AIRBNB ... MAKING OUR DREAMS OF FINANCIAL FREEDOM COME TRUE!

[Stephan-And-Skye0]

I just wanted to share my success story with you all with the hope that it will encourage and motivate you all!

We started doing Airbnb in 2016 with a little side apartment on our house. It was just a fun idea for our family at that time. Airbnb was very new in our area at that time. We loved meeting awesome people and sharing our place with others. That first year we made a shocking $9254!  We couldn't believe it.  We realized at that time something special was happening.

From that time on we continued the course and added additional real estate properties to our portfolio to share with others. We picked fun properties that people could enjoy and would see the value it added to their travels.  We continued to focus on giving great customer service and hospitality. We paid close attention to the 6 Airbnb core goals providing: awesome location, cleanliness, listing accuracy, easy check-in, and fast communication.  As we did this we continued to find success. 

What started out as just a side gig has turned into our main gig! In this 2021 year alone, we hit six-digit bookings (currently $109k)! For now, I still work my other job, but Airbnb has changed everything and has made financial freedom and success possible. Airbnb isn't perfect ... but if you can set its faults aside and focus on your properties, their strengths, and your guests, you can find that success too!

It's been an awesome journey!

Thanks Airbnb ... you rock!

[Pat271]

Wow, congrats! So nice to hear a happy, successful story. I can tell you have an especially positive attitude, and I’m sure that it contributed quite a bit to your success. Good luck in building your next 100K! 🙂

[Joseph1158]

Congratulations on your success! I love to hear people's Airbnb success stories!

[Basha0]

Hi Stephan and Skye! I had a home in Rigby and miss Rexburg a lot as well as my friends the McGarrys! Say hi for me if you know them!

[Stephan-And-Skye0]

@Basha0 

No way ... what a small world!  I'll say hi for sure!  🙂

[Kia272]

@Stephan-And-Skye0  While I'm sincerely very happy for your success, it sounds like you were well positioned before you started with AirBnB.

Not everyone is in a position to "add(ed) additional real estate properties to our portfolio to share with others. We picked fun properties that people could enjoy and would see the value it added to their travels."

It's quite different to be in a position where you're just trying to help pay your mortgage or rent utilizing your existing property. 

Success on AirBnB depends on many things, including location, type of accommodation, host customer service, and financial means. From what you've written, it appears that you were already a couple of rungs up on the success ladder when you started. 

It's good to have perspective on the fact that hosts come from all sorts of different socio-economic backgrounds, and that what came easily to you might be a struggle for others. 

Kia

[Stephan-And-Skye0]

I was a high school math teacher making around $40k at that time. My wife was a stay-at-home mom with 7 kiddos to take care of. Our house payment was $700 per month at that time so bringing in over $9k that first year via Airbnb was huge and it freed us completely of our house payment. Two years later, we were able to qualify and get a second property which was even a bigger success. Two years after that we did it again since by then our first one was completely paid off.  

I'm not sure what socio-economic level you would have put me in back in 2016 but I can tell you I'm not at that level anymore.  I'm not trying to brag ... I just see so many negative comments all the time here in the community that I thought I would post my experience on the good that Airbnb brought to my family and the power that Airbnb can provide in financial freedom.  

@Kia272 I see that you have had success with your cabin in MD and you are doing quite well! We're you ever making enough return to have purchased a second one? Obviously, things are different now that home prices have exploded across the country so timing/luck probably played a part in our success.  

[Kia272]

@Stephan-And-Skye0  Amazing story. It's good to have more details because it offers hope to others and a realistic path to where you are now. However, there are still many factors that might make that same path more challenging for others. That pesky socio-economic thing still has a lot of influence on how a venture like this turns out. So many  factors like education, location, skin color, gender, etc. play a part. 

I had to put quite a bit of money into my cabin before it could be habitable for guests, so my proceeds for the past two years have been going towards the debt I took on, as well as continued improvements to the cabin, mostly exterior at this point. 

I hope that 2022 is the year that I can start socking all the money away and investing in another property. 

The plan is to build myself a small house and to AirBnB the place I'm living in now, which would leave me with two AirBnBs on one property and a separate house to live in. That would be quite a nice retirement set-up. Right now it's just a dream. 

I wish you continued success. 

Kia

[Stephan-And-Skye0]

You are not too far behind! Good luck!

[J-Renato0]

@Stephan-And-Skye0 

Congrats! You saw an opportunity and grabbed it! I wish you even more success!

[Stephanie]

Thanks for sharing your story @Stephan-And-Skye0 ! Such a positive way to go into the weekend 🙂 

Happy hosting (continued!)