All Forum Posts by: Bruce Woodruff

I also have 2 busy properties...no cameras yet. But I really feel the need to have at least one at the front of the house to see who's coming and going. My main concern is having someone rent for one couple and then show up with 4 cars.......

Tracy - IMHO, you're thinking about this kinda upside-down. With a STR, you have the ability to get into the property every week (or 2 at the most) and clean it. Really clean it - under beds, behind toilets....and really quickly because you just did it a few days ago. This makes cleaning a breeze. Plus you can put your eyes on the property and see what potential issues might be coming up....drippy faucets, loose handrails, noisy fridge, cracked windows, Etc. Fix them on your schedule before they become a middle-of-the-night emergency.

My experiences with long-term renters is that, even though they may be nice people with the best intentions, they will not keep the place nearly as clean, nor will they report little issues, even if they do notice them.

We have a strict 14 day max policy. No exceptions.

Then there is the money part of it. You make LOTS more. Our little cottage would rent for $1700 mo as a LTR. We make 2-3 times that as a STR. And in a much safer manner.

 I would reconsider if I were you. But you gotta be comfortable with the setup.

Well Tracy just be careful.....longer term renters are a much larger risk.

Northern Arizona

^^^ What he said. If you have a great house with a GREAT LOCATION, you can rent anything, just price it accordingly. DO NOT add another bathroom, there goes your ROI for a while. I find STRs to be way more easy to rent than long terms. Weekenders love 'quirky', but quirky quickly turns into weird after a couple months.... :-)

PS - Fire your PM

Yep....great thinking! Instant booking is the way to go.

And I've had a couple inquiries from people with the 'my company will pay for it' scam.

OP: why do you want to go with 30+ day bookings? I think these are just an invitation to trouble. I limit ours to 14 days max, no matter what. Don't want people getting too comfortable, plus I want to get my eyes in the house every so often.....

Yep. Wish I could dump ABNB and just go with VRBO, but both my rentals split pretty much 50/50 between the two, so I'd be giving up half the pot. Can't do that yet......

Typical AirBnB misguided over-reach. No wonder people are fleeing them to go to VRBO and others......

My neighbor is considering this, we talked about the budget a while back. His cabin is rented pretty constantly and he figures he is just leaving money on the table without having a trailer parked nearby. If it is going to be a permanent rental, you will need electricity, some plumbing refinements and of course septic. Then the question is are you going to ask permission from your local municipality or just do it on your own.  We came up with a number of $25k to do it nicely......you could make that back in a couple years at even $75 a night x 150 nights per year. Maybe faster, depends on your area.