Your Home Let Industry Insider Tips for Boosting your Rental Yield

The home-let gig economy is thriving.In the UK, the average Airbnb host coins in £2,000 a year (and it’s even more in the Big Smoke, with properties in the capital averaging out to £3,500 a year). While over the pond in the US, Airbnb hosts are raking in $924 (£653) a month.

Impressive figures indeed. But what if you’re not reaping all that this lucrative line of investment promises?What lies behind your lack of a healthy profit? Hosting skills, location, amenities, facilities? Stop scratching your head. Here we share our little-known expert tips for boosting your self-host rental income.

Location, Location, Location?

It’s true to say that your location is going to certainly impact you can or can’t earn from your home-let. However, you shouldn’t presume that this is sole source of your woes.This industry report from Airbnb lets you into the world of self-hosting incomes – from the northern most tip of Scotland, to the in the South West. Generally, these figures can be taken to represent the wider self-let market.

Region	Annual earnings per night
Scotland	£95
Northern Ireland	£77
North East	£67
North West	£74
Yorkshire and Humber	£79
East Midlands	£67
West Midlands	£73
Wales	£96
East of England	£74
London	£75
South East	£97
South West	£106

Don’t Limit your Income by ruling certain Guests Out

No children, no pets, no families? Ruling out certain types of guests can kill your income and occupancy rates. If you do decide to welcome these guests, does your listing appeal to them? And what about business guests? Do you offer the facilities that they need? Such as a desk, free Wi-Fi and in-room refreshments? 

Go with a Pro for your Property Images

Despite your best efforts, you’re not a professional photographer – and it is the images of your property that will really sell your property, so consider a professional for this task (you may even qualify for free photography, courtesy of Airbnb – check here to see whether your city qualifies). 

Perfect Your Listing

Don’t overlook the importance of the words in your listing. Here are our top tips for a listing description that works overtime…

• Take care not to make typos
• Ensure that you don’t mislead
• Keep your listing to an optimal 250 words
• Create different listings for each season – and remember to consider whether the types of traveller you’re targeting change throughout the year
• Split your content with headings, bullet lists and FAQs 

Taking Over the Self-Let World, One Property at a Time?

Do you count yourself amongst the self-let entrepreneurs with a growing empire? Then you should carefully research your next move. Earning averages differ drastically from region to region, and changes such as HS2and northern regeneration schemes could and should be influencing your property purchasing decisions. Other Government initiatives, such as Northern Ireland and Midland Engine projects should also be on your radar, as should the following stats as to average earnings and nights hosted per year.

Region	Annual earnings for a typical host	Nights hosted per year for a typical listing
Scotland	£3,600	38
Northern Ireland	£2,700	35
North East	£2,200	32
North West	£3,100	42
Yorkshire and Humber	£3,000	38
East Midlands	£2,200	33
West Midlands	£2,400	33
Wales	£2,600	27
East of England	£2,800	38
London	£3,000	40
South East	£3,100	32
South West	£3,400	32

Ask your Guests – How Do I Improve?

Guest feedback is key to boosting your average star rating (and along with it, your ranking and the price that you can ask for your rental). A simple way of gaining feedback is to leave a short, 5-minute questionnaire in your rented rooms. 

To Finance or Not to Finance, ThatIs the Question

Those who are committed to earning full-time income from their self-hosted lets should seriously considering whether a few home improvements could pay huge dividends.

Here’s a brief step by step…

1. Understand the potential of your location
2. Get to know the typical guest in your region – what do they look for in a property – could you add more luxurious features to bump up rental yield and occupancy? Do they travel in large groups that could warrant extra bedrooms?
3. Seek professional advice – from both a self-let expert and anindependentcredit broker (the latter of whom can give you an idea as to the cost of finance and what you’re likely to qualify for).
4. Improve your credit score to secure the best finance package
5. Before taking the plunge, crunch the numbers – can you afford the finance and will the improvements pay off if you need to sell up? 

While nothing can replace tried, tested and trusted professionalself-let management, the tips above should go some way to boosting that bottom line of yours. And in our next blog article, we’ll be diving into the factors that could be holding your occupancy traction back.