Corporate Housing Specialists (CHS) Experience
Hello BP!
I own a rental in Portland, Maine and am currently looking for tenants. An acquisition specialist from Corporate Housing Specialists reached out to me asking if I would be interested in renting to their company. Seems like a great deal on paper, they do all of the legwork and are insured (property management, furnishing, cleaning, landscaping, minor maintenance, etc.) but I can't seem to find any reviews/testimony on their behalf that don't come from their website. They mostly rent and sublet corporate housing in the Denver area and just wondering if anyone has any experience with them. Essentially they market themselves as a free property management service. Hesitant as things that sound too good to be true, usually are.
Their only required lease clauses (added to my standard lease) are:
- allowance of subletting
- Option to renew an additional year at same terms with no more than 10% rent hike
- Option to terminate lease with 60 days notice to landlord in response to laws/regulations passed that inhibit business activities directly related to CHS business model with no penalty
If anyone has any experience with this company would love to hear it! Thanks so much!
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#4 Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions Contributor
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It's a scam.
I would have to agree with @Paul Sandhu. But, great job reaching out to the BP community for advise.
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#1 Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions Contributor
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Sounds a bit fishy to me. They are going to arbitrage your place, which is fine, but I would really look into them.
There are several competing companies that seem to do this. Kinda like a small WeWork for residences.
Are they paying a premium in rent or market?
I wouldn't just toss out the idea, but I would get a copy of their lease (assuming they are providing it) and run it through your attorney.
It could work out, but like Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."
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#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
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@Jordan Tebbs could work if you vett them thoroughly.
Biggest risk is they abandon the contract and property or allow guests to cause damages.
Make sure you require them to have renter's insurance that covers their damages and add you as additionally insured.
I used a company called Corporate Housing by Owner in Denver back in 2008(ish). I had to pay for the service but they were going to handle everything. The only issue is that after a few months, they didn't get anyone to rent the property. I ended up posting it on Craigslist and it got people immediately. If they are the same company I would not recommend them.
Hi Jordan! Did you decide to move forward with this company? The reason I ask is because they contacted me today regarding a house I have for rent.
Quote from @Jamie Shakotko:
Hi Jordan! Did you decide to move forward with this company? The reason I ask is because they contacted me today regarding a house I have for rent.
Jamie! Did you ever find out more details on Corporate Housing Specialists?! I have a friend in Tucson that was pursued yesterday. It does sound really good... the documents aka "lease agreement" he shared that they gave him does not cover much except what others have shared. I have offered furnished rentals here since 2000 and licensed in real estate during the same time; buddy wants my opinion but I can not find much online either.
@Jason Mayer...I decided to not to use them because I couldn't get an info. It makes me wonder if they are a new company?!
Did anyone end up using them? I just got contacted and it seems "to good to be true" as well which makes me a bit nervous. I will be using my own lease but they have a handful of clauses to include. The clauses basically state they can sublease and that they will cover cosmetic damage + liability insurance. The one fishy thing is the clauses they sent over had the address of a nearby property in the title so they obviously are contacting a high volume of properties. It sounds great... Just too great... I can't find any more information on them.
Did more homework. The company is new ~Spring 2022. You can find that on their domain registry. The founder is a serial entrepreneur (easy to find him on TikTok/LinkedIn). They find properties and then use an arbitrage model and sublease on AirBnB. They make money on the margins since the nightly rate on an AirBnB x nights per month can be a lot higher. If the company is willing to take on the risk to make sure the house is booked enough to make a profit, then the business model doesn't sound horrible. Pretty creative actually...
What rubs me the wrong way is the storytelling of "I have a medical professional client who is looking for a property." They seem to wrap the "company" around this story (including their website) which seems a bit BS and hides the fact this is just likely an AirBnB... You can find evidence of that on this guys TikTok. Seems like a bit sketchy business practice and I question the ethics involved with this. I would have been more comfortable with them being open about the business model which I honestly think is pretty creative... If this was the case I would have likely done it.
I love the entrepreneurial nature of thinking outside the box here but question the ethics... I'm going to pass.
I too have been approached. Has anyone used them or come up with more information?
Hi all, I have worked with Corporate Housing Specialists here in Denver, CO. In short, I advise against going with them. CHS essentially teaches people how to run short term rentals and then gets them connected to landlords that CHS reaches out to and collects their premium from this other party. So it's not CHS that actually manages the arbitrage but someone else they have trained.
The good: people managing the house have been good to work with, and have managed it decently well. No issues with tenants. Pretty hands off from me and payment is always early or on time. But again, it's not even CHS that manages the STR but someone they trained, so results I'm sure could vary wildly.
The bad: Their pitch is that they specialize in providing housing for traveling professionals, but in reality they just run it as an airbnb and make no effort to even target or specialize in that specific clientele. Classic bait and switch. At worst, the company is deceptive in this practice, at best they are incredibly poor communicators.
I ended up finding middle ground with the people CHS connected with, and it's working out fine for me. Still, if you are intrigued with the revenue potential of STRs, I would go with a local management company that specializes in STRs and manages everything while taking a % of the revenue. You don't get a fixed income that an arbitrage offers but I would prefer cutting out the middleman and having my revenue be dependent on the bookings.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Quote from @Alan Le:
Hi all, I have worked with Corporate Housing Specialists here in Denver, CO. In short, I advise against going with them. CHS essentially teaches people how to run short term rentals and then gets them connected to landlords that CHS reaches out to and collects their premium from this other party. So it's not CHS that actually manages the arbitrage but someone else they have trained.
The good: people managing the house have been good to work with, and have managed it decently well. No issues with tenants. Pretty hands off from me and payment is always early or on time. But again, it's not even CHS that manages the STR but someone they trained, so results I'm sure could vary wildly.
The bad: Their pitch is that they specialize in providing housing for traveling professionals, but in reality they just run it as an airbnb and make no effort to even target or specialize in that specific clientele. Classic bait and switch. At worst, the company is deceptive in this practice, at best they are incredibly poor communicators.
I ended up finding middle ground with the people CHS connected with, and it's working out fine for me. Still, if you are intrigued with the revenue potential of STRs, I would go with a local management company that specializes in STRs and manages everything while taking a % of the revenue. You don't get a fixed income that an arbitrage offers but I would prefer cutting out the middleman and having my revenue be dependent on the bookings.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Hey has anyone else used these people? They reached out to me and I could quickly see it was an arbitrage business. It does seem too good to be true but I'm really looking for others opinion.
Thanks in advance.