Airbnb, Realtor.com Partnership Targets Millennials Looking to ‘Try Before Buying’

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One of the current listing on Airbnb in downtown Dallas offers this nighttime view. Photo: Airbnb

One of the current listing on Airbnb in downtown Dallas offers this view for $72 per night. All photos: Airbnb

“Try before you buy” is a hard concept to implement in the world of real estate. But a new partnership between Airbnb and realtor.com aims to do just that for potential homebuyers, letting them experience a specific neighborhood before purchasing there.

The partnership is particularly focused on millennials, who now represent the largest group of homebuyers in the U.S. at 32 percent, recently taking over from Generation X. This age cohort, born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, is about 79 million strong, and their purchasing power is estimated to be $170 billion per year.

The Airbnb-realtor.com partnership aims to reduce some of the unknown factors associated with relocating to a new community. Here’s how it will work: Visitors to realtor.com will see an “Airbnb before buying” option for certain properties, and the choice will also appear on the homepage and on for-sale listing pages. Potential buyers will be able to book accommodations on Airbnb ranging from single-family homes to condos, lofts, and other properties located near their chosen neighborhood.

“As we offer a variety of unique accommodations in neighborhoods across the country, we’ll be able to allow potential home owners the special opportunity to experience those neighborhoods as if they already live there,” said Chip Conley, Airbnb head of global hospitality and strategy.

Millennials are extremely technology-driven in their home-buying efforts, according to the 2015 National Association of Realtors (NAR) Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study. This partnership plays perfectly into that, allowing them to make all arrangements online.

“I think it’s brilliant—this could give [millennials] a taste of a neighborhood and change them from renter to buyers,” said Jay Forrester, a Realtor with Ebby Halliday Preston Center.

This M-Streets listing on Airbnb is for a private guest house for $89 per night.

This M-Streets listing on Airbnb is for a private guest house for $89 per night.

So let say you’re a 20-something thinking of moving out of mom and dad’s house to downtown Dallas. You might want to check out this Airbnb listing for a private room in downtown townhouse for $72 per night. The exact location is not revealed on the website for safety reasons, but it’s located across the street from the Dallas Farmers Market, within walking distance to Deep Ellum, the Arts District, and West End.

Or how about the M Streets? This listing for a private guest house is within walking distance to popular nightlife, shops, and restaurants on Greenville Avenue, and close to Knox Henderson, Mockingbird Station, and Uptown.

If a buyer is eyeballing East Dallas to buy, this listing for a “peaceful treehouse” in Casa Linda would allow them to get to know the area for $250 a night. Plus, unlike tradition hotels, this place offers access to Weber grills, a canoe, double kayak, and horses.

“This collaboration with Airbnb reinforces our commitment to giving consumers unparalleled insight to make informed real estate decisions,” says Ryan O’Hara, CEO at Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp that operates realtor.com under an agreement with the National Association of Realtors. “Our relationship with Airbnb—a company that helps millions of people feel at home in communities around the world.”

Founded in 2008, Airbnb is a website that allows people to rent out lodging in their homes. It has over one million listings in 34,000 cities and 190 countries.

 

Leah Shafer is a content and social media specialist, as well as a Dallas native, who lives in Richardson with her family. In her sixth-grade yearbook, Leah listed "interior designer" as her future profession. Now she writes about them, as well as all things real estate, for CandysDirt.com.

4 Comments

  1. Joanna England on July 31, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    I think this is a great idea! However, $250/night for my neighborhood? I need to get on Airbnb!

    • Leah Shafer on August 2, 2015 at 10:32 pm

      That is kind of what I was thinking! But it is billed as a treehouse.

  2. dormand on August 1, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    This is innovative thinking which allows for contemplation of the various subjective criteria that collectively
    make for a good fit for a home.

    Certainly this concept has worked well for the timeshare industry for generations.

    If facilitates gathering information on commuting challenges, grocery shopping, broadband access, night time noise pollution and some better idea of how the neighbors are a fit with one’s quality of life, especially in
    proximity to outstanding healthy restaurants and coffee shops and pubs, as well as schools.

  3. Nicole Flores on August 3, 2015 at 1:37 pm

    I am currently renting in a little neighborhood east of the tollway off Forest (Melshire Estates) and I have fallen in love with my neighborhood. But I realized quickly how crazy it must be for people to just buy homes in neighborhoods they aren’t familiar with. Even if they are from the DFW Metroplex, there are still so many factors. I am planning to buy my home now when my lease is up and I think it’s all because I was able to “try it out”.

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