Investor · West Coast · Member since 2013 · 43 posts · 11 votes
I have units in the midst of several companies In Seattle area. How do I get corporate rent my place? Any pointers and direction and thoughts will be helpful. What are pros and cons of leading to corporate rental approach?
@Myka Artis Yes different ballgame now. Penalties can range up to $1,000 - $5,000 per day now in Portland for short term violations. There have been a few cases of the city really coming down hard, but when we got dinged it wasn't quite that severe, but it nevertheless was enough for us to get into compliance with their new rules.
Because we operate out of Appfolio with our long-term rentals we advertise on all the same marketing platforms with the corporate. Dozens of website but the majority of time we get a lot of traffic from Zillow, Trulia, etc. We'll never make the mistake of using Corporate Housing By Owner ever again. What a waste.
We also have attempted to work with relo specialists, traveling nurse groups, large companies, and realtors in town but have gotten very mediocre results thus far. How about you?
You are in the perfect area for corporate rentals! I see traveling nurses looking in that area all the time. You can join the facebook group Gypsy Nurse and there are always traveling nurses looking for places. You can also list your spot on Airbnb, VRBO, & Corporate Housing By owner. CHBO charges $400 for an entire year.
Pros
More money
Better Tenants
Cons
You must furnish the place and hope no one breaks furniture.
@Pra Che A pro is that a corporate rental can fetch a rental price premium, however, one problem that we encounter with corporate rentals is that calendar and booking management is much more challenging than short-term stays or long-term tenants. Sometimes dates simply don't match up and when you go vacant for a month between two corporate rental bookings then that comes with a big vacancy loss. Hopefully you can avoid that problem.
@Neal Collins When you get the 2 month span between corporate clients then you just Airbnb your property during that 2 month span. Therefore the cash flow doesn't stop. Also if you can get in with all the right channel managers for your corporate property you can avoid those 2 months without a corporate client.
@Myka Artis If only our local regulations were that lax...We had to switch from purely nightly rentals to corporate rentals on a handful of units because of our city's changing regulatory environment. Hosts in Portland now have a 1 address rule, as well as a mandate that the listing is a primary residence. I would love it if we had the ability to fill in the gaps with short term stays. We'd be absolutely crushing it on corporate rentals if that were the case.
@Neal Collins Wow I didn't know the laws back home had changed so much. My parents had a duplex in Portland and the lady across the street was crushing it on Airbnb. I thought their laws were pretty lax but it seems like most cities are cracking down on Airbnb. They just started recently bringing up regulations for Airbnb here in Arlington, TX as well so I actually pulled out of Airbnb and went full corporate. What channels are you using for advertising your corporate rentals?
@Myka Artis Yes different ballgame now. Penalties can range up to $1,000 - $5,000 per day now in Portland for short term violations. There have been a few cases of the city really coming down hard, but when we got dinged it wasn't quite that severe, but it nevertheless was enough for us to get into compliance with their new rules.
Because we operate out of Appfolio with our long-term rentals we advertise on all the same marketing platforms with the corporate. Dozens of website but the majority of time we get a lot of traffic from Zillow, Trulia, etc. We'll never make the mistake of using Corporate Housing By Owner ever again. What a waste.
We also have attempted to work with relo specialists, traveling nurse groups, large companies, and realtors in town but have gotten very mediocre results thus far. How about you?
I use CHBO, Gypsy Travel Nurse, Craigslist, Zillow, cozy, etc. If CHBO was a waste for you remember to call those companies before you give them your money. Ask them how much traffic they have coming to your city. I know furnished finder supplied me with some pretty good numbers and I'm probably going to list with them soon.