Chi Ta’s BNB University Review—Is Optimization The Key For A Higher Airbnb Listing?

BNB University is a 3-tiered Airbnb arbitrage course created by Chi Ta. The three courses will teach you about starting and scaling your Airbnb business, managing your properties, and rental arbitrage itself. There is no sequence in taking the courses.

Depending on your experiences and capabilities as a real estate investor, choosing to enroll in any of the three courses is no issue. You can always take the Level 1 introduction course for free as it will show you the basics of Airbnb rental arbitrage and what Chi Ta did to go from $0 to $2.4 million in profits within 9 months.

In this BNB University review, you'll learn about what Chi Ta calls the blueprint to an inflation and recession proof business model—rental arbitrage. We’ll look at its advantages, disadvantages, and who the course is really for.

While rental arbitrage is real estate, local lead generation is digital real estate where instead of collecting rental fees, you build a service site specific to your niche, optimize it to rank on top of Google searches, and get paid when small businesses get leads from you. There, you will see passive income streaming in from a business that costs less time and money to start.

BNB University Pros And Cons

Pros

Chi Ta is an experienced real estate investor

The course provides actual proof from students

Fast-paced modules

Shows you how to start an Airbnb business with zero to low costs

Cons

Too much money for the course

Less than 4-5 combined hours of recorded videos and handouts

No details on the Level 3 Arbitrage Course found on the website

No explicit coaching benefits

What Do I Get In BNB University?

In BNB University, you get 3 levels of courses. Each course is unique with the information it gives to students. So let me break down the module for each course:

Level 1 is an Airbnb intro course that shows a projection of how profitable rental arbitrage is. It teaches you how to compound your income and create a real estate empire that will make you money for as long as your property stands. He offers this course for free.

Level 2 is a management made easy course that shows you how to earn 6 figures or more in 6 months or less. This course is priced at $2,497 which is a lot, especially for beginners. Plus, it does not show you the arbitrage aspect of the business.

Level 3 is the arbitrage course you can avail by inquiring through Chi Ta’s Instagram page. There are no price details revealed for this course, even on the BNB University site.

Is BNB University Worth It?

BNB University is worth it if you are set on starting a short term or vacation rental business. You just have to deal with the higher price tag compared to other Airbnb courses available online. Although Chi Ta speaks from experience as a real estate business, you can get similar value from free articles and YouTube videos circling the internet.

Airbnb is a lucrative platform for real estate investors, especially now that COVID-19 is getting clear and the travel industry and tourism is growing again. People would come and go from one place to another. Each person has a different reason. But the nature of what they do boils down to traveling.

Just in 2021, goods and services sold to visitors in the United States increased 64.4 percent after its decrease by 50.7 percent in 2020. In the same sense, Airbnb has disrupted the hotel industry by having a slice of the market’s domestic and international travelers.

What lies beyond this opportunity is an active business model that can take a few months to years before successfully building passive income. This is unlike local lead generation, which can take less than a month to set up. Once the leads are generated, you can sell them to local businesses within the area that are looking to expand their customer base. Airbnb Breakdown Academy is another option if you're looking for an alternative course.

Who Created BNB University?

Chi Ta created BNB University back in 2020. He started his Airbnb rental arbitrage business after his company, Senior Advantage Association, went under in 2017. The Department of Housing and Urban Development passed a new law that changed the qualifications for reverse mortgages.

This change reduced the loan amount from 64% to only 58% of the property value. Further, the borrowers would have to pay higher upfront insurance premiums.

In the fear of not being able to pay rent, he listed his house on Airbnb, where he made $5000. That was more than enough to pay for his $3900 rent and maintenance fees.

When he realized Airbnb had great potential, using his own industry knowledge, he started his Airbnb arbitrage business. Within nine months, he was earning six figures a month from 30 properties listed on Airbnb and has made $2.4 million in a year—making him one of the most successful Airbnb hosts.

Why Is Chi Ta Teaching In BNB University?

Chi Ta is teaching in BNB University because he believes it will strengthen the short term rental and vacation rental market. No additional competition is being created through the course because rental arbitrage is already a multibillion dollar market, in his words. As the market slowly becomes saturated, you need to up your game on your property and listing.

Chi Ta’s 3 Important Foundations To Be Successful In Airbnb

Property Research to make sure you're only working with the most profitable properties.
Understanding how to properly list your property on Airbnb's website to gain the most conversions.
Understanding how to have Airbnb recognize your property listing as priority so they will show you on the first page.

