Tag: airbnb

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March Airbnb Update – How Disney Closing Has Impacted My Airbnb

Wanted to share a quick update on my Airbnb’s in the busiest time of the year! Disney announced they would be closing at close of business today for the remainder of the month. Universal followed suit. I purchase Airbnb properties in the Orlando area with my main guests being people who are visiting the area for the parks. A great investment, when the parks are open. Disney closing has had an impact on my short term rental business. 
 
These two months are what we consider the busiest time of the year  for Orlando travel! Well…should be the busiest time of the year for travel 🙂
 
What a wild world we are currently living in. From a massive fluctuation in the stock market each day to a pandemic that who knows what the final outcome will be.
 
Here is the awesome thing, I have 0 control of it. I wanted to share the reality of what happens when some of these things occur. These are real numbers from my Airbnb account.
 
The second Disney and Universal closed, I had 12 guests cancel between my three Airbnb properties. Am I mad about it? Heck no!
 
That is a part of the thing people call investing! This is part of the game. You have to be able to roll with the punches and put yourself in a position financially to get through this.
 
I am excited for being able to see something like this happen to understand some of the challenges that will occur through investing. This will absolutely not stop me from continuing on down the journey I am on.
 
I will be able to pay all my mortgages on my four homes without any issue if this were to continue on for another two years.
 
The message I want to deliver with this post is always have a gameplan for worst case scenario. That doesn’t mean you have to continue to tell yourself over and over that worst case scenario will happen. You just need to be able to financially take the hit and not lose everything.
 
That is the situation I have put myself into through all the investments I have.
 
In the meantime, if you are looking for heavily discounted prices to come to Orlando let me know! I have dropped my prices by 20-40% for anyone who still wants to come to Orlando!
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Disney World Closed – Impact To Short Term Rentals

New’s came out late yesterday stating Disney World is set to close on 3/15 at close of business. What we are seeing in the world today is something that is unprecedented. At least I think so which makes for a timely post of this nature. There will be a significant impact to short term rentals in the coming weeks with no end in sight. This leads me to want to touch on and continue to remind myself. Here is something that recently came out about Disney World closing that is completely outside of my control, link.

What You Control

You have two choices in life, focus on what you control or what you don’t control.

The Power Of Your Thoughts

You have a choice in life. You can sit and dwell on things you have zero control over, or you can acknowledge the things outside of your control and put your focus to controllables. It sounds so simple, yet we as humans love to sit and think about the things that are outside of our control. Want a great example of how I am using this thought in my current situation? Here we go.

How The Economy Shake Up Is Impacting Short Term Rentals

Disney World and Universal announced late yesterday that they would be shutting down their parks beginning on 3/15 at close of business. They are currently projecting to remain closed until the end of March. I don’t believe there are any plans after that at this time until things settle in.

I recently closed on my fourth property in the Orlando area. I use three of them for short term rentals and one for long term renting. The main reason for buying where I bought was for renting out to people who are coming to visit Disney and Universal!

With everything going on and both Disney and Universal shutting down, there is going to be a ripple effect to short term rental owners.

Here is the thing. I have 0 control over Disney or Universal shutting down. I have 0 control over the virus spreading. I have 0 control over guests canceling their trip to Orlando. 

So what do I plan on doing? I plan on letting any guest who reaches out to cancel to cancel. Safety is always first. If my calendar goes unfilled for two months, that is part of why it is called investing!

How I Am Cash Flowing Things

I am not worried about this situation. I have enough cash to handle mortgage payments for a while. I am also receiving my bonus from work in the next few days. There is no reason to worry! This is part of the process. You have to be ready and prepared for no income coming in. You must be prepared and ready to take a hit in the mouth for things that are outside of your control.

This is what makes investing fun! You must learn to roll with the punches and rock and roll!

Key Takeaways:

  • Focus on the things that are within your control. 
  • Don’t dwell on the things that are outside of you control. 
  • Always have a plan to be able to pay for your investments in case of a worst case scenario. 

Don’t forget @TheYoungRetireeBy33’s 3 Core Principles:

1 – Your money should make money for you⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2 – Start early to realize the power of compound interest⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3 – Eliminate your largest expense by house hacking

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Creating That Wow Factor To Help Your Airbnb Standout

Time for a quick update I did to Turquoise! Creating that wow factor to help your Airbnb standout is critical to getting clickthrough of your unit. The more wow factor you can add to your Airbnb to help it stand out, the more people you will have click on your listing. Time for a quick update on my second Airbnb that I now have ready for professional pictures on Monday next week!

Here is the before picture:

Before Turquoise Living Room

Here is the after:

Turquoise After

For those of you who don’t know, Turquoise is my second Airbnb unit that I closed on three weeks ago. It is a 3BD/2.5B located in the surrounding Orlando area.

This unit has a lot of good things going for it, but didn’t have any wow factors for a great featured image on my Airbnb listing.

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I figured it was time to add that wow factor! It is so important in Airbnb to have great pictures. You want the main picture of your listing to draw the potential guests in. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For this, I had a vision to add some accents to the wall in the living room downstairs. I had this vision, looked at a few different options and finally decided to move forward. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I blocked a day on the calendar for my GC to come out and install the accent wall. Swipe right to see the final output!

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I honestly didn’t know if this was going to turn out well or not. I could not be happier with how it actually looks in person and on photos! I now feel like my listing will have that wow factor when I get professional pictures taken on Monday next week!

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Do you like the accent wall?

All in all, the labor and materials for this cost $600. I believe this one picture and addition will help add $5-10 per night alone to my booking! From a return on investment standpoint (ROI), that will help generate another $1,368 in income assuming a 75% occupancy rate in one year. This will end up paying back in less than a half year!

Key Takeaways:

  • Creating that wow factor for  your listing will help it stand out against the competition
  • Calculate your ROI to understand if doing something like this would help your listing. Not only with this help my nightly rate, it will also help my occupancy rate. 
  • You don’t have to wait for all the remodeling of the home to be done before you have guests booking. Allow guests to book and then block off the random 1-2 days that naturally occur between bookings and utilize those for getting some work done!

Don’t forget @TheYoungRetireeBy33’s 3 Core Principles:

1 – Your money should make money for you⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2 – Start early to realize the power of compound interest⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3 – Eliminate your largest expense by house hacking