Seeking Advice: Best Way to List My Split Foyer Single-Family Home

[Saly82]

Hi Airbnb Community,

I’m looking for advice on how to list my split-foyer single-family home. The upstairs has a fully equipped kitchen, two bedrooms (a third has been turned into a workspace), a large living room, a dining room, two full bathrooms, and access to the main entrance and deck. The lower level has two bedrooms, a large living room, a kitchenette, a private entrance, and laundry facilities.

I’m torn between listing the entire house as one unit or splitting it into two separate listings (upstairs and downstairs). The challenge with listing them separately is that it may lead to noise issues or discomfort for guests, as they would be sharing the house with strangers. 

Additionally, when guests check out, my cleaning person handles the laundry and preps the bedrooms, but if there’s a guest on the lower level, she won’t be able to access the laundry facilities.

For those with experience managing split homes, would it be better to list the entire house or each level separately? How do you handle similar concerns with guest privacy and laundry access? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Kind regards, 

Saly

[Marie8425]

@Saly82 

You could list it as shared but I think the big hurdle there would be more than one bedroom is a guest traveling with minors and your liability if something happens to a minor from another guest you approved.

Also is there a way to make the laundry area shared?  People traveling with kids want laundry facilities and if none with the upstairs rental that could effect number of nights per reservation.

[Saly82]

@Marie8425 

I forgot to add that I also recently had a permanent tenant living in the basement, but they’ll be moving out at the end of the month. The tenant only occupied one of the two bedrooms on the lower level. To give her privacy, there’s a door separating her space from the upstairs. My current Airbnb listing shows three bedrooms, but one of them is on the lower level, so if I were to rent the house as a shared space, guests wouldn’t have much interaction unless they happened to meet outside. and I would only list the basement as one bedroom with a living room, kitchenette, and private entrance. This way a couple or one person can rent the basement. 

Lastly, I have a driveway that can fit five cars, but I’m wondering if I should suggest street parking for the lower-level guests to avoid potential parking conflicts.

I’d appreciate any advice or insights from fellow hosts who have managed similar setups.

Let me know if you think differently now with the additional detail added. 

Thank you!

Saly

[Marie8425]

@Saly82 

For parking I don't look at my max occupancy.  The downstairs I would say 1 parking . The karger vspace maybe 2 parking,  

The only other concern might be a bedroom downstairs and a renter downstairs.  Maybe don't include that as a bedroom but mention in the description for the larger you have additional space that for ab additional fee

For the laundry if your only talking a 1 bedroom cleaning lady wash at her home and prep the apartment next day just no same  day flips haha.

[Quincy]

Hi @Saly82,

Have you decided whether to split the property into two listings or keep it as one?

[Mary1523]

Hi, here's some considerations for you.

1. You could list as each level (so 2 listings) as 'rooms' rather than 'entire house', and make it clear what is shared vs what is not. Listings as 'rooms' allows for you to nominate what is shared. 

2. Yes separate the car parking, physical signage outside - maybe 2 sides of the driveway? Paint lines or something...And instructions on the listing. I think most people like driveway parking, especially with luggage etc 

3. IF going the 2 listing route, whilst I don't fully understand your description, make sure there is a solid wall or door separating both. Shared space like laundry, outdoor area etc can be nominated but they still need a physical separation.

4. Make sure the walls/noise level suppression or wall insulation is good. OR if the guests downstairs are going to notice upstairs noise from people walking/running on the floor, you need to say this in the listing, and price appropriately. Otherwise you will get rated down. If anything, I would always live in the bottom one, then rent upstairs because the guests won't be impacted so much by noise.

5. Listing whole house vs split house actually comes down to the target market and how much supply is there. Is there an oversupply of the smaller configurations, or undersupply of the larger configuration? Will you get more or less business? Check out the competitor listings for similar configurations in your area.

6. If you are an experienced host, you could list all configurations, ie whole house, plus 2 split level listings and then with careful calendar management and syncing, take bookings for any of them. I do this. The whole house is listed for bookings up to 12 months in advance, then my split house bookings are only for 3 months in advance (smaller groups need less notice). The split house calendar availability only uses the gaps from when the full house isn't booked. Note i don't allow my 2 split house bookings at the same time, its one or the other. I just temporarily partition one side of the house off that they are not using. You could run both though. This option is not for the faint hearted though, you need to know what you are doing and how to manage this. 

Hope this helps regs MK