Investing in the right property in a strong market is crucial to making a successful Airbnb investment. While there’s no guaranteed way on how to find Airbnb properties for sale that will perform exceptionally well, there are proven methods to uncover opportunities with great potential. When executed correctly, these strategies can lead to strong returns for investors. In this article, we'll explore the top ways to find properties with above-average short-term rental potential.
The best ways to find Airbnb properties for sale include:
- Partner with Summer: Best Approach for All
- Network with Airbnb Investors: Best for Serial Investments
- Work with Real Estate Agents: Best for Target Markets
- Connect with Airbnb Property Managers: Best for Off Market Deals
- Search for Distressed Properties: Best for Investors on a Budget
- Use Airbnb Investment Platforms: Best for Data-Focused Approach
1. Partner with Summer: Best Overall Way to Find Airbnb Properties for Sale
The best way to find Airbnb properties for sale is to work with Summer. We're a team of property managers, started by Airbnb alumni, and we've built a suite of tools that can help investors like you find the best Airbnb properties for sale.
To start, Forecast by Summer is your go-to platform for building a high-performing Airbnb portfolio. Our institutional-quality Airbnb data and forecasting tools are designed to help property managers and investors like you make smarter decisions. With intuitive insights on revenue, occupancy rates, market trends, and comps, Forecast enables you to evaluate new investments, optimize your portfolio, and stay ahead in the competitive short-term rental market.
Whether you're managing a few properties or a large portfolio, Forecast simplifies the process and puts all of your essential data in one place so you can confidently find and purchase your next Airbnb property.
Need more direct support? The Summer Acquisitions Team works hand-in-hand with investors to find a property that meets their exact needs and expectations. They work to understand your preferences with regards to location, price point, return on investment, and overall feel. After the initial meeting to identify goals, investors meet Summer's Head of Acquisitions, Pedro Zevallos, who has 25+ years of experience leading the acquisition of 20,000+ properties including homes, condos, lots, buildings, hotels, and government properties.
As soon as potential matches are identified, the Acquisitions Team prepares and submits a detailed analysis report that covers property information, design and improvement recommendations, projected returns, and other data points necessary to make an informed investment decision. With Summer, investors get easy access to properties for sale with confirmed potential to be profitable vacation rentals.
Once the investor selects a certain property, they can continue with the purchase process, and in many cases Summer is able to recommend lenders, agents, and other professionals from their network of partners. Moreover, after you buy your Airbnb property, we offer vacation rental interior design and furnishing services and end-to-end vacation rental property management.
Summer can help you not only find top-performing Airbnb properties for sale but also ensure that your investment reaches its full potential via professional design, furnishing, and management. Get started today!
2. Network with Airbnb Investors: Best for Serial Investments
One of the most efficient ways to access vacation rental investment opportunities is to connect with fellow investors. Many investors are continuously buying and selling properties, so they can help you identify a property for sale.
There are plenty of local investor meet-ups, regional and national real estate investing conferences, online forums, and Facebook and LinkedIn groups where investors from different markets come together to network, share experiences, and even forge partnerships. You can try some of these options to get to know and build relationships with fellow investors. While this option is very cost-efficient, it requires active efforts to stay in touch with other hosts and investors to be on their radar when a viable opportunity arises.
In this way, you will be among the first to hear when other short term rental property investors decide to sell one of their properties or when they find a good opportunity and are looking for another investor to join. This gives you access to off market properties as investors are likely to share their properties for sale with their network before they officially list them, so you'll be facing less competition than with more traditional ways of finding Airbnb properties to buy.
Keep in mind that networking with Airbnb hosts to find properties for sale works best if you don't have a short timeline and if you're considering buying a number of properties. That's because it takes time to build a network of investors that you can rely on. But once you've been able to do that, you can have a continuous flow of investment opportunities.
This approach can easily be combined with other strategies to locate available vacation rental homes. Moreover, having a strong network of fellow investors can help you in many different ways. So, it's strongly recommended that you start working on meeting and connecting with hosts as soon as you decide to launch a career as an Airbnb investor.
3. Work with Real Estate Agents: Best for Target Markets
Another way to locate Airbnb properties for sale is to work with real estate agents and brokers who specialize in investment properties in general and short term rentals specifically. Realtors are the first to know when someone decides that it's time to part with their home or investment property, so it makes sense to hire an agent to provide you with good opportunities in the local market.
The key to success with this strategy is to identify an agent who works with investment properties rather than homes. In this way, they will have the access to the necessary Airbnb data, analytical tools, and professional skills to evaluate the potential of properties to operate as Airbnbs and focus your search on optimal property types and amenities for your local market. In addition, realtors will support you through the buying and closing process. Post purchase, they can also connect you with the best Airbnb furnishing services and the top Airbnb management companies from their own network to help you launch your business in the best possible way.
