My Airbnb Mgt. Company is Gaining Traction! :)

My Airbnb Mgt. Company is Gaining Traction! :)

Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes

Woohoo! Success story, BP.

The company my mother @Robin Hughes and I started has proven our concept and is gaining traction with other investors who are using our services!

Here's a short story about us:

March 2016, I met some investors in Houston who were using airbnb, and they greatly expanded my mind on what was possible. They were looking for someone to help them manage their small, but growing business, and my mom and I had a major brainstorming session. We wanted to do that, not just for them, but to grow it into a large company!

We started Robin's Nest Management and went to refine the process and prove concept on a 12 unit apartment that I own. We rented out 9 of the units with Airbnb and other vacation rental websites. There were some major lessons learned, but we took everything and built upon our experiences and built systems to prevent the same errors from happening.

For about 3 months now, the systems we built have been operating very efficiently, and we felt it was time to launch!

We have taken on a few clients now, and are talking to some larger investors to manage their vacation rentals! It is still what I consider the beginning of a long journey, but it's so nice to prove concept and launch with initial success!

Woohoo x2. :)

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Investor · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 107 posts · 62 votes
9y

Austin, sounds like you are doing short term rental management.  Unless you are a licensed agent in the state of Texas, you may be breaking the law.  In order to receive numeration for "managing property" that requires a real estate license. For your own properties of course no real estate license is required.

If you are just managing the online aspect of STR, then it sounds like you are doing something similar to evolve vacation rentals...they manage the STR and charge a 10% fee to the property owner. They put the properties up on Airbnb, vrbo and some other STR sites. You should check their service out.

Also, make sure that the properties you are doing the STR management of, is in municipalities that allow STR, many in Texas don't.

Good luck.

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  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2016 · 142 posts · 79 votes
    9y

    Sounds great.  How are you finding your clients?

  • John UnderwoodPro Member
    Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
    9y

    Do you manage VRBO properties as well? AirBnB has been a dud for me and I keep my account open and updated but it does not produce anywhere close to my VRBO account.

  • Investor · Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 107 posts · 62 votes
    9y

    Austin, sounds like you are doing short term rental management.  Unless you are a licensed agent in the state of Texas, you may be breaking the law.  In order to receive numeration for "managing property" that requires a real estate license. For your own properties of course no real estate license is required.

    If you are just managing the online aspect of STR, then it sounds like you are doing something similar to evolve vacation rentals...they manage the STR and charge a 10% fee to the property owner. They put the properties up on Airbnb, vrbo and some other STR sites. You should check their service out.

    Also, make sure that the properties you are doing the STR management of, is in municipalities that allow STR, many in Texas don't.

    Good luck.

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Mark S.:

    Sounds great.  How are you finding your clients?

     We've used referrals, craigslist, and talking to brokers! :)

    What ideas do you have?

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @John Underwood:

    Do you manage VRBO properties as well? AirBnB has been a dud for me and I keep my account open and updated but it does not produce anywhere close to my VRBO account.

     Yes sir we actually put it up on about 10 vacation rental/hotel type websites. Homeaway/VRBO is one of them. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Jeff Graves:

    Austin, sounds like you are doing short term rental management.  Unless you are a licensed agent in the state of Texas, you may be breaking the law.  In order to receive numeration for "managing property" that requires a real estate license. For your own properties of course no real estate license is required.

    If you are just managing the online aspect of STR, then it sounds like you are doing something similar to evolve vacation rentals...they manage the STR and charge a 10% fee to the property owner. They put the properties up on Airbnb, vrbo and some other STR sites. You should check their service out.

    Also, make sure that the properties you are doing the STR management of, is in municipalities that allow STR, many in Texas don't.

    Good luck.

     Thanks for all the input. I will be checking out Evolve!

    We are full service, thus just operate with out boots on the ground in Lubbock and Houston. Our LLC was filed with a brokers license.

  • Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 308 posts · 106 votes
    9y

    @Austin Hughes This is super cool. I'm gonna need to pick your brain on this one (as I do with all your amazing ideas)!

  • Clovis, NM · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 3 votes
    9y

    Very cool, congrats! Are these vacation units in Houston??

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Corey Staples:

    Very cool, congrats! Are these vacation units in Houston??

     They're in Lubbock sir. My mom runs the Houston side.

