@Christopher1207 I would say that whether it is "real" or not, meaning does it actually exist or would you arrive to find yourself standing outside some closed industrial warehouse, is immaterial at this point.
A host who doesn't respond in a timely fashion to guest's messages, a review saying it was fraudulent, and a price that is too good to be true, are all giant red flags, and no, you definitely should not book this listing.
That's why I advised you to message the host- you now know this is someone you shouldn't deal with. If I were you, I would flag the listing, reporting it to Airbnb as a possible scam.
The thing is, there isn't any way to know if a New listing on Airbnb is "real" or not without the kind of red flags you now mention. All hosts were new at some point, and had no reviews, as all guests are at first.
But if you message a host, you can usually tell if they sound like a normal person just as I can tell from the way a guest communicates with me whether they will be a nice enough guest to accept.
A host who takes days to respond, or doesn't answer your questions, or never responds, is one to stay away from.
It isn't a great idea to look for the cheapest place out there. You can look at the budget end of the scale, but try to pick out places that have at least a few good reviews, or if they are new, something that looks like a normal apartment or house at a suitable price for the area, with a host that only has one or two listings, not someone with 10 brand new listings and only one review, which is bad.
A mistake guests can make is to look for the type of listing that you would prefer, as an entire apartment to yourself, if you can really only afford a private room in a host's home, sharing the kitchen, bathroom, etc. You are much more likely to find a really nice, comfortable place if you settle for a private room, than picking an entire apartment that's super cheap, and will therefore likely not be someplace decent.
And FYI "verified" ID really doesn't mean much, whether it is a host's or a guest's profile. All it means is that the driver's licence or passport, etc. submitted is valid. Airbnb doesn't run criminal record checks on all new accounts to see whether someone has a record for fraud or something worse.
