need to have an understanding of the market you would like to invest in. This is going to vary so widely from person to person. I’ve turned my primary residence into an Airbnb, bought an Airbnb in a vacation market and then turned a long term rental into an Airbnb because I was not wanting to be a landlord anymore. You have to ask yourself your goals and go from there.

Here’s a few examples of an Airbnb business plan and you can pick which one will be best for your goals and situation.

1. How to start an Airbnb by buying a property

If you want to start from square one and buy a property for Airbnb. You will definitely want to invest in a tool like Pricelabs Market Research and Airdna. These are going to give you a good look at markets and even data by specific addresses. The data provided on the free version will give you specific revenue and operating cost projections for full year. I have found this tool to be insanely accurate and don’t even use the paid version in my investing!

I dive into property analysis at the beginning of this article. Check it out!

2. How to start an Airbnb without owning property

If you have some money saved up but not an enough for a down payment and furnishing an entire house, you could do an Airbnb arbitrage. This is when you rent/lease a property from a landlord with an agreement in place that they will allow you to list the property on short term rental booking platforms. Make sure you do this with the owners permission!

Now you will need some money for this. Rental deposit, first months rent and furniture ($10-$15/sq ft). But this a very inexpensive way to get started with Airbnb.

3. How to start an Airbnb with no money

There’s just no way to do this on your own and be the sole owner or operator. You will need some money. The only way this could work is through co-hosting, offering your services to other hosts in exchange for a % split (typically 15-25% of top line revenue). Or through partnerships where you could be designated an owner and the partner would bring the money.

4. How to convert an existing property into an Airbnb

I am famous for this. I got bit by the Airbnb bug in 2019 and LOVED hosting. The first property we launched had to be switched to a midterm rental due to a neighbor issue (learned a ton in the process here). And I needed another short term rental fast. I didn’t know about any of the resources back then but knew I wanted more short term rentals.

Now I know about Airdna and Pricelabs and all the wonderful tools they have to analyze data to make sure you are moving the property in the right direction prior to making the expensive furniture investment.

Airbnb start up costs

Now that you know your Airbnb business plan it’s necessary to understand your start up costs. This will range widely depending on the strategy you chose above but below is a list of items you need to put into your Airbnb budget.

1. Closing costs and down payment

If you purchasing a property this will be the first expense out the door. If you’re doing arbitrage, this will be the security deposit and rent check for the first month.

2. Furnishings

Furnishings are going to run you $10-$15 a sq ft. Luxury properties should be $15/sq ft and a value play at $10/sq ft. You want to spend at least this much to provide a well furnished and stocked listing.

I have more details on the importance of this in this Airbnb design article. Check it out!

3. Initial inventory stock and back up stock

This initial inventory stock up can be a few thousand dollars depending on how much you want to stock up. I always go heavy so I don’t have to restock quickly. With my last set up the supplies I purchased for back stock lasted over 8 months so I way over purchased! But I didn’t have to worry about anything running out for a long time. That was the right way to do it for my business but you will need to choose what’s right for you.

4. All preventative maintenance scheduled and performed at the beginning

This is crucial. The last thing you want is a fridge filter going bad right when a guest stays or there to be an ant problem. Get all preventative maintenance done prior to hosting your first guest to ensure their stay is as smooth as possible. You will thank yourself later when everything goes smoothly and those 5 star reviews roll in.

Now time to host your first guest!

While this may be insanely scary, you are prepared. You need that revenue to start flowing through so you can ensure you get that ROI on all these start up costs right away. If you’ve done the work to analyze the deal and decorate the listing properly, there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll be successful.

 

I’d love to know if you launched your property! Let me know in the comments below.

This post was all about starting an Airbnb.