All Forum Posts by: Bonnie Low

It's easy to get ahold of the planning department for the particular city or County you are in. Your bio says "Denver" but that could mean a lot of things and there are significantly different rules on renting out your property whether you're in Arvada, Westminster, Aurora, Denver proper, etc, etc. In many cases it is fully legal so long as it is your primary home and you occupy one of the units but definitely make sure you're in compliance before you move forward. Those jurisdictions are notoriously aggressive in researching and pursuing offenders so you want to be extremely cautious. As for furnishings, I like to see at least a slight difference in the decor otherwise when you put up both listings it can be confusing to travelers because they think they're looking at two separate listings for the same unit. You can do this simply by changing your bedding colors and the colors of accent items like throw pillows and towels. 

Additional things to consider: where is the breaker box and do both units have access to it if needed? Where are the HVAC controls and do both units have the ability to access it? Nothing spells trouble more than one unit having the heating/AC controls for BOTH units.

 I sent you a connect request. Just forward me your contact info and I'll pass it along.

 I have connections with Baselane support staff. Would you like me to message them directly for you? PM if that would be helpful.

 I used to use a bookkeeper and it was expensive, especially considering the size of my portfolio at the time. Worse, she used Quickbooks and I found it to be unnecessarily complex. It was just something neither myself nor my husband could really work with and so it created a dependency on our bookkeeper. I have since transitioned to Baselane for my banking and bookkeeping purposes. I love the simplicity, the functionality and it's made me a better investor because I'm doing the financials myself and therefore have to really understand what is happening in my business. I really think they do a great job with product development, too, and are always releasing new features. They offer regular demos so if you're interested, I recommend you schedule a demo.

Are you looking specifically for insurance placement companies or corporate housing or a mix? I'd reach out to Shona Lepis with She's Got Assets if you're looking to source insurance companies. And I don't know anyone more tied in to the corporate housing market than Elaine Quiroz. PM me if you want Elaine's contact information.

 It's understandable that you want to see your property's performance. Ideally, you have the terms for doing that outlined in your property management contract. I don't use Buildium so I can't speak to what it can or can't do but owner's can sometimes be added on other platforms as co-hosts for the purpose of visibility. In other words you can see, but not edit. If you're new to this, it may take some time to adjust your expectations and get comfortable. If they're making the returns you expected, I'd give it some time for you to get comfortable having someone else holding the reins. As an aside, it's not difficult to manage your own property so if this doesn't work for you, you could always pivot.

If you have a small home (1/1 or 2/1) it may work for travel medical professionals and digital nomads. A larger home (3/2+) could be a good fit for insurance rentals. San Jose is so large and has so many reasons to travel there that there's always demand. The question is, what is your bottom line and will the rents you can charge cover that? What is your goal in investing? Is it long term buy-and-hold with appreciation as your primary objective or short term cash flow? All of those questions help you determine what is the best fit for your property.

Airbnb & Furnished Finder work so differently and I think people often struggle to adjust their expectations when toggling between the two platforms. What I hear again and again from hosts who are accustomed to Airbnb for their STRs and even some MTRs is that they expect FF to work the same way when, in reality, FF is just a lead generation platform. It requires a lot more work, follow up, and it's necessary to have systems in place to support the tenant vetting, rent collection and creating lease agreements. I personally use FF exclusively for MTRs. I won't list them on Airbnb because of Airbnb's arbitrary and guest-forward refund policies. I think both have their place, but what I'm really excited about is MiniStays. I know the founder and I know the company has been very intentional about taking the best features of both and expanding on them while leaving the problems (Airbnb) and wonkiness (FF) behind. I highly recommend you consider listing your property on MiniStays as well. I'm not a brand ambassador - I just really like what they're doing and I think it works for both guests and hosts. 

Couldn't agree with you more! I hate to see  new members being shot down when they dip their toes in the water. If you feel their questions are a waste of time then scroll on....and don't waste your own time answering. We all had to start somewhere.

 I can't think of anyone better than Erin Spradlin and @James Carlson to point you in the right direction. I don't think Erin is taking on new clients any longer but she probably knows someone who is.