My revenue report after year 1: detailed breakdown with numbers

Category: Pricing & Revenue

By: James Wu

Posted: 2025-12-27T23:39:23.199Z

Just completed my first full year of STR hosting and wanted to share the real numbers. I see a lot of "how much can I make" posts but rarely see the full picture. **Property:** 2BR/2BA condo, Scottsdale, AZ **Listed on:** Airbnb + VRBO **Started:** February 2025 Here are my actual numbers for Year 1.

Reply by Chris Nakamura:

Thanks for sharing real numbers! Here are mine for comparison from a similar first year: **Property:** 2BR/1BA apartment, Denver, CO — Airbnb only **Revenue:** - Total gross bookings: $38,400 - Airbnb host fees (3%): -$1,152 - **Net booking revenue:** $37,248 **Expenses:** - Mortgage: $18,000 - Cleaning (42 turnovers × $90): $3,780 - Utilities average: $3,600 - Insurance (Safely https://safely.com): $600 - PriceLabs (https://pricelabs.co): $240 - Hospitable (https://hospitable.com): $300 - Consumables/supplies: $900 - Repairs/maintenance: $1,400 - Furniture replacement: $600 - Photography: $250 - **Total expenses:** $29,670 **Profit:** $7,578 (Year 1) That's $631/month profit. Not life-changing but the mortgage is being paid by guests, I'm building equity, and Year 2 should be better as I won't have startup costs. Used DealCheck (https://dealcheck.io) to track this alongside the property's appreciation. The total return including equity gain is actually closer to $18K.

Reply by Maria Gonzales:

These are great case studies. For anyone doing their own Year 1 projection, use AirDNA (https://airdna.co) Rentalizer to model revenue for your specific property type and location. It won't be 100% accurate but it'll get you within 15-20%. The biggest Year 1 surprise for most hosts: **expenses are higher than you think.** Budget 35-40% of gross revenue for expenses (excluding mortgage). That's the realistic number.

Reply by Michael Thompson:

Love seeing real transparency like this. One thing I'd flag: Year 2 is usually significantly better because: 1. You have reviews (higher ranking) 2. Repeat guests start coming back 3. You've optimized pricing (learned your market) 4. No more startup/furnishing costs 5. Your operations are smoother (less time = less hidden cost) My Year 1 profit was $5K. Year 2 was $14K. Same property, same effort. The compound effect of reviews and experience is real.

Reply by Ryan Tanaka:

If you're tracking revenue for tax purposes (you should be), make sure to separate platform-collected taxes from your gross. In Arizona and many states, Airbnb collects occupancy/lodging tax directly and it shows in your gross but it's NOT your income. For tracking all of this cleanly, I use a simple Google Sheet template. But some people prefer tools like Azibo (https://azibo.com) for rental property accounting — it's built for this use case.