I have a farm with a conditional sale and not wanting to buy more rural land, so looking for my next investment. Thought about a couple of rental houses but current legislation puts me off doing that. B&B looks more attractive as i can buy a nice place. Could those doing it let me know how well it goes in the real world. What trouble can i expect? what occupancy rate can i expect? etc.
Any info from those with experience will be helpful.
Thanks in advance.

3tomany - 2021-01-09 13:02:00

Are you considering an Airbnb type (ie a house you rent out for short term accomodation) or a traditional B&B where you let out rooms in a building generally living on site and prove breakfast, etc?

Edited by sparkychap at 2:04 pm, Sat 9 Jan

sparkychap - 2021-01-09 14:03:00

If you don't get much response here try the Facebook page 'property investors chat group NZ'. Quite often info there on these.

artemis - 2021-01-09 14:05:00

sparkychap wrote:

Are you considering an Airbnb type (ie a house you rent out for short term accomodation) or a traditional B&B where you let out rooms in a building generally living on site and prove breakfast, etc?

Air B&B with the whole house available.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 10:27:00

artemis wrote:

If you don't get much response here try the Facebook page 'property investors chat group NZ'. Quite often info there on these.

Will do just have to get a Facebook account first. Thanks for the suggestion.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 10:28:00

3tomany wrote:

Air B&B with the whole house available.

Great. Like anything, location and demand are key and very variable. Check out:

https://www.airdna.co/

A great site that analyses number of listings in each area (search by suburb, town), typical occupancy and charges.

Some info is free, more detailed is a subscription service.

sparkychap - 2021-01-10 10:31:00

Hi we have done air bnb for about 4 years. If you can set up a seperate entrance to the rooms is more preferable. We have ensuites rather than shared bathrooms. We prefer guests away from our living area but they have their own lounge areas.

Occupancy will depend on area / attractions. We are about 50 mins from queenstown so can be a bit hit and miss.Also look at book a bach and booking.com

Be prepared to lose privacy but we enjoy it. We have met great people from all over the place.

Also consider a campervan parking area. We have a seperate area where we have 1 self contained campervan (no power). Sites such as campable and campermate list these.

cleanbreak - 2021-01-10 10:53:00

Been there, done that, sold it 2 years ago and would not consider it in this covid climate.
We had a lovely modern 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in a great location on Queenstown Hill.
It worked well for us when we were managing the property ourselves but when we wanted to retire and looked into employing a property manager to arrange reservations, cleaning etc we soon realised it was no longer viable...
Since then covid has stopped this income stream in its tracks and now in the QLDC district they are sitting empty most of the time.
We are noticing a lot of them going up for sale and since the arse hasn’t fallen out of the real estate market here as some predicted I guess the vendors are getting their money back and might even be making good capital gains.
In our district any houses operating as short term travellers accommodation have to pay commercial rates and provide off street parking.
I found Airbnb were great to work with, but I suspect they too are struggling because of this pandemic and I wonder if they will still be there when the world gets back to international tourism.

lovelurking - 2021-01-10 11:14:00

We continue with our STRs but business has changed completely in the past year.
We have been active for 12 years - prior to airbnb.
Prior to covid our business was mainly immigrants whose employers paid for their stay, grandparents for summer, or international student families. generally 1-3 months. Now its people with door to door contracts who cannot leave NZ or prefer to stay here for their weeks off.
If we did not have these established contacts I would not contemplate STR’s in the short term. Hope this helps

travlr - 2021-01-10 12:24:00

Is a good addition to an existing income. If put up a lockbox and send them instructions they can let themselves in. We both worked full time but are now down to one income so certainly helps. You dont have to be open all the time and can open and close rooms to suit if want to go away or other work comes up.

cleanbreak - 2021-01-10 12:42:00

cleanbreak wrote:

Is a good addition to an existing income. If put up a lockbox and send them instructions they can let themselves in. We both worked full time but are now down to one income so certainly helps. You dont have to be open all the time and can open and close rooms to suit if want to go away or other work comes up.

I think the op is considering renting their whole house, not home share (which is quite different...)

lovelurking - 2021-01-10 12:54:00

lovelurking wrote:

I think the op is considering renting their whole house, not home share (which is quite different...)

It is. In that circustance wouldnt touch it with a bargepole at the moment.

cleanbreak - 2021-01-10 13:13:00

sparkychap wrote:

Great. Like anything, location and demand are key and very variable. Check out:

https://www.airdna.co/

A great site that analyses number of listings in each area (search by suburb, town), typical occupancy and charges.

Some info is free, more detailed is a subscription service.

interesting website - shows the true devastation whole house air bnbs have inflicted on local housing markets doesnt it?

lakeview3 - 2021-01-10 13:34:00

lakeview3 wrote:

interesting website - shows the true devastation whole house air bnbs have inflicted on local housing markets doesnt it?

The rental market is destroying itself. I would buy a couple of rentals if i could just boot out a bad tenant. I have no problem with having the house compliant but to much power is given to the bad tenant. Just not worth the risk.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 20:33:00

sparkychap wrote:

Great. Like anything, location and demand are key and very variable. Check out:

https://www.airdna.co/

A great site that analyses number of listings in each area (search by suburb, town), typical occupancy and charges.

Some info is free, more detailed is a subscription service.

Thanks heaps. That is the sort of info i am after.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 20:36:00

lovelurking wrote:

I think the op is considering renting their whole house, not home share (which is quite different...)

Yip true.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 20:37:00

travlr wrote:

We continue with our STRs but business has changed completely in the past year.
We have been active for 12 years - prior to airbnb.
Prior to covid our business was mainly immigrants whose employers paid for their stay, grandparents for summer, or international student families. generally 1-3 months. Now its people with door to door contracts who cannot leave NZ or prefer to stay here for their weeks off.
If we did not have these established contacts I would not contemplate STR’s in the short term. Hope this helps

Yes i have considered those loop holes in the market at the mo so would need to be confident things will come right to take the project on. May even build which could take 18 months to complete.

3tomany - 2021-01-10 20:40:00

I work in a laundry and most of our clients are homestays or air b n bs. We are really busy, people that would normally travel overseas, can't so are traveling within the country.

annie17111 - 2021-01-10 21:35:00

What ever you do 3tomany, I hope it all works out. If you have been successful so far, no doubt it will stay that way. I have always enjoyed meeting people in my travels. I go to the Dargaville Fieldays every year for my annual holiday. A friend who downsized his farming operation and took on a backpackers said, meeting happy people with a purpose in life was more enjoyable than being stuck in the back paddock working by yourself. You should enjoy it.

laurelanne - 2021-01-10 21:39:00