All Forum Posts by: Aaron L.

Thank you, @Chris Mason Ironically, the same lender had just completed a refinance on another property (it was #5...). Must have been a bad day... 

Thank you, @Upen Patel

Brent Kostner how did rent collection go?

Brandi Carballo in what city are you looking at having your vacation rental?

@Upen Patel - sams bank came back and said they can use Fannie for up to six. Apparently this is a newer and higher limit? Had it been four sometime recently?

@Mike Hanneman - are you asking me or @Shawn Marie Strathe? I'm open to any and all options. Current bank wasn't doing portfolio leading - each property has its own loan. I believe they were acting more like a broker - all of the previous loans have been sold. 

Bank won't do a refinance on a property because the owner has 5 or more properties each with mortgages on them. Thoughts or ideas?

Monika Haebich I have seen a minor kickback from some renters booking through Homeaway sites. One BIG reason is that our reservation confirmation is different than their Homeaway one (service fee being the variable). Some guests have called, cancelled and then re booked with us directly. Some of the secrecy from Homeaway was also the issue... We have modified all of our guest correspondence to reflect the service fee explanation from third party sites. Homeaway (VRBO specifically) is a huge Venue in our neck of the woods. Trip Advisor/flip key are second rate. They both had some MAJOR growing pains last year too and have been notoriously understaffed. I've worked with Homeaway PM software (there is more than just Escapia), Barefoot and Live Rez. Each one has a slightly different approach to the PM industry. There are plenty of other PM systems out there for smaller companies. One of the reasons Live Rez is great is due to the direct Airbnb comparability. Other PM systems have to go through a 3rd party vendor. My goal is to drive traffic to my Website. I use a variety of avenues - Homeaway is just one of those. Airbnb is picking up, Craigslist has some leads, SEO, PPC, Retarget marketing, mobile friendly, etc. The goal is to stay adjust with the times (don't be close minded!) and know your return on investment.

Neal Collins , great questions. I've heard it argued both FOR referrals and AGAINST. I am not in real estate sales so cannot comment from that angle. For property management (both short and long term), I ultimately want the agent to refer to us because we are the best. I typically send a hand written thank you card with a gift certificate to the realtor. I also try to send a referral their way too (in a small community, there is a "rub my back and I will run yours" mentality). On some of my bigger commercial leases, I have entertained a referral fee equivalent to 25% of the first full months lease. On the vacation rental side, I have heard of companies doing 1% of the projected first 12 months revenue (this could be fairly subjective...). It's also good to stop in an introduce yourself to to local area realtors - drop off coffee, doughnuts, etc. and bring LOTS of business cards!

@Jonathan G. maybe try to work with the tenants on this one. My first question would be if the lease allows for a dish? I prefer the dish to be OFF of the roof, however, if I were to re-roof the property, i would probably work out a deal with the tenants (try 50/50). At the end of the day, i may end up paying for the service call or try to set it myself. Here is a video on how to do it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0kxGeAlSHQ. A google search pulled up some other tips as well.