‘Is This a Good Short-Term Rental?’ AI Has the Answer
A tool on realtor.com helps investors estimate potential profits, but it can also help current owners decide if “rent it out” is a better financial idea than selling.
CHICAGO – Realtor.com’s “My Home” dashboard provides estimates on the potential income homeowners could make if they rented out their property.
Nearly 40% of homeowners have or would consider renting out part of their primary home as a short-term rental, according to a new survey from realtor.com and Censuswide, a research consulting firm. But the potential rental income matters when homeowners are deciding whether to take this step.
Realtor.com announced last week a new estimating tool to help property owners to gauge their potential income if they decide to list their home as a short-term rental. The tool is available in the “My Home” dashboard on realtor.com. It’s based on a seven-day rental estimate that uses Airbnb data from similar listings in the ZIP code.
Actual earnings would depend on local laws, availability, rental price and demand in the area. Homeowners can gather earnings estimates for hosting using one room or their entire house.
“Short-term rentals are a great way to help with some of the costs of homeownership,” says Mausam Bhatt, chief product officer at realtor.com. “Renting out their house for a couple days or weeks out of the year when it’s not in use could generate extra income that can be put toward the mortgage, maintenance or even help cover the cost of a vacation.”
Thirty-four percent of homeowners surveyed by realtor.com and Census-wide say they’d consider renting out their property to save money for a future home purchase, while 21% say they’d use the extra income to pay their current mortgage.
Source: National Association of Realtors® (NAR)
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