Use AirBnb to Sell Your Home

If you stop to think about it, selling a home is a strange endeavor. You’re asking prospective buyers to make a considerable investment in your house without the experience of actually living there. Yet this is standard procedure. Buyers make offers after showings without spending a single night in the home where they plan on living!

Now, there’s an emerging marketing trend designed to take some of the ambivalence out of buying a home. Some sellers are letting prospective buyers “live” in their house for a few days to see if the home is right for them.

AirBnB is one platform that makes this strategy possible. Most effective for sellers who have staged their house and are not currently living in the listing, the approach is direct: Sellers list the home on AirBnB, and when they have an interested buyer, they arrange a temporary “rental” of the property. This way, the buyers get to spend real time in the home. They are allowed privacy, the chance to see what it’s like to sleep in the house at night, and use the facilities just as they would if they owned the home.

While the approach goes a long way to calming buyer fears, the idea is not without its critics. For one, not all brokers may be comfortable with this approach. Obviously, having prospective buyers temporarily rent the home can create difficulties in showing the home to other buyers when the property is rented.

Also, infrequent horror stories are associated with this type of short-term rental. Home damage and even squatters who refuse to leave have happened to people listing their property on AirBnB. Finally, potential legal complications relate to short-term rentals in specific communities. Nonetheless, thousands of people have offered their short-term rental with no problem.

You can see the appeal, though. There’s a real potential for buyers to build an emotional attachment to your home if they spend a little vacation time there together while evaluating the property.

What do you think? Would you AirBnB your home if it gave you a selling advantage?

AirBnB’ing your home is hardly the only strategy for a quick, competitive sale. I have a full range of marketing and sales techniques to help you sell! If you’re thinking about selling soon, get in touch to see what I can do for you!  Liz Norvelle (928) 458-4025