When property owners consider whether they will rent out their property long-term or short-term, the question of wear and tear frequently comes up. The conventional wisdom is that short-term rental guests will typically cause more wear-and-tear on the property, thus increasing expenses, versus a long-term tenant. This, however, is incorrect. Here are 3 reasons why short term rental actually cause less wear and tear to your properties. 

Reason 1: Some Common Behavior of Long-Term Tenants

The first way to look at it is to consider some of the following scenarios and choose which tenant is more likely to do it. Is it long-term or short-term tenant more likely to do the below?

• Make holes in the walls for pictures, TV mount, etc.
• Allow mold or mildew to build up in the bathrooms
• Use kitchen and all of the appliances extensively on a daily basis
• Have pets on a long-term basis

And we can go on like this. The purpose, though, is to demonstrate that long-term tenants do, in fact, cause a fair amount of wear and tear on the property as is.

Reason 2: Typical Behavior of a Short-Term Guest

Guests - while depending on the property and market - actually interact with the property less than tenants. 

Especially for smaller properties, guests usually come in to sleep and spend most of the day away - either on leisure or work. Very few of them cook or use the kitchen extensively. And most of them have a healthy amount of respect for the property - not treating it carelessly or abusing it.

Reason 3: Short Term Rentals Have Daily, Not Yearly, maintenance 

The other key reason why short-term rental properties actually end up having less wear-and-tear than long-term rental properties as a whole is because they typically have a housekeeper at the unit nearly every day. 

On one hand, this keeps the entire property clean and incredibly well maintained - just like a hotel room. On the other, if any issues pop up, a housekeeper can notify maintenance staff nearly immediately - instead of allowing the issue to get bigger and cost more down the line.

Let's Look into The Maintenance Cost of Short Term Rental

In terms of costs associated with maintenance and wear and tear per property, we typically:

a. Do paint touch ups once a year (usually to fix marks left by luggage on the walls)

b. Replace 1-2 pieces of furniture per year

c. Replace 2-3 sets of linens per year

Plus, regular maintenance and upkeep and that’s pretty much it. Frankly, it still amazes us how well the properties are maintained year-over-year with daily housekeeping and transient guests.

From this perspective, we recommend to budget for some regular annual touch ups and upkeep, but not really above and beyond what you’d have to do with a regular long-term tenant.

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If you have any questions, feel free to email us at hi@buildyourbnb.com. We would love to hear from you!