To be successful in Airbnb, you need to make your listing a winner. How do you do that? Optimize. Other than that, you can also learn about Airbnb automation through Million Dollar Renter.

6 Ways To Rank Higher On Airbnb

To rank higher on Airbnb, you need to optimize your listing. Keep in mind the goals of Airbnb optimization, which are getting on top of the search results, increasing property's relevance, getting future guests to check your property, motivating them to inquire, and scoring a booking.

You can take brilliant pictures of your property using a phone. Compare that to hiring a professional photographer and you can avoid more overhead expenses. If you’re good with words, write a detailed description of your rental property and include surrounding attractions and activities.

A top listing on Airbnb is like a top search on Google. More exposure means more interactions. As Chi Ta would say, being on top means more bookings for your property.

Here are 6 ways that can help you win over the competition and put your listing on top:

Use High Quality Photos

You can hire a professional photographer or do it on your own with a high-quality smartphone that will better show off the aesthetics and amenities of your property. This will catch your future guests' attention and attract more bookings.

Write A Detailed Description

Having an elaborate property description will help your guests understand the value that your property will give. You can show off a unique feature or amenity. And tell them about interesting places they can check out.

Price Competitively

BNB University will teach you about dynamic pricing. Price is a significant factor in a guest's decision to book your property. It’s best to research the prices of surrounding Airbnb properties in your area so you can price your listing competitively.

Respond Quickly

I have used Airbnbs too, and it’s great to talk to hosts that respond quickly to inquiries. As an aspiring Superhost, it’s important that you get to guest inquiries quickly.

Request Positive Reviews

Airbnb reviews are the lifeline of your listing. The more you get 5 stars and positive reviews, the more Airbnb will recommend your listing to guests. A potential guest will most likely avoid a bad review. They get a sense of security that your property will give them the most value out of other nearby Airbnbs.

Use Airbnb's Features To Your Advantage

Airbnb offers features like instant booking, smart pricing, exclusive discounts, and promotions. These can help optimize your listing and attract more bookings.

If you put all these tips into practice, you might just get your Airbnb listing on top. But is that really enough for you to make a continuous stream of passive income? What about the risks?

Top 3 Risks Of Rental Arbitrage

The top 3 risks of rental arbitrage are legal risks, financial risks, and market risks. With more moving parts comes more risks, like all businesses have. And if it happened to Chi Ta once, it could happen to you too.

Legal Risks - Rental arbitrage can be a complex legal matter. There are laws and regulations that prohibit Airbnb hosting, such as Santa Monica, California, where 80% of its Airbnb listings are shut down. Chi Ta’s company, Senior Advantage Association, went under in 2017 because of a new law that reduced his allowable loans to get a property. Failure to comply with these regulations can lead to legal issues, fines, and even eviction.
Financial Risks - Rental arbitrage requires a significant financial investment with no guarantee of returns. However, BNB University will teach you how to avoid this risk, rent, improve, and optimize your property with zero to low upfront costs. If the Airbnb property remains vacant for a longer period due to market fluctuations, you may face financial losses. There are also overhead expenses, such as maintenance, cleaning, and other significant services that reduce your profit margins.
Market Risks - Rental arbitrage is susceptible to supply and demand changes. Regardless of positive or negative change, it will affect the profitability of the business. If the market becomes saturated with similar properties, it becomes difficult for an Airbnb host to find guests willing to pay the asking price. On the other hand, demand may drop and leave you with empty units.

Why Local Lead Generation Is The Real Estate Business For Me?

Local lead generation is digital real estate that produces revenue by selling leads to local businesses within your chosen niche. Compared to Airbnb arbitrage that generates revenue by having a short-term rental property, local lead generation is less prone to problems of market fluctuations, occupancy rates, and housing law changes.

Local lead generation also has a more predictable revenue stream. It is also ‌easier to scale by expanding to new geographic areas and industries at the comfort of your home. This trumps the limitations of rental arbitrage where you gain revenue for as much property as you acquire and manage.

Ultimately, you can build passive income faster in local lead generation than renting and re-renting a house, apartment, or condo unit as an Airbnb property.

Chi Ta’s BNB University Review—Is Optimization The Key For A Higher Airbnb Listing? - Ippei Best Online Business (2024)