
Show HN: Short-term rental estimate for sites like Airbnb - edouard1234567
https://www.eliotandme.com/estimator
======
edouard1234567
For everyone wondering how much the White House could rent for on Airbnb (132
bedrooms/35 bathrooms). $157,920/week

[https://www.eliotandme.com/estimator?address=white+house%20&...](https://www.eliotandme.com/estimator?address=white+house%20&bath=35&bed=132&room_type=entire_place&sleeps=264)

~~~
Retric
Lincoln bedroom @
[https://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/index.html](https://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/index.html)
400$ / night. So 7 * 400 * 132 = 369,000 / week. Making that's a hefty bulk
discount ;-)

PS: And yes this is a parody.

~~~
joshvm
The statement is brilliant, I wonder how they could put that up with a
straight face:

> We regret to announce that the "White House Overnight Guest Program" will no
> longer continue under the Trump Administration due to the repeal of the
> Obama Administration's openness and transparency doctrine. You are welcome,
> however, to make a reservation to stay at the 5-star Trump International
> Hotel just down the street.

The $400 a night is per double occupancy though, so really it's only $200 per
head.

EDIT: Ok, it's a parody. Shame! :(

~~~
zeep
Obama's openness and transparency? haha.

~~~
kbenson
To help, since you look to be somewhat new, the downvotes aren't just because
this is place a bastion of liberal Democrat support, but because you didn't
really contribute with your comment.

Make an actual argument with references to back it up and you'll likely still
get argument, but not necesarrily downvotes.

~~~
zeep
For one, Obama was the worst president when it comes to prosecute whistle
blowers that brought attention to illegal activities within the Government
(it's like the opposite of openness)... Yeah, Obama liked to say that he was
transparent or open, but actions speak louder. (I don't think that this needs
references, it is a well known fact, but here you go:
[http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/10/...](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/10/jake-
tapper/cnns-tapper-obama-has-used-espionage-act-more-all-/))

~~~
kbenson
Firstly, that article itself notes, some of those cases were likely not
whistleblowers (they were just relaying government information to news
agencies, and even if trying to be transparent I doubt they intended internal
negotiations with North Korea and Iran to to transparent _while ongoing_ ).
Secondly, that's but one aspect of administration transparency, there are many
to consider, such as how much other information was released, when it was
released, and how complete it was. Looking at one metric, even if it's an
important one, and using it as the sole basis for making that judgement,
amounts to more of a PR move and clickbait headline than useful assessment.

That said, I agree, Obama didn't appear to run a very open administration. It
appeared _very_ secretive. Then again, the prosecuting of of people for leaked
information rather than quiet pressure and sanctions is itself a form of
transparency (it's also noted in that article that past presidents used many
other techniques to pressure reporters instead of the legal system).

In the end, this is a complex enough topic that without a massive investment
of time and effort, most arguments are going to have a hefty amount of
opinion, making useful discussion hard. It doesn't help that we don't have an
easy comparison with Trump's administration. In one respect, it's likely the
most open administration there's ever been. I just don't think that's by
design...

~~~
zeep
but since this is place a bastion of liberal Democrat support (as you put it),
proofs are only asked when you talk against democrats... (Do you think that
Google would fire somebody for saying what I said? I do...)

~~~
kbenson
> but since this is place a bastion of liberal Democrat support (as you put
> it)

Actually I was implying that it may be _seen_ that way, and even if you see it
that way that doesn't fully explain what was going on.

> but since this is place a bastion of liberal Democrat support (as you put
> it)

Not true. There are some vocal Trump supporters here (out at least they were,
they've been quiet of late). Unsupported statements are often called out on
both sides. It may happen more for one side than the other, but that just
means it's up to people like you to ask. If you can do it in a _respectful_
way, you're part of the solution (and I suspect you'll get upvotes for it).

That's also a very vocal set of libertarians that are happy to explain or
argue the finer points of their reasoning.

> but since this is place a bastion of liberal Democrat support (as you put
> it)

I don't think that really has any place in _this_ discussion, but I'll humor
you. No, I don't think they would. There are many Republicans working at
Google. This is about a specific aspect of the company policy which happens to
align with professed democratic principles. An employee _publicly_ called that
policy into question in a way that was easy for some to see as bigotry. That's
a PR nightmare, and puts a spotlight on the company in a way they don't like,
all because of one person. The PR nightmare alone is enough to cause the
firing. Everything else just made the decision easier.

------
buf
I found this to be really inaccurate. I've been a host of an Airbnb for a few
years. I've slowly moved my price up until I hit the maximum 70£/day. I have
hundreds of positive reviews.

The price the website suggested was 120£.

I then went in to put an obscure address where there is no demand, and the
price was $140/day. I've rented a hotel in the area for $30/day.

~~~
overcast
$30? Where is such a place, Siberia?

~~~
Mediterraneo10
There are _plenty_ of AirBnB places in fairly touristed places in the
developing world for 15-20€/day.

~~~
samstave
Room or a whole house?

