listing our house

[Tim3189]

We have a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house in Levittown, Puerto Rico.  We can't decide wether the rent it to a family on a year-to-year lease or to list it with Airbnb.

If we rent it we don't have to furnish it.  If we go Airbnb we need to furnish it.  Before we go to the expense of furnishing it we have a few questions. 

1. How can we determine what we can ask per day or week?

2.Is there any history of that area to get a wild idea of how many days/weeks it will be rented? There doesn't seem to be any comparable properties.  We have three bedrooms (2 queen beds, 1 full), 2 1/2  bats, a kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, etc.

3.  We are about 5 minutes from the beach.

4. We have 2 outdoor security cameras, but if we list would like to have a couple (maybe 3) indoor cameras.  Is there a privacy issue with that?

5. If we have a plumbing, electrical, HVAC issue, how do we take care of it?  Will Airbnb call us or will they take care of it and send us the bill?

6. I have tried to contact Airbnb on the telephone but really haven't had much luck.  Are they easy top deal with?

[Emiel1]

@Tim3189 

#5 makes me smile, very funny !

[Gwen386]

@Tim3189 You will have to do your own due diligence on what STR prices are in your area because the market differs everywhere. I feel if you already have a bird in the hand for a one-year lease and have done a background and credit check to include employer references, that’s the route to take. 

And no, airbnb is just a platform to pair hosts and guests. You are responsible for upkeep and maintenance of your own property. 

And yes, indoor cameras are off limit. Think about it. Would you want someone watching you while you’re going about your daily business indoors?

[Anonymous]

@Tim3189  Outdoor cameras are fine if they're disclosed in the listing, but indoor ones would quickly get you kicked off of Airbnb. 

You can check Airdna for data on your area's past occupancy rates and prices, but tourism is an extremely fickle business and even some of the most successful hosts can suddenly find their bookings drop off a cliff for months. You'd definitely want to have a Plan B.

Airbnb doesn't do anything for hosts except publish the listing and process payments. It's up to the host to delegate responsibility for maintenance, cleaning, and hospitality, and if you're not doing all of that yourself it can get very expensive. I wouldn't personally recommend listing on Airbnb if you're not fully committed to running a hospitality business; it's definitely not passive income.