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I have a friend who got into hosting AirBnbs pretty early. Bought a 4 unit place in a rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown and lived in

I have a friend who got into hosting AirBnbs pretty early. Bought a 4 unit place in a rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown and lived in one of the units while he AirBnbed out the other three. Occasionally he'd go on a trip and AirBnb out his own unit. It was enough money for him to cover his mortgage and not have to work if he watched his spending. He's bleeding money now and it started about two months ago. This virus is going to hammer leveraged AirBnb hosts for a while and I think we'll start to see a wave of AirBnb bankruptcies.

cvhashim 7y ago
Same person ? https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s=20 https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s...
- 3pt14159 7y ago
  Nope!
fbonetti 7y ago
That’s basically what I’m doing, except with a 3 unit building in Michigan. In an average month, the two AirBnB units bring in 3-4x the mortgage in revenue. Not enough to retire of course, but it’s a nice side hustle. That being said, our bookings been hit pretty hard by the coronavirus. We’ve hade multiple cancellations recently, and the month of April is basically wide open. We usually have an occupancy rate for 85%. I think we’ll be lucky to have 50% of the next couple months.
- amiga_500 7y ago
  Paying off two dwellings at little effort is a nice "side hustle". No wonder nobody in the west is working! Meanwhile the Fed pumps more money to protect banks from rentiers blowing up, while taxes go unpaid and hospitals are underfunded.
  - nostrebored 7y ago
    Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?
    - amiga_500 7y ago
      Because residential buildings were built to be homes, not effort free income streams for rentiers.
      - cycrutchfield 7y ago
        I suppose you are against any sort of rental property then, right?
        balls187 7y ago
        A short term rental isn't a rental property. It's effectively a hotel.
        cycrutchfield 7y ago
        From the perspective of "residential buildings were built to be homes", what is the effective difference?
        balls187 7y ago
        Looking at just the physical building, not much.
    - unlinked_dll 7y ago
      Short term rentals to tourists isn't occupancy, it's occupation. Sorry for the hyperbole I just thought that was good wordplay. These rentals drive up rents for the people in the community and remove housing stock from the market, making it more expensive and less likely for people to purchase their home and build equity. Rent is non recoverable unlike a mortgage, even if you ultimately take a loss. Flooding the housing market with units for sale at a bargain would be great for common people trying to build wealth.
dwnvoted2hell 7y ago
Just the virus? I got tired of playing the game. I might save save 20 dollars in some instances but then have to throw something heavy in the way of the door so that other "guests" didn't break and steal stuff in the middle of the night. A business model without healthy standards isn't much of a business model.
amiga_500 7y ago
> He's bleeding money now Maybe he should work instead of leeching off his community.
- yroc92 7y ago
  Why so hostile? The community is not who is using this guy’s Airbnb units.
  - xenocyon 7y ago
    That is precisely the problem.
  - protomyth 7y ago
    He is also running a hotel with outsourced bookings and not following any of the required consumer safety laws a hotel has to follow.
    - amiga_500 7y ago
      But its mom and pop! Mom! Pop!
      - jgalentine007 7y ago
        I see you.
  - colmvp 7y ago
    Toronto is starved for affordable rentals in no small part because of the number of owners who are using their properties as short-term rentals. I've lived in my building for a decade and the police have only been called twice. In both instances it was because of an Airbnb party gone wrong.
- 3pt14159 7y ago
  Eh, I'm a bit of a centrist with respect to AirBnb. It should be taxed, but there are advantages. This guy bought right when AirBnb was first starting and long before any of the displacement concerns that started ravaging cities. It's fair to complain about the impact that AirBnb can have, but it's also a bit rich to call these mom and pop owners leachers.
dehrmann 7y ago
> rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown It's like those SROs in the TL where cheap tourists are thrilled to be close to things and think it will be like a hostel. No.

cvhashim 7y ago

Same person ? https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s=20 https://twitter.com/mattlundy33/status/1237772778465636352?s...

3pt14159 7y ago
Nope!

fbonetti 7y ago

That’s basically what I’m doing, except with a 3 unit building in Michigan. In an average month, the two AirBnB units bring in 3-4x the mortgage in revenue. Not enough to retire of course, but it’s a nice side hustle. That being said, our bookings been hit pretty hard by the coronavirus. We’ve hade multiple cancellations recently, and the month of April is basically wide open. We usually have an occupancy rate for 85%. I think we’ll be lucky to have 50% of the next couple months.

amiga_500 7y ago
Paying off two dwellings at little effort is a nice "side hustle". No wonder nobody in the west is working! Meanwhile the Fed pumps more money to protect banks from rentiers blowing up, while taxes go unpaid and hospitals are underfunded.
- nostrebored 7y ago
  Why are you mad about buildings being used at over 85% occupancy on average?
  - amiga_500 7y ago
    Because residential buildings were built to be homes, not effort free income streams for rentiers.
    - cycrutchfield 7y ago
      I suppose you are against any sort of rental property then, right?
      - balls187 7y ago
        A short term rental isn't a rental property. It's effectively a hotel.
        cycrutchfield 7y ago
        From the perspective of "residential buildings were built to be homes", what is the effective difference?
        balls187 7y ago
        Looking at just the physical building, not much.
  - unlinked_dll 7y ago
    Short term rentals to tourists isn't occupancy, it's occupation. Sorry for the hyperbole I just thought that was good wordplay. These rentals drive up rents for the people in the community and remove housing stock from the market, making it more expensive and less likely for people to purchase their home and build equity. Rent is non recoverable unlike a mortgage, even if you ultimately take a loss. Flooding the housing market with units for sale at a bargain would be great for common people trying to build wealth.

dwnvoted2hell 7y ago

Just the virus? I got tired of playing the game. I might save save 20 dollars in some instances but then have to throw something heavy in the way of the door so that other "guests" didn't break and steal stuff in the middle of the night. A business model without healthy standards isn't much of a business model.

amiga_500 7y ago

> He's bleeding money now Maybe he should work instead of leeching off his community.

yroc92 7y ago
Why so hostile? The community is not who is using this guy’s Airbnb units.
- xenocyon 7y ago
  That is precisely the problem.
- protomyth 7y ago
  He is also running a hotel with outsourced bookings and not following any of the required consumer safety laws a hotel has to follow.
  - amiga_500 7y ago
    But its mom and pop! Mom! Pop!
    - jgalentine007 7y ago
      I see you.
- colmvp 7y ago
  Toronto is starved for affordable rentals in no small part because of the number of owners who are using their properties as short-term rentals. I've lived in my building for a decade and the police have only been called twice. In both instances it was because of an Airbnb party gone wrong.
3pt14159 7y ago
Eh, I'm a bit of a centrist with respect to AirBnb. It should be taxed, but there are advantages. This guy bought right when AirBnb was first starting and long before any of the displacement concerns that started ravaging cities. It's fair to complain about the impact that AirBnb can have, but it's also a bit rich to call these mom and pop owners leachers.

dehrmann 7y ago

> rough part of Toronto that was still pretty close to downtown It's like those SROs in the TL where cheap tourists are thrilled to be close to things and think it will be like a hostel. No.