If you have a space to rent, whether it’s an entire space (even your own home) or just a room, there is money to be made on Airbnb. When we were looking for a house to buy back in 2016, one of our soft requirements was that the property have an extra living space, like a basement apartment or mother-in-law quarters, so we would have the option to rent it out if we wanted. That is exactly what we found and bought in 2017. Then, in 2018 we started renting with Airbnb. We weren’t sure what the demand would be like, as we are in a pretty rural, non-touristy area. We were shocked, in the best way ..read more

A year ago Stephanie and I switched our above-the-garage rental apartment property from a traditional long-term rental to shorter Airbnb rentals. Preparing for the change, we did exhaustive research into the question of homeowners’ insurance. Would our homeowner’s policy still work with Airbnb? Could we get a supplemental policy? What was covered by Airbnb’s own insurance and host guarantee programs? The short answer is that as an Airbnb host, you do need additional insurance. Hosting with any real frequency is likely to void your current homeowners policy, and Airbnb’s own protection is inad ..read more

Managing your own family finances can be a challenge.  What happens when you add a business (or two or three) on top of it? Since we’re already transparent with our finances and many of you have been asking how we handle our Airbnb finances, we figured it was time we show you how we do it! This isn’t the “one and only” way to handle your budget as an Airbnb host, but hopefully it will give you some insight into one way to successfully manage your finances when you have a short-term rental.  Each family and each business is unique, so the bottom line is that you’ll have to figure out what work ..read more