Advice about when to start listing

[Kelly1197]

I'm looking for some advice about when to start listing our place. My family is moving, and we've decided to airbnb our house rather than filling it with a long term rental. It is currently March but the house will not be available to start renting until June 1st. The house is also not quite ready for professional photos yet, as we are still living here and still getting it ready for the airbnb thing.

Using some photos I'd taken of the house in the past, I created a listing and made it active and available to rent starting June 1st. I initially thought it might be a good idea to get it up now to capture any bookings that might happen between now and then. But I'm now realizing this might not have been a good idea.

I've since learned that airbnb gives new listings an extra boost in the search results, but that it doesn't last for long. I'm wondering if it would be better to wait until closer to when our place is available to take advantage of the higher search results. I paid for the airdna service, and it says the current average lead time is only 16 days in our area. I also realized that we aren't able to take advantage of the new listing promotion that airbnb offers because it expires before our place is available.

We don't have any bookings yet, so I'm wondering if it might be beneficial to delete this listing and start over again when it is closer to when our place will be available to book.

Thoughts?

[Sarah977]

@Kelly1197  Waiting might be a good idea. Also, if anything is going to change between now and when you are ready for guests in the way the place is portrayed in the photos, i.e different furniture, renos, etc, that's bad. Places are supposed to look in person like they look in the photos. So if a guest were to book now for sometime in June, and they arrived to find different furniture, curtains, carpeting, or anything else, they can give you a low accuracy rating. So only take the photos and put up the listing when it looks just like it will look when you have guests there.

This goes for professional photography, as well. Don't let them use wide-angle lenses or filters which distort the space and make it look larger or with different lighting than it actually looks. Taking STR photos is quite different from taking real estate photos. Luring prospective home buyers in with wide angle lens shots and fancy "staging" is one thing- they can just walk away and say they aren't interested. "Staging" a Airbnb with things that actually won't be there when the guest arrives doesn't work, it leads to bad reviews. If a photo shows a big bouquet of fresh flowers on the table, there need to be fresh flowers on the table when the guest arrives.

[Inna22]

@Kelly1197 

As for timing and relisting... In the past I have always tried to list as soon as I knew I would be renting out but have done best when it was two weeks out, like you said. Airbnb tries to get you booked asap so you have reviews- that's the point of the boost. So it looks at availability as close to the listing date as possible. If you are blocked for those dates, algorithm just moves on. Having said that, I am not sure you should relist either as you might not get a boost twice.

your pictures are dark and sparse. You have four bedrooms but I think only one is pictured. Can you take more pictures yourself? Maybe of some nice details close up. Do you have a smartphone to make them lighter?

It is ok to say you are remodeling and some details might be different however the lay out and bed placement will be the same. I have done that before with no issues. But you can't just change things with no warning.

[Kelly1197]

@Sarah977  I think I will wait on the listing, thanks. And I appreciate the info about the photos. It'll be useful when I hire a photographer.

@Inna22 Yeah - I agree that the photos are far from great. Unfortunately, I don't really think I'll be able to improve on them until the house is ready to go. We will be changing quite a bit (furniture, etc.) and the bedrooms currently have teens living in them. Lol. I could definitely try lightening the photos but I think I'll just wait to list the house when it is ready and I've got professional photographs. Hopefully, if I start fresh I'll get the benefit of the boost. We'll see.

Thanks for the help!