A few years ago, daughter Jen and Son In Law Andy bought a piece of furniture from an older couple who were downsizing some furniture, the kids thought it was just the cutest house with a great location just a block from "The Ralph"...then the house came up for sale...so Andy and Jen bought it. They cleaned and painted, decorated the entire place and filled it with nice furniture. Andy built all new kitchen cabinets, they replaced flooring and updated a time warped bathroom in the basement. They built custom loft beds for a bedroom in the basement. They had a very successful Airbnb for a number of years.
Last Friday they closed on the sale of their Airbnb in Grand Forks, ND. Earlier in the week, they moved everything out and we got everything ready for a garage sale at their home in East Grand Forks, MN. It was a great team effort...but exhausting for both Jen and Andy....so much was happening over just a few days plus they are both teaching full time.
(The last guest checked out on Tuesday so I went over and helped pack up the kitchen, Wednesday I got things ready for the garage sale and went with Far Guy to his appointment. We had the garage sale from Thursday through Saturday at noon...we got rid of lots of stuff...lots of my stuff included! Far Guy picked me up on Saturday and we all went to lunch before driving back home.)
Jen writes on Facebook
"We closed on the sale of our Airbnb today. I am happy/sad and sad/happy, but I might be more sad than happy.
Owning an Airbnb isn’t glamorous; it’s hard work. We could have hired people, but we did not. In fact just within the last month we found someone reliable to clean. Otherwise my husband started laundry before and after work, we spent evenings, weekends, and an occasional Hail Mary to flip the house in one day… cleaning up after the one guest and getting the house ready
for the next, and letting people check in early and out late as allowed.
Making beds went better with two people. 2 kings, 2 queens, 4 twins. Our two boys helped in exchange for their part of the phone bill. Niece Maddie worked when she could.
If I had to clean alone, which was rare, it took 4-6 hours, but if the laundry was done 3-4 of us could be in and out in a little more than an hour. Winter’s were great because my mom took care of cleaning the kitchen.
98% of the time we rented to great people and I enjoyed providing a service… a clean, warm, safe, comfortable home for families to mourn together, celebrate together, or get away together. We hosted robotics teams, dance teams, tennis teams.
2% were shitty guests, who let’s be honest we’re probably shitty people too. One reservation left drugs and burn stains into the bar top downstairs.
We provided what anyone could wish for: a Kitchenaid mixer, Ninja air fryer, crockpots. Our welcome gift was usually chippers from Widmans or Dots. We provided bottle openers on both floors, yet the bar and countertops were used to open bottles and broken and damaged. One house rule was “please take off your shoes” yet the dried mud clumps left behind in the bedrooms arrured me guests didn’t. “Clean the out grill” if you use it — I hoped would dissuade use, but there I was elbow deep in grease cleaning up after another person. We brought items people forgot from our own home, we came to let in people who locked themselves out even with a passcode for the lock.
On Airbnb we had a score of 4.98 stars. The two? One guest left five stars for all individual items but four overall — that didn’t make sense. Oh well. The other? The guest said “too many stairs, it was too cold, and we didn’t get money back for leaving a day early”. Stairs are in the description and photos, and visiting North Dakota in December can be cold. They didn’t say the house was cold, and yes we did provide heat. No, no refund for leaving early — I couldn’t have replaced the booking in less than 24 hours.
We only had one group we needed intervention from the police for having a loud party and disturbing the neighbors. The guest turned around and made an “unsafe” claim against our business, resulting in a one week suspension for us from Airbnb. Airbnb did not help us when we requested damages from the same group: Alcohol dripped from walls, floors were sticky and so bad you had to vacuum before you could walk through the house… we had to repaint ceilings, replace bedding, broken glass, damaged flooring, even though we had before and after photos.
I handed over the key to the new owners today. They said, “You made it too good of an Airbnb”. With a puzzled look on our faces they explained: they had rented the house twice in the last year “what a neat place to live” and “I wish we could stay forever”. When they discovered the house was for sale, they said, “No way!” An end of one story is the beginning of another."
Who knows what their next adventure will be...but after this week they need to just rest for a bit.
A friend of mine has an Airbnb and she talks about the work it entails and how tough it really is.
ReplyDeleteSome days she says she'd like to move into that house and leave her bigger house.
Keeping others happy is hard and I'm glad they were able to turn around and find good owners for their place.
I've never rented an Airbnb.
But I've stayed in a lot of motels and no tell motels. LOL.
In the future, if I get to travel, I'd just like a place I can take Charlie with me. I see a lot of motels now will accommodate a pet! So there is that. Are you glad to be back home?
