NOLA AirBnB House/Condo Investment

Would not invest in any NOLA property for a number of reasons

Rising crime, high taxes, shitty Airbnb laws, declining tourism. shite, just buy a nice condo on the beach in Florida and call it a day.

I would suggest looking into one of the newer high-rise condo buildings in the CBD. Many have programs to handle the airBnB stuff while you are away and there are basically no restrictions on it in the commercial areas, unlike residential areas as mentioned above. Plus you get a relatively new place, amenities, and security.

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The reason I am trying to do this is that my wife wants a condo in New Orleans and I’m trying to kill more than one bird.

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Then you're not looking to invest baw. I feel your pain, though

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keep in mind, that unless you live on the property, youre only legally allowed to rent the home for 90 days

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This is for non commercial areas right? A place in the cbd can be 365?

The new buildings are $600+ per square foot, and probably don't allow short term rental use. You won't be able to break even on the acquisition costs anywhere new and I know most condo associations impose stiff fines / liens for short term use.

The condo where I've rented my condo long term imposes a $1,500 fine per short term rental violation and they lien the condo until you pay.

The only way to break even or be cash flow positive is to buy something really old and run down, redo it and live there, turning it over every week, effectively operating a hotel out of your backyard.

id say the avg stay was 2.5 days. i rarely had requests for more than a week but it does happen. once the house is set up, its not much maintenance between guests (unless repairs are needed, which does happen). cleaning the property takes a solid hour (depending on how big it is), but you need to ensure this is done well; a couple poor reviews for a dirty property and your business will suffer. for this reason, i cleaned most of the time because i just didnt trust outsourcing it. i had multiple sets of sheets, multiple towels, etc so i could just switch them out and get to cleaning. my properties were also in the bywater so it took a good 15 minutes to travel there too.

so id say one would need to dedicate a solid 2 hours between cleanings. you also need to be responsive to the app at all times for questions from guests. even if you have the most thorough FAQ document posted in the house, questions/concerns will still roll in. there was also the occasional 3 am call where the guest had locked themselves out and id need to go let them in.

with all that said, my revenues were incredible but you also have to understand that i was doing this before it was trendy to do so. i could pull 5 figures a month during peak season

i was getting $300-400 per night during some big events, so its hard to argue against those numbers. my profits declined year to year but it was still "worth it" and it was still worth it when i gave it up.

i left the market mostly because i decided to pursue other business interests totally unrelated to STRs. a part of me was also burnt out dealing with the guests and the cleaning. although i was only working 10-20 hours per week it was still exhausting - i did for over 2 years though.

there is a lot more competition now, the guests are a lot more demanding, and the demographics of the guests have also changed. city laws were also evolving and i wasnt too confident theyd do it "right"

at the peak, it was mostly young professionals, who were easy to host. now its EVERYONE with their own sets of demands and needs. certain people also think they should be getting a hotel experience and they will ding your reviews for any minor thing.

you will def make more money with STRs, no question, probably even double what you are making on your long-term rentals but it really comes down to all the extra headaches youre willing to deal with..

I had a couple of properties I hosted Airbnb guests in. It was easy many at first but as the guy above said,guest demographics changed from young, easy guests to baby boomers who expected white glove treatment and thought 3 star reviews were for a great stay. A 3 star review will ruin your business.... I started screening my guests and would turn down guests that were over 50. They were just more work and expected the moon. I would get calls at midnight asking where they should go eat etc, asking to checkin at 9am, checkout at. 5 pm.....they just could not grasp that it's a single unit and I had no flexibly since I was always booked. I made great money but the hassle became too much and I grew to resent it...