3 Things You Must Know If You Plan To Turn Your Home Into A Rental For Super Bowl 50
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX/CBS SF) -- Dreaming of cashing in on Super Bowl 50 by turning your home into a rental? You might want to take a page from the Super Bowl XLIX playbook so you don't miss out on your dream like the Seahawks did in the final seconds of the rental game.
On average in Phoenix, prices started at about $100/night on the low side. At the high end, homes were renting for $6000/night. Jen O'Neal of the Tripping.com, a vacation home clearinghouse in San Francisco believes Bay Area rentals will be even higher.
"I mean upwards of $10,000/night for the nicer properties," she said.
Before you start seeing dollar signs, though, here are few things you must consider.
1. REGISTER YOUR HOME NOW
The City of San Francisco now requires that all short-term rental hosts register with the city and they must do so in person.
The Short-Term Rental Registry was created to placate residents who don't want de facto hotels sprouting up in their neighborhoods. City planners also don't want to encourage unauthorized sublets.
Qualified applicants will be issued a mandatory registration number from the Planning Department allowing them to rent their home for periods of less than 30 nights. There are other prescribed rental durations, each with its respective caveats and rules. For example, tenants cannot charge more than their monthly rent, and renting your second home is not allowed.
Be sure to check the city's website, www.sf-planning.org/shorttermrentals for the rules and documents you'll need to know and gather before you register. There is a $50 fee.
2. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!
Consider this. The game is in Santa Clara. The festivities are in San Francisco. That's a 45-mile drive that would take about an hour in ideal traffic conditions. So, if you were renting, where would you choose? Probably somewhere in-between; probably not too far north, or too far east in Marin or Alameda County.
Renters with high hopes faced the same dilemma in and around Phoenix. Most of the festivities were in the city, but the game was played in Glendale. Even with just 17-miles separating the venues, some places, like Theresa Krakauer's got no takers.
"I started at $2000, I dropped it to $1000," she said. By the eve of the game, she had lowered her price to a humble $600. The former Los Altos realtor believes Airbnb.com oversupplied the market and drove down the price.
3. PERFECT TIMING
Supply and demand are important factors in determining the price of a successful rental, but so is timing.
Hotels in the Greater Phoenix area sold out months in advance of Super Bowl XLIX. According to Business Insider, hotel rates nearly doubled.
Inflated prices drove many last minute visitors into the arms of Airbnb.com. According to their statistics, late bookings in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and Glendale were up more than 300%.
Last minute travelers were also willing to pay more. A carefully timed rental may yield a substantial difference in price.
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With all these variables, one thing is certain, Super Bowl 50 will be a boon for some Bay Area short-term rentals and a bust for others. Where your home comes out, all depends on how you play the rental game.
