Are the STR Pundits Correct? How many hours per STR of work you put in?

Question

I have been researching how feasible is self-managing a STR with a demanding fulltime w2 job (50 hours/week). STR pundits such as Robuilt and Short Term Shop tout that once you have your processes and core team setup, you can automate most of the work with Technology.

Those who self-manage, can you please mention your average hours worked per STR after it has been closed and stabilized (after furnishing and listing etc.)? Thanks

Mark S. · Answer

@Pretty Khare It tends to go in streaks. There are very few days where I won’t spend at least 20 minutes answering emails, tweaking pricing or updating something (4 STRs). And then you get weeks where big issues come up and you can have multiple days with hours spent on something. But on average, for me it probably works out to a hour a week per property for the routine stuff, plus a number of times during the year where I get buried with a big issue that takes many hours. You also should add in your time for visiting your properties in person, which can add days of work but I believe is critically important if you want to be successful. No cleaner or handyman is going to do as good a job as you are in making sure your property is maintained to the level guests expect. I know this from experience. I visit my properties a minimum of three times a year and each property takes a half to full day to make sure things are up to my expectations. They are certainly a lot more work than a long-term rental. ￼

John Underwood · Answer

I use the built in tools that Vrbo provides and only spend about an hour per week on STR's.

I spend most of my time acquiring and fixing up LTR's to add to my portfolio.

Luke Carl · Answer

I had no idea I was a pundit. Not sure I’ve even heard that word. At least not in a sentence lol.After it’s all up and running and set free into the universe, One short term is maybe 30 minutes to 2 hours per week. There will be stressful times, bad reviews, and busted toilets. That’s real estate.

Patricia Andriolo-Bull · Answer

I’d agree with what others have said. It varies but 1-2 hours average per property per week. The only thing I would add is urgency. I’m not sure how flexible your job is but in the STR business, responsiveness is key. So it’s not only about how much time it takes but your ability to answer a guest or potential guest on a timely fashion.

January Johnson · Answer

How much time DOES IT TAKE is different than How much time DO YOU SPEND.  At first, it will consume more of your time as you learn the strategies, tools, and technologies.  Then it will take less.  Like everything.  You have to work ON the business, and you have to work IN the business.

Avery Carl · Answer

@Luke Carl lol. OP one property should not require a VA. Less than an hour a week 5 properties, let's talk about VA's.

I'd like to also point out that there is no such thing as truly passive income (outside of a true syndication). We have 8 self managed STR's and 200 something LTR's with property managers. The manager is still going to call you for you to make decisions when things need to be done. Nothing worth having is easy.

Ryan Moyer · Answer

In the current market, you get out what you put in.

In the peak of the post covid market you could get away with 30-120 minutes a week and relax.  Just throw it up on Airbnb/VRBO with dynamic pricing software and places would rent themselves.

But with saturation and competition much higher now, if you want to maximize revenue, you've really got to put in more time.

Some people can still get away with a minimal time investment because they are on pre-covid mortgages and don't need to come anywhere close to maximizing revenue to cash flow nicely.  But if you're buying at current prices/rates it's unlikely you'll be able to just throw it up on the OTAs and watch the money pour in automatically.

On the Orlando home in my profile we did $185k during peak covid and should come close to that again this year.  But I'm spending A LOT more time on it this year to keep those numbers up.  And the people in that market still spending the same 30 minutes they spent during peak covid are seeing huge drops in revenue and blaming everyone but themselves for it.

Jon Martin · Answer

For sure. Like I mentioned you only need to average about 20 minutes a day 6 days a week. Try to batch all your tasks and log your minutes. Not tough to do, carve out 10 minutes in the morning and evening to keep up. Otherwise if It's an important message I will reply asap if needed but I always start the timer first. You gotta be like a lawyer haha

Jon Martin · Answer

I'm on my first and it adds up to about 2 hours per week. I clock in when I need to respond to guest inquiries, set door codes, update my cleaner, pay bills etc which can easily be 15-20 minutes 5-7 days a week. However I see this as a good thing because I want to log enough hours to be considered "active" income and offset my W2. With some automation I could knock it down a significant amount but I want that bonus depreciation to offset my income so I'll worry about that when I scale.

Are the STR Pundits Correct? How many hours per STR of work you put in?

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