Writing this as a warning to anyone considering buying a unit in Edificio Hojarascas as an Airbnb investment. We are former owners in the building. We bought early in the construction of the property and sold out more than a year ago and figured it was worth sharing our insight as there’s a lot of hype about the aribnb market.
Firstly, many things have changed in Medellin and airbnbs are not as profitable as they were in year’s past. The sentiment towards toursts coming to buildings like Edificio Hojarasca has changed. Permanent residents in live in properties like this are to be honest angry and have valid reasons to be angry because the majority of tourists no bring nothing but noise and problems. Owners are finding novel new legal avenues to fight against Airbnb owners in properties such as this one.
The Edificio Hojarasca building itself is very poorly run and the administratieve fees are also very high for a property of this type. As you can read from many revieweres on this site, safety is terrible with the property. There are many ongoing problems and literal crimes occurring.
Properties with higher levels of crime are also now being delisted from rental platfroms and this property is at a high risk of this which of course would destroy your rental income stream.
The short-term rental market peaked more than 18 months ago in Medellin, price competition has driven down the nightly rates and the money just isn’t that good now. Between the angry owners, not making any money, and the writing on the wall with the market, we said enough and sold. There are almost no European or north American tourists coming to this property due to the safety issues and as a result, those coming are low quality tourists or those who are looking for a property with no security to exploit the situation be it via drugs, prostitution, child trafficking, etc.
One final word of advice, related to these Airbnb “investments,” be in at Edificio Hojarasca or any property in Colombia. Do NOT trust any financial numbers you see coming from an owner claiming a specific rental income stream. These numbers are routinely forged and made up. Bank account statements are photoshopped, income statements from the booking platforms are also routinely photoshopped. Lying on business statements is a national sport in Colombia and as no one loses their license (i.e. CPAs), it goes unpunished and is the norm. We say this as Colombians who have been cheated by our own system so so this is a warning to foreign investors.
– C & S (de Colombia)
English