Airbnb has had immense growth in the past few years and is now one of the best ways to make money in real estate. In fact, when done right, short-term rentals will typically generate a higher return on investment than long-term rentals.
Although the process of buying Airbnb property is quite simple, finding the right investment property can be challenging. Not every Airbnb for sale will generate a good Airbnb return on investment. To make wise investment decisions, you should base them on reliable data and Airbnb analytics.
Fortunately, the advancement of AI and machine learning has led to the emergence of a wide range of sophisticated Airbnb tools that provide investors with easy access to Airbnb data and analytics. You don’t have to go through the stressful and time-consuming process of collecting and analyzing Airbnb data manually.
With that said, not all Airbnb tools in the market are made the same. To make the best investment decisions and have an edge over the competition, you also have to use the best Airbnb tools.
If you are looking to invest in Airbnb in the US housing market, Mashvisor offers you the best Airbnb tools for finding the most profitable short-term rental investment opportunities. Keep reading to learn about these Airbnb tools and how Airbnb investors can take advantage of them when buying property.
Related: Four Things to Consider Before Purchasing an Airbnb Investment Property
Best Airbnb Tools
Here are Mashvisor’s Airbnb tools that will help you identify the best Airbnb for sale before you buy.
1. The Real Estate Heatmap
The first and most important step in finding an Airbnb investment property with a high return on investment is finding a great location. Therefore, knowing how to conduct Airbnb market research is crucial.
Generally, a good market for Airbnb investment is one that has a high demand for short-term accommodation from tourists and business travelers. Such markets can be identified by looking up the average Airbnb data for different markets. With the right Airbnb tools, you should be able to do it in a matter of minutes.
The best Airbnb tool for analyzing real estate markets is Mashvisor’s Real Estate Heatmap. If you have a city in mind, you can use the heatmap to run a neighborhood analysis on the city in order to find the best neighborhood for Airbnb investment.
The tool uses different colors to show the performance of different neighborhoods in your city of choice based on the averages of the following metrics:
- Listing price
- Airbnb rental income
- Airbnb occupancy rate
- Airbnb cash on cash return
Neighborhoods with the highest performance for each metric are marked in green while those with the lowest performance are marked in red. Neighborhoods with an average performance are marked in yellow and orange.
For instance, when you set “Airbnb occupancy rate” as your filter, you’ll be able to identify the best neighborhood for Airbnb investment based on Airbnb occupancy rate data. Neighborhoods with the highest Airbnb occupancy rate will be marked in green.
Set all four filters one by one so that your decision is based on all the metrics. You want to invest in a neighborhood with a high Airbnb occupancy rate, high Airbnb rental income, high cash on cash return, and within your budget. By factoring all these filters, you will be able to locate neighborhoods with the highest potential for Airbnb profit.
Related: Airbnb Rentals: Finding Income Properties Using a Heatmap
2. The Property Finder
Before you decide on what Airbnb investment property to buy, you have to explore multiple properties. In the past, investors relied only on traditional methods like networking, real estate agents, and driving for dollars to find potential Airbnb investment properties for sale.
Most of these property search methods may not be favorable for beginner real estate investors with little real estate experience and may only work when searching for properties in the local market. They can also be very time-consuming.
Thanks to Airbnb tools, it has never been easier to search for Airbnb property for sale. The quickest and most effective way to find Airbnb properties for sale in the US housing market regardless of your real estate experience is to use Mashvisor’s Property Finder.
This tool allows you to find profitable Airbnb properties for sale that match your criteria by simply selecting some basic filters. In just a matter of minutes, you’ll have a precise list of high return Airbnb properties for sale that fit your budget and search criteria.
Here are the key filters that the Property Finder supports:
- Location (Select an unlimited number of cities at once in the US housing market with an Expert Plan)
- Budget
- Type of property
- Rental strategy
- Number of bedrooms & bathrooms
Related: Rental Property Finder: A Revolutionary Tool for Investing in Real Estate
3. The Airbnb Profit Calculator
Having narrowed down your Airbnb investment property list to match your criteria, you should now do a comprehensive Airbnb investment analysis on these properties to find the most profitable one.
For a long time, investors have been using spreadsheets to analyze Airbnb data. However, using an Airbnb spreadsheet can be time-consuming and is prone to error. This is where the most important of the Airbnb tools -Mashvisor’s Airbnb Profitability Calculator – comes into play. While it can take you several weeks to collect and analyze data for multiple Airbnb properties using a spreadsheet, the calculator can do it accurately in a matter of minutes.
The Airbnb Profitability Calculator uses big data and predictive analytics to estimate Airbnb income and other key investment metrics. If you want to maximize Airbnb rental income and Airbnb return on investment, this is a must-have tool.
Because of the Airbnb data collected by Mashvisor, you can use the calculator to access precalculated values of the following key metrics:
- Airbnb rental income
- One time and ongoing Airbnb expenses
- Airbnb cash flow
- Airbnb cap rate
- Airbnb cash on cash return
- Airbnb occupancy rate
- Real estate investment payback balance
As a real estate investor, you should focus on finding Airbnb property with positive cash flow and good Airbnb return on investment (cash on cash return and cap rate).
One unique feature that makes the Airbnb profitability calculator one of the best Airbnb tools is its ability to find Airbnb comps for properties on the platform. Comps help investors to determine the fair market value of their potential investment property so as to avoid overpaying.
The Bottom Line
Airbnb offers investors the opportunity to make serious money in real estate. However, finding the right location and investment property is hugely dependent on the Airbnb tools you are using. Mashvisor’s Airbnb apps make finding profitable Airbnb properties easier for anyone regardless of their real estate experience. By using our Airbnb tools, you can turn months of research into minutes.
To get access to our real estate investment tools, sign up for a 7-day free trial of Mashvisor now, followed by 15% off for life.