Reasons to Reconsider Owning an Airbnb Property in Charleston, South Carolina

Airbnb has been all the rage in recent times. What started off as a fantastic way to make passive income by renting an extra room in your house for a few days has transitioned into a booming business in which many individuals have purchased properties with the intention of turning them into Airbnb properties for short-term rentals. This sounds like a great idea if you have the means to afford a new property, but it’s worth noting that there have been a variety of issues in recent years that may make you want to reconsider purchasing a property with the intention to make it an Airbnb. We’re going over some reasons today you may want to explore other options.

❌ Rowdy Tenants vs. Tenant Screening ✅

When renting out an Airbnb property, you have no idea who the person on the other side of the booking is. By booking your property out to strangers, you invite the potential for this property to be destroyed by people leaving it a mess, teenagers who may participate in illegal drinking or drugs, or any variety of individuals you would probably not want to invite into your personal home. It’s important to take this into deep consideration in the event that illegal activity takes place on a property under your name or that the place is trashed, leaving you to deal with the labor to repair it. While Airbnb offers insurance options, this is not always guaranteed and a bad tenant can be costly to your wallet and your time. Unlike Airbnb which welcomes strangers in the short term, if you were to list your property with us at CREC Property Management, we boast backgrounds checks for each and every tenant to ensure they have a proper rental history, credit score, no criminal background, or other anything else concerning that may disqualify them. We also require each tenant to tour the property they are interested in prior to renting to ensure it’s a good fit, which also ensures your comfortability as the property owner.

❌ Keeping Up with Maintenance vs. A Team You Trust ✅

If you are renting out your Charleston property from somewhere outside of Charleston, it may be hard to keep up with regular and routine maintenance in between check-ins. Sure, you can always hire local individuals to do this work on your behalf, but often it can be hard to find someone reliable you trust. We can imagine it being fairly anxiety-inducing to not know the state of your property as often as you would like to. When you choose to partner with CREC Property Management, we have an entire maintenance team that works hard to satisfy the property owners we work with. This ensures you will always have a team you trust in your back pocket that can address maintenance issues 24/7 as well as do bi-annual check-ins with your property to ensure things are up to speed at all times.

❌ Artificially Raising Property Values vs. Providing a Place for Someone Eager to Call Charleston Home ✅

Did you know that Airbnbs actually harm the local community? When owners choose to convert their property into Airbnbs it raises the prices of other properties around them since the supply of housing becomes more limited. This makes it difficult for individuals to purchase or rent in areas they are looking to live in while also pushing out people who may have been born and raised in the area if they can no longer afford to live there. At CREC, it excites us to think about providing someone a home that they can both love and afford. Since our leases are generally about a year in length, this allows tenants to truly feel comfortable in a space as well as offering you the assurance that your property will be constantly booked as opposed to Airbnbs which may have less booking stability. At CREC, we truly do care about making each property feel like home for our tenants while also ensuring that we build fantastic relationships with the property owners. We take great pride in taking the work off of your hands so you can sit back and relax while still getting passive income from your property. For more information on how to list your Charleston property with a property management team you’ll love, call us at (843) 574-9100 or email us at [email protected].