How to Airbnb Your Home for Additional Income

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… you do not have to sell your home to start full time RV living. In fact, you might be missing out on a great income opportunity if you do sell your house. This blog covers how to Airbnb your home to make remote income while supporting your life on the road, starting with the most common question we get:

Is it worth it to Airbnb your house?

Yes… if you set it up well from the start. Like all short term rental platforms, Airbnb gives you the control to set your prices, screen potential renters, choose the minimum number of nights per booking, make house rules, and more. You do not have to rent to anybody you don’t want to and you can make your house rules as strict or lenient as you want.

What percentage does Airbnb take?

The percentage AirBnb takes changes as the platform evolves (you’ll be notified well in advance of any changes). What’s more important than what percentage AirBnb takes from the profits is your overall payout. Focus on making your minimum nightly rate high enough that your overall payout will make you a profit and cover:

1. Your mortgage (if any)
2. Utilities
3. HOA
4. Upkeep (gardening, routine maintenance, replacement linens, etc.)
5. Cleaning (this can be done by charging a cleaning fee as well)

Slightly overestimating each of these items will help you make a profit while also having great guests.

Why Airbnb versus VRBO and other platforms?

We recommend starting out on Airbnb because it is the least complicated platform for listing and Airbnb really guides you through the process step by step. You can build out your entire Airbnb listing, start building your reviews, and later duplicate your listing to VRBO easily.

VRBO even has a program for people that are already listed on Airbnb where they will duplicate your listing onto VRBO for you, so it’s worth listing on Airbnb first only for the reason to have a simple way to move to VRBO afterwards.

How much money can you expect to make renting your house?

We reached out to our real estate team to gauge the rental market and how much we could make on a short term rental vs. long term rental. (If you’re in Arizona, we highly recommend the MAV Real Estate Team)! After research and consulting with them, we determined we could expect to make at least 1.5X more doing monthly rentals instead of annual leases. Airbnb is a great platform for all lengths of listings because you set your minimum nights per booking.

You can look at similar listings on Airbnb in your area to determine your nightly rate, but do not sell yourself short. Make sure you can cover your costs + some extra or it will not be worth it!

Ok, so now that you know the basics, here’s how to Airbnb your home as an additional income source:

1. Confirm that you’re allowed to rent in your county, city, neighborhood, and HOA.
   • Some HOAs implement small fines for violations of renting as a short term rental. These fines are occasionally so small that it’s worth the risk to rent and just pay the violation fee. This isn’t an ideal situation, but it’s something to consider.
2. Sign up to become an Airbnb host here. (You’ll get a special bonus after your first listing!)
3. Follow the step-by-step instructions from Airbnb. I do not recommend skipping these unless it’s absolutely necessary. I do recommend opting out of smart pricing until you have a good idea of what you need.
4. Make sure the settings are exactly what you want before going live. Keep an eye out for:
   • Minimum nights per booking
   • Base price per night
   • Instant booking on or off (if you’re setting it on, make sure to set your guest requirements)
   • Cleaning fee
   • Address is not fully disclosed (just the general area is disclosed until after booking)
   • Cancellation policy (you’ll have a few options to choose from)
   • Minimum number of days notice before a guest’s stay
   • Minimum number of days between bookings
   • Enhanced cleaning protocols
5. Go live and share your listing on social channels (we have an Instagram just for our listing)!
6. Prepare your home for guests after you secure your first booking (more on this later)

Here’s our listing for inspiration (or if you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Scottsdale!):

These steps are great for anybody learning how to AirBnb your home, but here are some additional tips if you’re AirBnbing your house as a full time RVer:

• The higher minimum nights per booking, the less often you’ll worry about turning over the property and the more steady your earnings will be
• Consider seasonality even more – low season for bookings in your area are also the times of year you won’t want to be going back to deal with your property
• Come up with a plan for your mail before your first guest
• Plan to have strong service when your guests are checking in and out, and be open with them about when you expect to have spotty service (here are some apps we use to plan ahead for service)

We dive into the details of Airbnb income and other remote income sources when you’re a full time RVer in much more detail in our 8-week program. Contact us for more information!

Once you have the basics on how to Airbnb your home, the rest is pretty simple and results in great income opportunities!

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