Why can’t I buy a home on Airbnb?
The headline caught our attention and made us think.
Airbnb is, after all, a lettings site. Could it become a sales site?
Furthermore, it is almost entirely a private lettings site. Could it become a private sales site?
Could it even list its properties on Rightmove and Zoopla?
In America, Airbnb has been in a partnership since last month with the huge portal realtor.com
Saying that Airbnb is “encouraging home ownership”, Realtor visitors have an option to select an “Airbnb before buying”.
If they click a tab on the Realtor website, they are able to look at short-term rental properties available on Airbnb.
The idea is that they book a stay in a neighbourhood where they are considering buying.
We wondered whether American realtors might have objected to what could easily be seen as a Trojan horse.
But it seems not.
A spokesperson for Realtor told EYE: “The realtor.com and Airbnb agreement is ongoing. The location and frequency of placements vary based on consumer behaviour and feedback.”
We asked Rightmove and Zoopla whether either had been contacted by Airbnb, and whether either would consider a similar arrangement.
A Rightmove spokesperson said there had been no contact. Zoopla acknowledged our request but has not yet otherwise responded.
However, back to that headline – it appeared over a piece that was not much more than a general criticism of the British home buying and selling process by someone who clearly hated every minute, including the problems he had with his conveyancer.
However, there are some interesting insights including: “It made me immediately wish I could buy a house online, with the convenience of a single click.”
And: “The UK housing market isn’t an easy task to fix, but I’m hopeful that an Airbnb or Uber for house purchasing will eventually exist here in the future. If it does, then I know where my money will be going the next time I’m involved in Britain’s broken house market.”
I’m pretty sure zoopla is doing this already? Or was doing it. I can’t for the life of me see it on the website now but I’m sure there was an Airbnb option on each results page saying something like ‘Try before you buy. Stay in an Airbnb Cardiff property.’ All that I can now see though, is a Zoopla advert suggesting landlords rent their property through Airbnb! Didn’t see this before, but am not happy with it.
Down on the right hand side
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/property/cardiff/?q=Cardiff&results_sort=newest_listings&search_source=home
Also, anyone else spot that our friendly bearded chap at Purple Bricks is now a postman!? Must need seasonal work to top up his pay, as he was teaching in a Lidl academy at Christmas.
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Just found it! Top right, near the asking price on an instruction page: ‘Live locally before you rent in CF24 – Airbnb’. It knows what search I did, so must be Zoopla & Airbnb.
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From the article:
“[the housebuying process] made me immediately wish I could buy a house online, with the convenience of a single click… I want to buy a house like I buy an iPhone…”
This bloke describes himself as an “Investigative reporter”.
I would suggest there is an awful lot he needs to investigate before putting his name and reputation to such articles in future.
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