All Forum Posts by: Carolyn Fuller

Our STR wasn't getting the advanced bookings it normally has gotten for summer rentals which was causing me some anxiety. In December, I decided to rent it mid-term for the calendar year. Significant reduction of income for a significant reduction in anxiety.

Experiences from market to market often vary significantly so what's going on in your market is unlikely to be the same thing that is going on in my market.

That said, my market has gone bonkers. My MTR market has completely vaporized in a matter of months (i.e., since February of this year!). 

My STR market was behaving so unpredictably earlier this year that I decided to just rent our STR mid term for the calendar year.

I'm guessing the reason my MTR world is crashing is because I rely heavily on visiting scholars and our universities are under attack. Not a clue why my STR market went to heck in a basket. I suspect the STR issue is that booking lead times are shrinking.

When I started out as an STR host in 2012 I was just on VRBO's platform, which was known as Home Away at the time. My very second guest was coming for 2 weeks. I researched her on the internet and discovered she had quite a reputation for being the tenant / guest from hell. I put a lot of effort and research into how to ensure a smooth and uneventful 2 weeks.

I don't think VRBO guests are inherently more reasonable guests than Airbnb guests. I suspect they are all very similar. I'm actually amazed that VRBO's advertising children gleefully jumping up and down on the beds doesn't produce a more problematic guest but I guess it doesn't.

 In my youth, I had a very short career as a waitress. One night, one of those "unreasonable" customers announced herself at the door when I over heard her saying, "I don't know why I ever dine out. The food is always terrible and the service even worst." I prayed she didn't sit at my table but, of course, she did. And she brought me to tears within 5 minutes, at which point, an amazingly skilled waitress took over from me. I watched in complete amazement as that waitress had the entire table eating out of the palm of her hand within 10 minutes. She had the skills to turn a super unreasonable customer into a happy, satisfied, and very manageable customer. It was then that I knew I needed to change careers but I stayed in awe of the skills I saw that night.

Becoming an STR host in my retirement has given me the opportunity to learn how to turn the "unreasonable" guest into the happy, satisfied and manageable guest. And, in the process, increased my ratings from 4.89 to 4.96. It also is a supremely satisfying experience!

Great read and many pointers on how to become a 5 star super host!

Unreasonable Hospitality: https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com/

Finding a quality co-host proved to be way too challenging so I just block off dates when I know I won't be available in person or remotely.

As to if I'm incapacitated, I rely on my husband as a co-host. Ultimately, our heir does not want to inherit our STR business. He has come around to wanting to inherit our home and MTR business but he might ultimately decide to sell everything.

Thrilled that he has the choices.

@Jeremiah Dunakin "An article today stated that DOGE found 12m+ people on social security who were over the age 120."

A more precise description: "Elon Musk’s DOGE deletes names of 3.2 million individuals aged 120+ from Social Security records." 

These 3.2 million individuals were NOT getting benefits. They were on the database with incomplete birthdates and have now been officially marked as deceased but they were not receiving benefits so no fraud found. 

I agree that it is important to maintain accurate and complete records, even for individuals who are not receiving any benefits but I wouldn't describe it as "cleaning up fraud." And I am still nervous about the reliability of my social security payments. 

I don't know if the cancellation of benefits and the withdrawal of 2 months worth of benefits from the Seattle, WA retiree's bank account was caused by Musk and his DOGE team but I do know Musk's chainsaw approach is unnerving.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-d...   

 So, it sounds like most of the cancelations are Canadians and none of my upcoming guests are Canadian. International but not Canadian.

I suspect my biggest hit from our Canadian neighbors will be from Trump's tariff wars. We get so much of our electricity from Canada. I know a lot of New Englanders are very concerned about how that will play out. 

To illustrate why I question whether my social security income is reliable:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-d...

I'm not concerned that my social security will be reduced. 

I'm concerned that Musk has been slamming social security on social media, calling it a "Ponzi scheme." I am concerned that he has announced plans to cut 12% of the social security staff at a time when social security has the lowest number of employees and the highest number of beneficiaries in its history. 

I'm concerned that Musk claims that 25% of the social security payments are fraudulent but according to a 2024 report from Social Security’s inspector general, less than 1% of payments made over a seven-year period were improper. 

As I said, I don't know what will happen with social security but Musk is certainly rattling the chainsaw.