Sounds like a tremendous amount of work. Hope it was profitable and glad they found buyers quickly. RHill, TX
ReplyDeleteWow! What an amazing feat they managed with that Airbnb. I am so glad it is behind them now, but thanks for the great story of a wonderful family effort. Congratulations to them for all they accomplished over the years, and boo to those awful guests.
ReplyDeleteI know that this was a bittersweet time for them. I'm pretty sure that having a place like this does require a lot of work and it sounds like they really did put a lot into making it a great place to stay. You always have that 2% that are just the kind of people as Jen described. I have a friend who had a rental property and the last renters almost destroyed the inside of the home. So very sad. I wish them well on their next adventure. glad you all had a successful garage sale. Now you can get some rest.
ReplyDeleteThere is always a few bad apples, and it sounds like that group was definitely cause to retire from the Airbnb business. But, how wonderful that a couple who had stayed there were wanting to make it their permanent home.
ReplyDeleteTBH, I am not a fan of Airbnb or VRBO, because I've had issues with the other side of the coin. In one case, my flight was delayed and although I had contacted the host to advise, I was left by the taxi driver outside the property (locked gate) at 10 p.m. for nearly an hour before he showed up to let me in. That was the worst of my experiences, thankfully.
It's a shame that rotten guests spoil things so easily - and usually feel so entitled. And who comes to ND (or MN or SD) in December expecting anything other than cold. Idiots!! I'm sure those new owners are thrilled to get a house they enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteI'm with MaeBeme!!!
ReplyDeleteThat was so interesting. Sounds like it will be a relief not to have to do all that work anymore or to have to deal with the 2%. Now someone else fell in love with the house. What an experience, though!
ReplyDeleteAn Airbnb business would be far too exciting for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough selling. A lovely scene.
ReplyDeleteI would assume running an Airbnb would be hard work, selling would bring mixed emotions but that door is now closed and new one is ready to be opened and a new chapter begins
ReplyDeleteJen describes Air BNB ownership well. Alex owns two in Japan. He says pretty much the same thing. Since he now lives in London, he has to have people he can count on to take care of them for him and that's difficult sometimes. We've stayed at several Air BNB's in London and Cambridge and have had lovely owners. We've always been with Mandy, Brad and Piper and we clean the entire house before we leave, bathrooms and all. If there are laundry facilities we even start the first load of towels and/or bedding before we leave. In every case we've received an email from the owners telling us we would be more than welcome to stay again anytime and two even offered a deep discount because they didn't have to pay their cleaners as much!
ReplyDeleteI was taught to treat others and their property how you would like to be treated and we tried to raise our kids the same. I know you were a blessing to Jen in the wintertime when you were able to help out so much.
Take care my friend.
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy
The should have refunded your cleaning fee!
DeleteOh my goodness, I got very tired just reading all the work your/their family all did after each booking! You are to be admired for doing things very, very well. It is a shame that a small minority were not responsible and appreciative of a quality place to stay. However, many, many persons were blessed with their stay at this wonderful retreat.
ReplyDeleteIt is super neat how God worked it out for the appreciative guests to be able to purchase it. It was an answer to prayer for them and Jen and Andy!
I worked in public housing for 27 years (Massachusetts). As a "government Landlord" you rarely get to pick your tenants. Mostly they're poor and on government assistance and you think, I'm so glad to help them. Sometimes its just not the case. Personally I would never be a landlord, at least in this state. I'm glad Jen and Andy got out of that venture!
ReplyDeleteWow it really was a lot of work! I am glad that were able to sell, and pretty cool that it was a previous customer.
ReplyDeleteWow...what an amazing tale. Don't think I could stand to run an airbnb. whew. Jen and Andy are real go-getters, so on to the next adventure. Huh? :)
ReplyDeleteI have friends that have gotten in the Airbnb business. It seems like a lot more work than they originally thought. One set has been renting long term to travel nurses lately but is still thinking about selling out. It is a lot of work and a lot of disrespect of property.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what running an AirBnB would be like. Not something I could do. Thanks for sharing their story and kudos to Jen and Andy for all of their hard work and success.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing her AirBnB story - I will share it with a few people I know who think it's an easy way to make a quick buck! I've been telling them there a lot more work to it than they think!
ReplyDeleteI love that the people who bought it were former guests! How wonderful!
Congrats to Jen and Andy! I am curious to hear what they do next :) Thank you for posting, I enjoyed reading Jen's realistic overview. Best wishes to them and some down time.
ReplyDeleteThose 2 are the hardest working couple.....I wonder where they got that from...hmm?
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