If you decide to buy an Airbnb Investment Property in Cape Town you can end up with a nondescript place like most on Airbnb (some of our other articles discuss how Airbnb has commoditized holiday rentals) or you can choose to be in the remarkable 20% who make proper money.
The questions you can ask before buying….
- Are you willing to ensure remarkability is designed into your Airbnb offer?
- And how do I know if your holiday rental will be remarkable or not?
Let’s assume your intention is to make money (maximize
income) from short term rental income and capital gains over time.
And you know the mantra: Location. Location. Location.
The amount of money you will make, from your Cape Town Airbnb investment, starts with location. And the depth of your pocket.
But if, due to various reasons, you can’t or don’t want to buy an Airbnb property in Clifton, Camps Bay or Waterfront Penthouse than other areas can still make you excellent money vs the investment.
However, if you just buy without considering the the interior you may end up amongst the 80% who make an average return. (Remember the clever Italian Pareto who said 80% of all the people in the world have 20% of all the money in the world).
Who wants to be part of the boring 80% before you have even invested?
Location is pretty useless without remarkable design.
And in this case interior design.
If the property fits your budget then okay.
But if you decide to slap dash the interior with ordinary interior then your return will potentially fail or be poor.
We suggest that before you use every last cent or before you trust your own interior design skills budget for professional interior designer.
From experience we know:
- that a remarkable place will easily have an occupancy above 70% but a ordinary place will battle to get to 50%.
- A remarkable place will demand rates instead of fighting the downwards spiral as ordinary homes compete on rates – thanks to the commoditization of short term rentals by Airbnb.
To really invest cleverly will be to buy only after a skillful architect and interior designer saw the place.
As an example have a look at this three bedroom en-suite home in Woodstock:
Looking at the photos of this Woodstock place you see a once ugly duckling now turned into the most amazing place.
When we viewed the place we fell in love then and there. Okay. It may not be to everyone’s taste but if I may;
This Modern Property is Remarkable:
- It makes a statement.
- It is not ordinary.
- No one will tell you it’s boring.
- It’s designed to wow!
And that is what guests want. If they want a boring place they can go and visit granny with the family photos on the piano – no offense intended as I have my own grannies who I love. But their interior design skills are well below remarkable.
Experience over years with Cape Town Airbnb Holiday management business showed that remarkable homes outperform the ordinary. And when the home sells we have happy guests who are willing to pay a premium. This makes the owners smile.
Summary:
Ensure you invest in a Cape Town Airbnb property where interior design is part of the parcel. This will buy you success.
If you, already sit with an Airbnb home, or your newly bought investment property sits at 40% or less occupancy it means, probably, that guests are finding a better deal. And to recover you may have to complete on rates? As you know this is a downward spiral.
At even 50% or less you will have to invest in ways to make your interior less boring – less average.
We are not interior designers but after working in short term rentals in Cape Town from 2009 we know what sells. You are very welcome to ask us if what is needed to be remarkable.
While you investigate your options why not quickly complete this remarkability quiz and see if your home or proposed home has what it takes to be WOW.
Just click on the button below. Complete the quiz and it will immediately send you the profitability evaluation.
What Is Your Airbnb Profitability Potential Cape Town? Get the free evaluation here.
Have fun.
