All Forum Posts by: Carolyn Fuller
Carolyn Fuller has started 6 posts and replied 608 times.
Post: Glass Top Dining Table
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
Yep. I have a 2-person unit with a glass top dining table and it has worked well.
Post: What is a good occupancy rate for MTR
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
I think this question is dependent upon location. I would do the work of manually looking through other listings in your area. You don't know for sure exactly what their occupancy rates are but you can certainly get a feel for it by seeing what future dates are open. Also, just compare your listing with the competitor listings. Are your prices a lot higher? If so, are your amenities worth the extra price? I'm constantly juggling the rates for my Airbnb listings based on what my competitors are charging.
As for my MTR listing, I have 100% occupancy on it but I have a very easy target MTR market of visiting scholars.
The unit is within blocks of Harvard University and a billion other universities are within a few miles. I advertise via Sabbatical Homes and Harvard Off-Campus Housing and insist my leases begin on Sep 1, Jan 1 or Jun 1 and end on Dec 31, May 31 or Aug 31.
It is pretty easy to keep it fully occupied but it does mean I turn away a ton of people who want a lease that doesn't quite fit my requirements.
Post: Housekeepers want 50% without Cleaning
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
Reliable, thorough housecleaning services can be challenging to find. Once I found a super reliable and thorough cleaning crew, I made sure I let them know I value their services. During the covid shutdown, I paid my cleaning crew 50% of what they would have been paid before the shutdown. When I have last minute cancellations, I still pay them. When I have last minute needs, they go out of their way to accommodate me.
Quote from @Lauren Kormylo:
Also, the reason the east coast beach areas traditionally don't supply linens etc is because it was also traditional to rent for a week, Sat. to Sat. There are not enough cleaners to clean all those rentals on Saturdays only, and also do laundry, and restock all the other stuff. I decided to just do a 3 day minimum. My first year, I couldn't find a cleaner to clean on Saturdays at all, they were all booked up for the season. So I had to block Saturdays off for check outs and check ins. After the first year, my cleaner was able to make me a priority and do Saturdays for me.
Fascinating history. I remember the period when rentals on Cape Cod and the Islands were weekly Sat - Sat. At the time, we spent our vacations camping and hiking so we never actually booked a beach vacation home. By the time, we started renting beach vacation homes, the weekly Sat - Sat routine was no longer the norm. Towels, linens and paper goods were all supplied.
I totally get how historical customs are slow to change and I can't imagine how difficult it was to find a cleaning crew with that kind of competition.
There is only one vacation destination I have ever visited that typically did not supply everything a hotel would supply and that was near Chincoteague Island.
I was stunned that none of the Airbnbs around Chincoteague Island supplied linens or towels. I would not have booked there but we really wanted to visit the island and I hate most hotels. I just checked and, at least some of the places near Chincoteague Island, are now supplying linens and making a big deal of it in their descriptions.
Personally, I think you'd do a lot better supplying the linens, towels, toilet paper, paper towels... All the basic essentials. They are called essentials for a reason.
Post: Advise on how to pay my Costa Rica property manager
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
Quote from @Lauren Kormylo:
Does your bank have Zelle? And does his bank accept it? It's similar to Venmo. Zelle is free to transfer money, and is owned by 7 of the largest US banks. You can pay from your banking app if your bank is a member.
Zelle, Venmo, apartments.com etc all require both parties to have US bank accounts. You can't use these apps for international transactions. PayPal is the only commonly used app in this country that handles transfers between countries and it is quite expensive.
I've chosen wise.com for my international exchanges. If you’d like more information on the best ways to send money internationally, check out this article:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/best-ways-to-wire-money-internationally
Post: Looking for Advice! Where are the best places to advertise your STR + MTR?
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
If your MTRs are near a university, you should also list on sabbaticalhomes.com
Post: Advise on how to pay my Costa Rica property manager
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
I use wise.com to send money internationally, much cheaper than PayPal...
Post: Blocked on Facebook
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Any advice on how to unravel when I can't contact anyone on the original group page?
I don't. I wish I did. I no longer use either Facebook or Craigslist for advertising my units. I'm fortunate that my listings leased via apartments.com and SabbaticalHomes.com
Post: Blocked on Facebook
- Cambridge, MA
- Posts 615
- Votes 697
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Looking for advice. I belong to a few local Facebook vacation rental groups. Yesterday, a woman commented on a couple of my responses as "Scammer" and disliked my posts. I called her out on it, informing her I was not a scammer and she sent me a private message. I looked into her and see that she takes it upon herself to be judge and jury on "scammers" (everything she posts on the local groups is to tell people of scam posts...many actually are).
Interestingly, I live in my community (Marco Island) with my short term rentals and have for years. She DOES NOT! She lives in MA. I only find this interesting because she spends her days commenting on Marco Island posts.
She proceeds to send me a long private message saying that she found me on a "scammer website". She finally sends me a screenshot of this and it appears to be a Naples FL rental group that I belonged to. They have a photo of me and my page warning people that I am a scammer and am banned and blocked. And it says, "This one was bold and provided me with address." I hadn't realized I was banned from this group. I go back to see what I sent them and I had fat fingered an address (389 instead of 380). They didn't verify anything but apparently are telling people I am a scammer which helps me understand why I am no longer getting any traction on Facebook.
Further, the person private messaging me spent (literally all night long) researching me and sending me messages insisting I am a scammer. I own no properties in my personal name. My primary residence is in a trust. My properties are in LLC. She is insistent on my providing her all of my information so she can verify my information, of which I decline to do but tell her that FL is pretty transparent (unless I have a land trust which I do not) and if she decides to be judge and jury to everyone she should figure out how to actually research appropriately.
Hours later, she is screenshotting my name (in every variation possible) showing no ownership. After some time, she finds my personal address in trust and continues to insist I don't own my properties (she is not entering the correct address - there are several towers in my rental and she is assuming one and I own in the other).
I am beside myself. Theoretically, I could make this go away by providing my information (ownership of the units and my stake in the LLC) but do not feel that is the right thing to do. She is literally a crazy person and I think she is going to try to ban me from other groups. I have already reached out to Facebook reporting her for harassment and to the original group she called me a scammer on (I did give the admin my addresses to validate since there are group rules about scamming). I am also trying to get back to the first group that banned me but I can no longer message or see the group or the admin. I am completely blocked. I had my husband request membership to see if he can message the admin the correct information in that group. BTW, I have a 2 decade long Facebook profile and hundreds of "friends" something you don't usually see with scammers (new profiles created with very few friends).
Other thoughts? What would you do? I am about to run Facebook ads but I have no idea how far this "scammer" information goes.
I think it will be worth your while to untangle this but it probably will go more efficiently once you get beyond the feeling that this woman is a lunatic. I don't know her story but it is possible she has a history of being scammed which is why she spends so much effort in spotting scams.
I've never been scammed but my units have appeared in SCAM advertisements frequently. I'm impressed this woman has successfully gotten listings banned. I've never been successful in getting any of the SCAM advertisements removed.