Is Airbnb lucrative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

NP- I thought that was Destin FL! 😂

[Anonymous]

OP, there are lots of interesting threads in reddit, like airbnbhosts, vrbohosts etc. that you should check out. Some of the stories are outrageous. Same with the people who stay there and (legit) complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

NP- I thought that was Destin FL! 😂

anyone with half a brain could’ve told you it wasn’t anywhere in Florida. The taxes on that property are way too low for it to be Florida. The insurance on that property is way too low for it to be Florida and Destin is not a place that has a high summer rental draw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

NP- I thought that was Destin FL! 😂

anyone with half a brain could’ve told you it wasn’t anywhere in Florida. The taxes on that property are way too low for it to be Florida. The insurance on that property is way too low for it to be Florida and Destin is not a place that has a high summer rental draw.

Will you learn to read? You are so amped to crap on Virginia Beach that you missed somebody correcting you.
The Redneck Riviera = Destin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Redneck_Riviera&redirect=no

[Anonymous]

I think it really depends on what the point of the property is. If it is something you want to keep as a personal asset and use for vacation and time off, or as a permanent home at some point, then yes? You can probably get a descent operating profit to offset your costs. If not, then unless you are very highly leveraged, I can't see it being worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We rent our place in Rehoboth. We bought in 2020, when prices had dipped during the pandemic, right before they started to rise.

If we agressively marketed and focused entirely on renting, I don't think we'd break even on an annual basis. (mortgage, HOA, repairs, etc compared to rental income).

We bought knowing we did not have to rent, but that renting would free up some cash so we could do other vacations.

So it depends on your defintion of lucrative. For us, renting 5 weeks a summer and making about 10K does feel lucrative, but it's less than half of a break even point.

These are the people who seem to have the best experience- who rent it out part time or just some years and see it as “minimizing the cost of something we would want no matter what” rather than “turning an actual profit.”

+1 This is us. We rent 9-12 weeks in the summer and then use the house A LOT in the shoulder seasons and some in the winter. It’s very difficult to turn an operating profit on a short term rental. Renters are really hard on properties and even harder on vacation properties. Your maintenance and turn costs are high as well as management and/or platform like Airbnb fees.

the platform fees are definitely crazy! Have gotten way worse in the last year. i’m the beach poster above and luckily we’ve had the house a few years and have been able to slowly get to direct bookings for nearly all our repeat guests. This repeat guests also happen to be the ones who take care of the house the most.

The platform fees are how you got those guests in the first place FYI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

I guess i'm not emotional like you. Its a business and it is quite profitable (56,000 Net profit a year and a zillion tax breaks), rednecks pay with green so it is all good to me. It has also gone up 100% since purchase.

Good for you. I’ve made 7 figures in the market this year without all the hassle of operating an AirBnB. And I didn’t pay any taxes on the gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

I guess i'm not emotional like you. Its a business and it is quite profitable (56,000 Net profit a year and a zillion tax breaks), rednecks pay with green so it is all good to me. It has also gone up 100% since purchase.

Good for you. I’ve made 7 figures in the market this year without all the hassle of operating an AirBnB. And I didn’t pay any taxes on the gains.

You're cheating on taxes - cool! Maybe don't admit that as a strategy required to do well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small beach cottage (Under 1K sqft) and did a 1031x and have no mortage. The place is booked solid all summer and I have about 30% occupancy the rest of the year. This place is NOT at a beach like OBX, it has visitors year round. Since it is in a "real" town I am not held captive so some sort of management monoply. I have 2 people on call for small things that arise.

Gross Income in 2025 was 77K. Property taxes were 5K, insurance was 1800, utilities and internet was 6400, Shoulder season refresh and updates was 2800. Cleaning fees was 3640 (including some special cleanings). Service calls were $485. However the house got a full gut remodel when we purchased it so we built for durability and low maintenance. We went higher for durable materials.

It works for us, but probably not as well for people who have a mortgage. it also works for us beucase we love the house and would probably be fine if we didnt rent it at all.

Where is a "real" town with beach cottages that's busy around the year, if you don't mind me asking?

It's in the North End of Virginia Beach (not the Hotel Zone). I'm wall to wall in summer and get people in year round for all kinds of reasons. Believe it or not there are a ton of random events in VB. Also with it being near the worlds largest Naval Base, we have so many people in and out. We are oceanside and people often combine whatever they are in town for for some beach time. Oddly this February I was fully booked. That is a new one!

VB….I’ll pass. Redneck Riviera

I guess i'm not emotional like you. Its a business and it is quite profitable (56,000 Net profit a year and a zillion tax breaks), rednecks pay with green so it is all good to me. It has also gone up 100% since purchase.

Good for you. I’ve made 7 figures in the market this year without all the hassle of operating an AirBnB. And I didn’t pay any taxes on the gains.

You're cheating on taxes - cool! Maybe don't admit that as a strategy required to do well

Meant more for the prior op, but that op likely also fudging stuff