~~~
amorphid
Using Airbnb, I rented an entire 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Belgrade,
Serbia for about 13 days. With fees, the price was $380-ish USD, just under
$30/night. It was a really good deal!

------
philpee2
Airbnb already supports this
[https://www.airbnb.com/host/homes](https://www.airbnb.com/host/homes)

~~~
vm
That's a city-level estimate. OP provides estimates based on your actual
address.

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soulnothing
For my own reference point in Wilmington DE. It was saying daily 130 for home,
55 for room. I rented out rooms at 15$ a night. I was constantly told I was
overpriced for the area. Despite providing free weekend breakfast, and Friday
night dinners.

~~~
sdubois
$15/night sounds really cheap! $55 for a private room seems reasonable
compared to what's on Airbnb: [https://www.airbnb.com/s/Wilmington-
de/homes?guests=1&adults...](https://www.airbnb.com/s/Wilmington-
de/homes?guests=1&adults=1&pets=false&allow_override%5B%5D=&room_types%5B%5D=Private%20room)

------
yellow_postit
How is this "Artificial Intelligence" (from the about page:
[https://www.eliotandme.com/about](https://www.eliotandme.com/about))?

~~~
dgut
For some, AI is just another buzzword. :/

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iDemonix
It's a nice idea, and your UI is nice, but I hate the name as it's very
forgettable and using it against my parents Airbnb cottage, and a friends
flat, it is wildly inaccurate.

------
ramphastidae
Looks great. Consider adding dishwasher and washer/dryer as factors too — I
found those made a big difference (20%+) when doing my own comps research.

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akcreek
Gave me the exact same rate for my current apartment (1600sq ft Capitol Hill
Seattle) and my previous condo (1100 sq ft NuLu Louisville, KY). My rent here
is 3.5x what my mortgage was in Louisville and from personal experience in
both places the demand for short term rentals in Louisville is nothing like it
is in Seattle. So yeah... probably not accurate for the addresses I checked.

~~~
irq11
or maybe you overpaid for your apartment. it's not uncommon in cities on the
west coast for prices to irrationally exceed the possible rental income.

~~~
akcreek
I should have better specified... the rate per night makes sense for the place
in Seattle, but is way overpriced for the place in Louisville.

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jimmyrocks
This could also be used when looking for an Airbnb. You could use it to get a
rough price estimate in an area near your destination.

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nick-cortes
Curious to see how it relates to the mortgage of some houses.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I did a quick check in the Sunnyvale area, a $2M mortgage on a 4 bedroom, 2.5
bath house that can sleep 6 at $2700 a week is about the same as a mortgage.
(note you'd insurance, pay taxes on the house, and have more expensive
maintenance) So bottom line you'd lose money on the deal.

~~~
jdmichal
I have the understanding that no one expects residential real estate rental to
be cash-flow positive with a full mortgage. It's extremely rare and basically
a complete no-brainer if you can find a property that is cash-flow positive
with a mortgage. Generally, one looks at equity and tries for net-worth
positive. Which is simple to say, but is made more complex by older mortgages
giving more equity for an equal payment.

Of course, with an interest-only mortgage, yes one would need to be cash-flow
positive, because there is no such thing as gaining equity. Again, my
understanding is that such properties are extremely rare.

~~~
briandear
If you're investing in real estate you always want a mortgage and you always
want it cash-flow positive. If it's not cash-flow positive on the first day of
renting it out, then you don't buy the property. Investing for equity is about
the dumbest mistake some real estate investors make. Always invest on cash-
flow. Investing for capital appreciation is a recipe for disaster. With
positive cash-flow, the underlying value is irrelevant.

When I say you "always want a mortgage" I mean that if you have a mortgage you
have your tenants paying for the house. Your cash on cash return is far
higher. If your potential property doesn't support that, then find another
property. Paying $200k cash for a house that nets $500 per month is far less
interesting than buying 10 houses at $20k down that each net $200 per month --
and it takes exactly the same cash.

~~~
jdmichal
I don't disagree with you. I was speaking solely about full mortgage -- ie,
minimum down payment. Turning a positive cash flow with a large mortgage is
very difficult, especially after accounting for all costs. (Mortgage, taxes,
insurance, maintenance, hoa, vacancy...) Turning a positive cash flow without
any mortgage is very easy, but kills your ROI. So you're going to end up
shooting somewhere in the middle...

EDIT: Here's a fun Reddit thread on the topic:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/36ikp6/landlord...](https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/36ikp6/landlords_how_many_of_your_rental_properties_are/)

Here's an example from that thread on how quickly the math takes you to
roughly cash-flow neutral -- and this is with 25% down and 1% rental price:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/36ikp6/landlord...](https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/36ikp6/landlords_how_many_of_your_rental_properties_are/crf9n7n/)

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kchoudhu
There's no way a 4BR/3B house in Las Vegas (Summerlin, to be exact) is going
for 1500 a week.

