Soon to be new owner

[Stephen1256]

Hello,

I'm new to this site and hopefully a new Airbnb owner in the Waco area.  After researching property managers I came across this site.  If anyone can please contact me and explain hosting and what it entails/ costs I would appreciate it as I am out of state.  Thank you!!

Steve

[M199]

@Stephen1256 

You need to scour this website for what information you need.  You need to learn the Airbnb policies, practices, terms of service.  Both from host and guest perspectives.  You also need to cover yourself as a business, take into account commercial insurance, local bylaws and regulations.  Airbnb Host Guarantee is useless.  You need to have local services in place to take care of cleaning, laundry, maintenance-such as plumbers, HVAC etc...

[M199]

@Stephen1256 

Btw - Good Luck on your Airbnb venture😁😁

[Sarah977]

@Stephen1256  Like any other venture, hosting an Airbnb requires doing your homework. This forum is a great place to ask specific questions, if you are unclear about something, or can't find the info you are looking for. But expecting other hosts here to "explain hosting" and give you a full course in hosting is a bit much. 

It's like saying "I want to be an engineer, can someone contact me and tell me what engineering entails and how to go about becoming one?"

Read the Airbnb TOS, read everything that is written for hosts in the Help section of the main Airbnb site, read this forum to see what challenges hosts face and how they successfully, or unsuccessfully, deal with issues.

Then feel free to ask for additional info  or explanations.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Stephen1256 I would start with the basics. Does your city/HOA/town/whatever allow you to run a short term rental? Are your neighbours supportive? and then move onto the critical stuff

Why do you want to run a short term rental?

Who is going to run the account?

Who is going to clean and turn around the listing between guests?

What are you going to do if you have a bad guest?

What insurances have you got in place for damage and, critically, liability?

[Marg11]

@Stephen1256 Why did the previous hosts sell the property or is it a new development? You need information about local laws; are occupancy rate history; information on managing maintenance like cleaning, sanitising and washing linen after every guest, available tradesmen; insurance and handling bookings. Are you sure you want to be an Airbnb host which caters for short to long term guests or would you be better off renting or leasing through a local real estate agent?