Derek Cheung made $4.4 million last year on 200 Airbnbs. He only worked five hours a week. Oh, and he’s only 24 years old.
His method? Arbitrage.
Rent an apartment for $1,500 a month. Get the landlord’s permission to use it for short-term rentals. Plan on $500 a month for expenses. List it on Airbnb. Make $3,500 a month. Pocket $1,500 a month off just that one unit.
That can pay for a nice vacation each month. Or, better yet, you could scale up like Derek did.
Five units would mean you’re netting about $7,500 a month, based on Derek’s experience.
At that rate, you could probably quit your job.
Easier said than done, right?
Here’s why most people never even get started with Airbnb arbitrage.
In a word, excuses. Either it’s “I don’t have enough money” or “I don’t have enough time” or “There’s no way a landlord’s gonna agree to let me rent out their unit on Airbnb,” right?
But Derek BNB, as he calls himself, says those excuses are about as real as a unicorn’s diploma.
So if you find yourself saying you don’t have enough money, Derek’s response would be: “Cool, good to know. I didn’t have any either when I started. I was sleeping in my car and showering in gyms while I set up my first unit.”
“And here’s the exact method I used to get thousands of dollars for free,” he continues.
“I got a credit card that had 0% APR for the first 12 months. That means you can borrow $10k, use that to furnish the property plus pay for rent and expenses, and then pay back the bank after you’ve made the money.”
Okay, what if you’re juggling kiddos, cubicles, and chores? How could you possibly launch a new Airbnb business on top of all that?
“Easy fix,” Derek claims. “Use Guesty to manage your property. Hire someone on TaskRabbit to set up your unit. Hire a cleaner to clean the property. Hire a handyman to take care of all the issues. Hire a virtual assistant for $3 an hour to operate everything.”
Hmm. I see what he’s saying, but that’s a lot of money going out; you better hope those people deliver for you.
As for the whole “landlord won’t let me” myth, Derek says it all comes down to your approach.
Most people cold call landlords and they’re all, “Hey, uhhh, do you have any extra units? I wanna use your property for Airbnb.”
About as dazzling as a firework that fails to launch.
If you were a landlord, would you say yes to that? Probably not. So what should you do instead?
First and foremost, appear credible. Explain you have a corporate housing company that provides units for traveling nurses and professionals.
Second, list your strengths:
- You’ll sign a multi-year lease.
- They’ll never hear from you.
- Tell ’em how you’ll have a cleaning crew come in every coupla days to make sure the place is spotless.
- You’ll treat the property like it’s your own – the success of your business depends on it.
Third, the cherry on top, offer to handle all the maintenance issues yourself. Leaky faucet? Your handyman’s on his way. Batteries need replaced in the smoke detector? Same thing. Yard work, paint touch ups, whatever it is – you got it.
Derek sells an Airbnb Empire Academy course: his blueprint for starting and growing a fully automated Airbnb business that allows you to quit your 9-to-5 and travel the world anytime.
Video training, checklists, cheat sheets, contracts, sales scripts, everything you’d expect in a comprehensive Airbnb coaching program.
Cost is either $5,000, $9,000, or $25,000, depending on the level of support you want.
My only concern is the sheer volume of Airbnb offers today. How could there be any market share left?