Our new Airbnb

I would love to use something like this but we have a gate at the common entrance- so we need a key for that. I'm just thinking though, it would be much easier to have something like this on the front of the door- only requires one set of keys!! I might look into this.

 

Gockie where are the majority of your guests from for your West Ryde unit given its off the tourist trail?

 

Interstate, and a reasonable percentage from overseas, especially China. But also Chinese with local Chinese family living here, there were a few people getting married and needing a place for their family to stay from overseas. Quite a few good French guests too.

There was also a family from Putney (nearby suburb) getting some house renos done so they stayed. And new English "gap year" type migrants needing a place to stay while they looked for a rental in a beach side suburb. Ditto new chinese migrants. And a guy from Canberra doing an electrical course that is only held in certain locations (NSW location being Silverwater). Oh, and lovely people from countryside South Australia having to do some medical certification so they had some activity at Westmead hospital. A lady doing some golf lessons at the local golf club too! Strange reasons but hey....
The reasons are endless.
Had one set of Chinese guests bringing their own linen.

West Ryde was getting really quite good demand as its not that far from SOP (people come to participate in sporting events too) and it's not far out - one group had family living in Penrith but they also wanted to do stuff in the city so West Ryde was a good middle ground location for them. There were also overseas medical interns (British I think) who enquired who were posted to the Nepean hospital but they didn't want to stay that far out at Penrith as they would use their spare time in the city.
I think you can't charge quite as much as some other locations though.

Good thing about West Ryde is the transport and all the services (supermarkets, restaurants etc) just being a walk away.

 

If it is strata building, try raising it in next strata meeting to replace the entrance lock with digital ones for ease of use (don't mention airbnb)

 

Everyone has their own fixation on Pizza. But whatever it is there's no compromise on Pizza

 

Thanks for that comprehensive post Gockie. All things being equal, are the net returns > than if you leased it out long term the traditional way? Reason I'm asking is I have an apt in Randwick I'm considering Airbnb-ing as well. Only problem is that there are so many around here.

 

I would actually consider doing it in Randwick. For sure.

Check out the star ratings of your competition, the nightly rate and how many unavailable nights there are for the calendar.
Then think about the effort. I wouldn't worry about occupancy rates. Choose a middle of the range nightly rate, assume a 85% occupancy and then calculate how much you'll get. Deduct expenses (linen, washing, cleaning, electricity, wifi etc). You are likely to do better than an 85% occupancy though.

On the other hand, normal rental = minimal fuss! Easy. So... your choice.

 

On the cleaning comments, I had a guest from the UK stay for 3 weeks this year. She was in her early 70s and coming on an annual visit to see her daughter. In our email chat, I told her our place was a huge space in an old shabby building just to forewarn her. She mentioned on the second day that the shower sides weren't very clean. 'Lime scale', I said. 'Really hard to budge.' She said 'Got it. I've dealt with that before.' I thought she was going to be hard work, but she was good fun. When I cleaned the place after she left, that shower recess was sparkling. I don't know what she used, but it has never looked like that. She left a great review.

 

Damn. You should have asked what she used.

 

Quick update- we've continued to have close to full occupancy. We even decided to accept a one night booking (usually two night minimum) for Saturday and we listed it for 2.5 times our normal rate and got a booking!

We are now considering though where our sweet spot is- eg if we can make the same amount of money at say 180 per night at 70% vacancy, as 145 per night at 90% vacancy, why wouldn't we? We will continue to build up our ratings and then assess from there.

 

Sorry to be picky, but I think you mean 70% and 90% occupancy rather than vacancy.

Regardless, that's a great outcome.

 

You are doing great Jodes.
In your calculations, the key would be the extra dollar amount difference you'll make with lower occupancy.

Here are some numbers to see where the breakeven point is, at different nightly rates.



It's always great to see people thinking outside the box and trying to maximise the returns.
May be you can also do last minute mystery deals somehow, for the non-occupied days. That'll further boost your returns.

 

Haha you are right- and I'm usually better than that so thanks for picking it up!

 

Update- we had 3 nights free in April (including one where we visited to check up on the property). For April, we are looking to make just over 3x what we would have made with a traditional rental.

It was interesting to go and check out our apartment to see how things are going. The apartment was spotless when we got there (from the previous guests) and it really makes me wonder what our cleaner spends 3 hours doing after each guest (especially those that are short stays). But she is excellent and reliable and we are 1000km away so rather than rock the boat for the sake of an hours cleaning pay each time we have decided to let her do what she does. Don't want to risk someone shoddy and unreliable !

We have heaps of bookings into next year (up until March) and have set our price much higher on the premise that prices this far in advance are relatively inelastic. We will continue to monitor.

 

I'm from Sydney too and have an apartment in Melbourne. I don't quite get your key solution though, you say your parents who live near by take care of it?

My problem is I could leave it in the mailbox but the mailboxes sit behind a security door that needs a FOB.

 

Hi @jaybean - our mailbox is on the street so don't need a key to access it. We have the key in a lock box in the mailbox to the security gate (sounds confusing but so far no one has complained) and then another set of keys in a lockbox that is attached to our apartment's front door frame. I'm not sure how you would do it if your mailbox sits behind a security door (unless you paid for someone to meet guests but that could get quite expensive!)

When I was in Melbourne on the weekend I did notice heaps of key lock boxes attached to fences outside of apartments- seemed a bit strange and I would have thought other residents would have complained but there were SO MANY.

If you do decide to airbnb out your apartment, i'm happy to help (or even manage it if you can't be bothered dealing with the fuss - I just love the process! Where is your apartment located?

 

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That sounds awesome actually. I currently have a really good long term tenant but I'm planning to do Airbnb once she moves out. Only question is how long that will be!

I was thinking of looking for someone retired in the CBD who would be interested in making some extra money with cleaning and keys but I figured I'd probably struggle to find any takers with just one apartment. But for someone already managing some apartments it makes a ton more sense. Plus I'd prefer to use a forum goer instead of some unknown.

I'll definitely reach out when my tenant moves

Btw this is my apartment (obviously I decided not to sell!):

Melbourne CBD - received offer over ~28% what I paid in 2012...sell or hold?

Located on the west end of little Collins. I think it would make a great Airbnb since it's so unique. Stick a convertible sofa in the living room and it would comfortably hold 4 guests.