What is Partbnb?

Update as of 14 February 2020: The platform has changed the way they are operating, which will go live in March 2020. I’ve updated their operating model in a separate post and kept this intact for record purposes.

As the gig economy powers through many industries and the power of the masses take hold, people are getting drawn into freelancing and sidehustling their way into financial independence, or at least having a little more pocket money. Renting out your home on vacation rental platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo and HomeAway are getting a lot more popular. But why should we only let the rich ones who have a home get all the fun? So, what is Partbnb and how does it help?

Here’s where Partbnb comes in. Understanding that home ownership is a huge undertaking, Partbnb helps by allowing for fractional ownership of a property (ie, a property owned by multiple parties, each with their own respective ownership stake) and earning rental income that corresponds to their ownership level.

How does Partbnb work?

Glad you asked. Here’s a nice little explainer video straight from their website.

• Create a Partbnb account
• Review the properties within the platform
• Order the parts you desire ( they divide each property into 10,000 parts – starting from $34 each)
• Earn rental income
• Sell your parts for capital gains (if you want to)

So, there are multiple earnings potential to this. First of all, it’s the rental income per part you purchase from them, and secondly, if and when the property value appreciates in price, you can sell them in the future and reap the capital gains.

Partbnb Properties

The site is new. Like, really new. And as of now, has only 3 properties listed, of which 2 are coming soon and non clickable.

So, let’s take a look at the one property that is currently up for sale (at $34 per part!)

The one and only property that’s currently up for grabs is in the Exuma region in the Bahamas. Wait, isn’t that the same place where the swimming pigs are?! That’s definitely a high tourist traffic area. It’s also the venue of the dead on arrival FYRE festival, which in case you haven’t watched the documentary on Netflix, is a must-watch!

Sorry about the sidetrack, back to the property. This one has a value of $340,000 and you can own a part of it from $34. Imagine owning a piece of the Bahamas for $34! I gotta say, it’s probably worth $34 for the bragging right to say you’re part owner of a beach front property in the Bahamas.

But erm, this is a proper side hustle website, so… let’s dig a little deeper. There’s a financial details tab, so let’s go there and see what we find.

Here we can see projected nightly rates with a low and high end projection, together with a breakdown of the income/expense ratio as well as a breakdown of the property price and the corresponding fees.

As we all know, buying a property outright has a lot of costs and overheads and a massive cash outlay, and I can immediately see how this business model would be attractive to someone who would want to dip their toes into the airbnb model, but without the costs and maintenance associated with it.

If this really takes off, it’s passive income in the truest sense of the word.

It is currently only open to US residents, and if I were a US resident, I would probably buy a couple parts, just to kick at the tyres and see how it really works.

What are your thoughts about Partbnb?