Nice try, though.

~~~
Sleeep
Forgive my ignorance but is that too high or too low?

~~~
kchoudhu
Waaaaay too high. Probably by an order of magnitude.

~~~
sdubois
I'd be very curious to know on what you base your judgment. Here is a search
on Airbnb for Summerlin Las Vegas 4BR/3Baths and I'd say $200-$250/night looks
reasonable (apparently average is $429) [https://www.airbnb.com/s/summerlin-
las-vegas/homes?allow_ove...](https://www.airbnb.com/s/summerlin-las-
vegas/homes?allow_override%5B%5D=&min_bathrooms=3&room_types%5B%5D=Entire%20home%2Fapt&min_bedrooms=4)

~~~
kchoudhu
There's a difference between what's listed and what actually moves.

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xspade
I'd add a privacy policy. I didn't want to enter my real address since I
didn't know what could be done with my address. I know your intentions are not
nefarious, but a simple blurb around what you do w/ collected data would be
nice.

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drcongo
Apparently Trump could get $1,150 per week letting out the White House.

~~~
arkitaip
"White House, Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC, United States 2
bedrooms 1 bathroom 4 people"

Huh, I've always thought the WH was bigger than that.

~~~
milcron
I think that's just the east wing.

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zeep
Is that how much you could get if you are aiming to getting close to 100%
occupancy?

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Brendinooo
How is my data being used here? Not super comfortable giving my address and
then giving information about the house when there's no information about how
the data is being handled/stored.

~~~
corndoge
You can get all this info off Zillow. Not sure what the concern is.

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010001001010
This is brilliant, for commercial Airbnb operators. Depending on who you are
that might be good or bad, but I won't wade into the debate :)

I did a more basic analysis when looking at the most profitable Airbnb cities
a few months back: [https://www.travelstatsman.com/06022017/cities-airbnb-
hosts-...](https://www.travelstatsman.com/06022017/cities-airbnb-hosts-make-
money/)

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thyselius
Quite accurate estimate on our apartment in Stockholm, Sweden (we rent out
sometimes at a slightly higher price than estimated)

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Fuzzwah
Hobart, Australia: the estimate from this page for 1 week of renting, would
cover a monthly of an interest only mortgage.

~~~
samwillis
When I have looked into it before, that's more or less what you would expect.
1 week holiday let = covers mortgage for month.

It's almost exactly that (within 10%) for the estimate of my house.

~~~
Sleeep
There is a big difference between a regular mortgage and an interest only
mortgage.

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m-j-fox
It seems like I could get more for my rental on bbro, if it was 100% occupied.
It would be helpful to know occupancy stats and average length of stay to
estimate turn-around costs.

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aguynamedben
Nice, I like this a lot. I'm curious: How did you get the event data? It's
really accurate a clean for San Francisco (Dreamforce, Fleet Week, etc.)

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borne0
question for people who use airbnb: If you've had a good experience with a
host and you're going back to the area would you bother booking through Airbnb
or just contact the host directly?

~~~
grandalf
I'd go through airbnb again unless i really expected to stay there frequently.
Dispute mitigation cuts both ways.

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lwansbrough
Shouldn't it be EliotAndI.com?

~~~
quuquuquu
Most likely yes, but that didn't stop 23andme.com haha :)

It is interesting how language morphs over time. Some people will be quite
opposed to grammatical errors taking root.

But language has a tendency to not only accept those errors as dual-truths,
but eventually replace those errors as sole truths!

This is to the point where "you and I" sounds stunted, overly formal and
archaic, compared to "you and me", in my opinion.

~~~
tspike
"He gave it to Eliot and me," is correct.

"Eliot and me gave it to him," is not.

"He gave it to Eliot and I," would be an example of hypercorrection.

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itsrishi
I know some superhosts who use airdna.co to find new properties to invest in
and price listings. It's not free though.

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jdlyga
If only it was legal in my state!

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dogan
Seems accurate, might be better to consider current rating, amenities, etc.

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asdf33323
awesome! well done.

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muninn_
Cool idea, very inaccurate.

~~~
edouard1234567
Do you have an example?

~~~
dmoy
Well for one, it lists my house as having the wrong number of bedrooms and
bathrooms, and then proceeds to give an inaccurate number for rents in the
area if you actually go look at Airbnb.

~~~
twsted
I think it is a default, 2 bedrooms , 1 bathroom.

Wouldn't you be worried if it showed the exact numbers?

~~~
ryanlol
No, such data isn't hard to come by.

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sisyphusprotege
If I could get the bank financing, I could buy 5 properties in the market I am
in and all would generate 25% cash on cash returns after a few months of
renovations. With the scale I could hire full time staff and centralize
laundry.

And before anyone jumps down my throat for this, it would be a social good in
this particular market and help the local housing market (there is a surplus
of housing and ample very affordable housing, the problem here is lack of
jobs)

And if anyone thinks this would be a soft option, it would be a lot of work
and a lot of responsibility and a lot of value added.