You can identify investor-friendly real estate agents by asking for referrals from other investors, visiting real estate investing platforms, checking out online real estate agent profiles and their specializations, or attending local real estate meet-ups. Once again, networking proves crucial for operating in the vacation rental investment space.
This approach is a good option for investors who already know where they want to invest as agents have a limited market scope, so they cannot really help with nationwide Airbnb investment property search. Meanwhile, they can help you find a potential opportunity faster than fellow investors, so if you plan to buy an Airbnb a couple of months from now, you should start looking for realtors who can help you out.
4. Connect with Airbnb Property Managers: Best for Off Market Deals
Another proven method to find Airbnb properties for sale is getting in touch with short term rental property managers. These can be small-scale, local Airbnb managers or large-scale companies with coverage in multiple markets, depending on whether you already know where you want to invest. After all, these professionals are familiar with hundreds of vacation rental listings and work with some of the top real estate investors in each market.
Property managers are likely to be among the first who hear when one of their clients decides to sell a property as they will provide them with a notice for canceling their short term rental management agreement. This means that Airbnb managers might be able to inform you about upcoming opportunities before they even hit the market, providing you with access to off market properties. They will be more than happy to connect you with the owner and facilitate the purchase so that the property stays within their portfolio and they continue managing it and earning income from it.
In addition, you will have access to actual performance data before buying the property to know whether it can really do well as a short term rental. Keep in mind that investors don't necessarily sell when a property does not have the potential to generate positive cash flow; sometimes they are forced by circumstances to sell well-performing investments.
In most cases, this strategy works best if you connect with small, local Airbnb property managers as they have more personal relationships with owners and care more about each individual property in their portfolio. However, in case you are not sure about the top short term rental markets and need support in pinpointing them, you can also try to talk to national management companies. After all, they work with more vacation rental owners and might be able to help you locate a good opportunity faster.
5. Search for Distressed Properties: Best for Investors on a Budget
Of course, some of the best Airbnb properties to buy on a budget are various types of distressed homes. These include foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, short sales, bank-owned properties, REO homes, HUD homes, tax lien sales, bankrupt properties, abandoned properties, or others. There are many reasons why a property might be classified as distressed, whether the owner is falling behind on mortgage payments, tax payments, or something else.
From an investor's point of view, distressed properties offer lucrative Airbnb investment opportunities as they come at strongly discounted prices, while they can have the same potential to perform well as a vacation rental like any other property for sale. Buying a property below market price and putting in some upfront renovations and fixes can get you to profitability fast. Moreover, it's a good option for first-time investors who are operating on a tight budget.
However, to start on the right foot with this strategy, it's important to check and confirm that the property is not in a dire state that will require major upgrades to get it ready to welcome its first guests.
You can find distressed properties for sale to turn into Airbnb investments in multiple ways. First, check out online platforms that offer foreclosed and REO properties like Auction.com, Foreclosure.com, RealtyTrac, and RealtyBid. You can also visit the HUD marketplace for this specific type of distressed homes. Another way to find foreclosures for sale is to go to the respective sections on the websites of large national banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase or smaller local banks. In addition, you can keep an eye on county tax collectors' websites to learn about and register for upcoming real estate auctions.
Once again, before you decide to buy a distressed property to operate as a short term rental, make sure the necessary repairs will not exceed your budget and make sense from a financial point of view for a profitable vacation rental business.
6 Use Airbnb Investment Platforms: Best for Data-Focused Approach
One of the most efficient ways to find properties for sale with a strong potential as Airbnbs is to use online real estate investing platforms. These are websites that offer listings for sale with readily available market and property investment analysis done for you.
Real estate data analytics platforms like Summer Forecast, AirDNA, Mashvisor, Rabbu, and Airbtics can help you identify the best places to buy an Airbnb based on your budget, preferences, and investment goals. They offer nationwide access to market analysis that usually includes property prices, Airbnb revenue, daily rates, occupancy rates, rental expenses, and ROI. Second, they provide Airbnb potential analysis of real estate listings based on short term rental comps in the area. Thus, this option is particularly good for beginner investors who are not sure where to begin their search for Airbnb properties for sale.
However, even if you decide to opt for this way of finding Airbnb rental properties, you need to conduct your own analysis to ensure that a deal makes sense before you move forward with the purchase.
Bottom Line
These are the best ways to find Airbnb properties for sale. Networking with other investors, investor-friendly agents, and property managers can provide you with access to active listings as well as off market properties to add to your investment portfolio. Identifying distressed homes is a good alternative for investors on a budget, while using online platforms makes it easier to analyze certain properties.
Your best approach, though? Working with Summer, from direct acquisitions guidance to data-powered analysis for your next investment to design and management support.