  • Clovis, NM · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 3 votes
    9y

    Ah gotcha! Good to hear something like this could thrive in Lubbock. Especially as I sit here in Clovis NM wondering how to invest in my surrounding areas.

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Corey Staples:

    Ah gotcha! Good to hear something like this could thrive in Lubbock. Especially as I sit here in Clovis NM wondering how to invest in my surrounding areas.

     What kind of investing have you done? What have you not found success with there?

  • Clovis, NM · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 3 votes
    9y

    None yet. Been laying the ground work. Cleaning up my finances, bought a house, and saving so far.

  • Shiloh LundahlPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    9y

    @Austin Hughes That sounds awesome. My wife and I are getting ready to close on a house in Burbank, CA, that has a small guest house in the back that we are looking at using as a STR. I would love to hear some of the little tips that you use to make people's stay wonderful enough to get positive feedback and I would like to know which sites you find to be the best to use (i.e. AirBNB, or VRBO, etc.).

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y

    @Shiloh Lundahl Congrats! Hope you get great income!

    Some things that have made the difference -- Great communication beforehand, personal connection, and the main thing is having a good space.

    When we started out, a couple of the units we were listing on Airbnb weren't remodeled yet, and although we spent 8 hours cleaning each of them, people were generally dissatisfied with the condition. It didn't matter that we had listed them at about 1/3 of the cost of the WORST motel in town. People expect a new(ish) place. That's really the #1 thing. 

    We set up all of our automated messages to be sent in different scenarios and at different times, which have worked wonders. That's highly advised (get saved responses for wifi, access, directions, rules, check-in, check-out, checking on them, etc.) It saves so much time, makes this thing fun, and the guest likes it.

    Making a personal connection is a good thing too. This helps smooth the bumps if something doesn't go how they expected, because they see you're a person trying to do your best for them. There is also the social pressure of a good review since it's somebody you now feel like you know!

    We use airbnb, VRBO/HomeAway, expedia, and like 7 other travel sites! All calendars integrated and all automated messaging/screening process is integrated for each unit as well. Still, in MY area, 90% of bookings come from Airbnb. It could be different in yours, but it's good to cover your bases if you can.

  • Rental Property Investor · Kirkland, WA · Member since 2011 · 24 posts · 11 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:

    @Austin Hughes That sounds awesome. My wife and I are getting ready to close on a house in Burbank, CA, that has a small guest house in the back that we are looking at using as a STR. I would love to hear some of the little tips that you use to make people's stay wonderful enough to get positive feedback and I would like to know which sites you find to be the best to use (i.e. AirBNB, or VRBO, etc.).

      Hi Shiloh,

    Just a heads up - the city of Burbank keeps an eye on vacation rental sites like AirBnB and will pay you a visit to shut it down if they see you listing anything. We ran into this with one of our units and ultimately were told to shut it down or they'd be taking it to court. They seem pretty serious about it.

    In the end we have had to settle for listing on craigslist. The clientele isn't as great but the city is ok with it as long as we make it clear minimum stays will be no less than 28 days.

  • Rental Property Investor · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2017 · 59 posts · 51 votes
    9y

    @Austin Hughes Doing something similar in Minneapolis. What are your best sources for finding clients? Do you run into any challenges related to furnishing? Some of the folks we are talking to are converting from LTR to STR so the units are currently unfurnished. Trying to determine the best option (providing the furnishing or requiring owner to furnish).

  • Rental Property Investor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2015 · 462 posts · 184 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Selena Walsh:

    @Austin Hughes Doing something similar in Minneapolis. What are your best sources for finding clients? Do you run into any challenges related to furnishing? Some of the folks we are talking to are converting from LTR to STR so the units are currently unfurnished. Trying to determine the best option (providing the furnishing or requiring owner to furnish).

     We've picked a few niches and are just reaching out to any property that fits our conditions. One of our niches is already furnished and they just need it intermittently because they travel a lot. Typically, we are looking for stuff that already comes furnished. Now we have talked to a few big investors who want to do this with their whole portfolio, and they wouldn't have trouble Furnishing their apartment. We would give a checklist and they could either have us do it for a fee or they could get everything on the checklist.

    We've utilized Craigslist ads, which of works surprisingly well. We also reach out to people on Facebook and Zillow have properties that meet our conditions

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