- Christina Kochis, 34, began hosting her apartment in Jersey City on Airbnb four months ago.
- She takes a low-key approach to hosting, only on the weekends and with a minimal chore list.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jersey City resident Christina Kochis, 34, who began renting out her one-bedroom apartment on Airbnb. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
My goal is to ideally start doing things like investment properties or actually own an Airbnb business. But I figured the easiest way is to start with something that I already pay rent on.
I realized that every weekend I am usually at my boyfriend's house anyway. If I'm paying to live here only 20 days out of the month, why not make some extra money off it?
I have a great apartment in Jersey City. For a one-bedroom apartment, my space is actually quite large. I have two extra rooms. One is where I keep all my clothes and dresses, it's kind of a makeup and styling room. The other room is a very small gym with a stationary bike and some dumbbells.
I first listed it on a Thursday night in September thinking it might take a couple of weeks to get my first hit. But the very next morning, I woke up to an alert saying that somebody's requesting to stay in my apartment from that Friday to Sunday. I wasn't fully prepared. I didn't have things like extra sheets or extra towels. So unfortunately I had to explain to the person it wasn't available.
That's been my only mishap so far.
It was pretty cost efficient to get set up. I spent maybe a total of $200 tops between a couple of extra pairs of sheets, extra cleaning supplies, and extra towels. I put a new key lock on the door for $50. It wasn't expensive at all.
The one big task was taking down personal pictures. Just for privacy concerns. It also makes the guests more comfortable, like they're not invading someone's apartment.
I only rent it out Thursday night through Sunday and have it set for $150 per night. I bump it up to $180 for the holidays.
So far, I've been able to bring in between $1,400 to $2,000 per month. It covers my rent. It's been easy money.
I don't want to give guests a ridiculous chore list
I've personally been to Airbnbs where it gets ridiculous. You have to strip the bed, wash the pillowcases, put everything from one room into the other, make sure the trash is out on a certain day. It just becomes like I own the house.
I don't want people to stay here to feel like they have to do that. I want them to be able to kind of wake up in the morning and be on their way.
I do all the cleaning myself. I figured I could just save the money. It takes me maybe two hours between guests just to clean everything back up and change the sheets.
But I don't really deal with huge messes. Everybody who stays here spends the majority of the time in New York City. I'm not really a destination where you hang at the house all day. I'm just a place to sleep.
I leave a full five hours between guests for cleaning. That's where it's nice that I stay with my boyfriend nearby. It's convenient to get back and forth.
My tips for new hosts
My first tip is to limit your availability at first. The first couple of people who stay at your place can become a little overwhelming. You're gonna be like, "Oh my God, did I do this properly? Did I do this wrong?" So I would limit the first couple of weeks to maybe doing just the weekend. As you get more comfortable with the turnovers and the flips, broaden your availability.
Another thing I highly recommend is I try to make it as personal as possible. I have a whiteboard where I write down the guest's name along with family and friends if they're coming. I allow pets, so if I know they're bringing a dog I leave out dog treats. Just little things so when they walk in they say, "Wow, this person really cares."
Most importantly, before you host anyone, sit and think of all the times you've gone to an Airbnb or hotel and something has gone wrong. I thought about times I had to call guest services. I walked around my apartment and looked for what a child might get hurt on. I thought through what happens every time I get out of the shower, What do I need? What should I be providing?
Think about if you're on vacation and you don't have access to your own personal items and personal space. And then provide that for the guests.