Airbnb versus a long term tenant
My first home was an apartment in central Sydney that my partner and I would list on Airbnb whenever we were off travelling, and I must say, financially, it generally paid for most of our trips. We both spent 3 years as European Tour Guides in our 20's so it's fair to say most of our money is spent on passport stamps and Airbnb provided a solid financial pathway towards maintaining this lifestyle even once we had a mortgage.
This was not without it's challenges though, and I thought I'd share some funny, frustrating, and to this day, still quite confusing stories on what it is like to Airbnb your own home when you are not there.
My favourite memory is when we were in Brazil and had flown into a small town Florianopolis late one evening only to discover our baggage hadn't arrived. We went onto our guest house and they told us the bags would arrive on the next flight and be dropped at our accommodation. It was about 1am local time and I woke to my phone ringing. The caller had a heavy accent and was saying "I'm out the front". I gave back the only 2 words of Spanish my tired brain could think of "uno momento" and ran out the front - our bags had obviously arrived. The street was deadly quiet, not a bag to be seen, and this man continues telling me he is out the front and can't see me. About 2mins later... And a long 2 mins at that, I realise he is outside my apartment back in Redfern looking for the locked box, and I'm here saying "uno momento, I'm out the front". Yeah, out the front 15,000km away!
I'd really messed this one up. Thankfully, once I worked out where he was, I could talk him through the instructions for where the locked box was, and he managed to get access.
The strangest thing we had go missing from out apartment was an avocado holder - it was actually a great size avocado holder and I've never been able to buy one since that was as good as this, so I understand why they took it, but it did always baffle me as to whether they took it intentionally or by accident. They had driven from Brisbane and bought all their own pots and pans as they weren't sure if we would have those items, despite telling them we had a fully stocked kitchen.
Then there was the American family who locked themselves out of the apartment 5 hours before their flight back to the USA which was a most unfortunate outcome. We'd left all the keys they needed for their stay, but we had one lock with a 'push button' that we didn't actually have a key for, and we made sure to make it very clear on all communication and when they checked in to never push the button in and just use the key lock. Unfortunately for them, their five year old son pressed the button on they way out for their walk and when they came back at 4pm on a Friday afternoon to collect their bags and head to the airport, they couldn't get in. They had no choice but to call a locksmith, who you can imagine, 4pm on a Friday loaded on a hefty call out fee.
Funny stories aside, the other part of the equation is are you better off to have a long term tenant or Airbnb your place out. Financially, I think the answer is unique based on everyone's scenario and property e.g. Are you likely to have tenants stay for longer than 12 months, would you use an Airbnb property manager, do you need to buy furniture to leave in the property etc.
To help you understand, I've drawn out what it would look like for a 3 bedroom apartment in Bondi. This is by no means exhaustive of costs involved, but helps you see that there is a place for long term tenancy and a place for Airbnb based on what works best for you.
