All Forum Posts by: Christy Flora

@John Morgan I'm not actually sure. To be honest, I moved my strategy to Florida so did not keep up on whether or not Stone Country voted to approve those two homes. I decided it's best to work in a county that has STR regulations so that I didn't need to worry about not being approved. Branson is still on my future list possibility but I will probably stick with Taney County.

Tim, I don't want to burst your bubble but I'm pretty familiar with the area and I would be EXTREMELY surprised if the HOA in that community allows short term rentals of any kind. You might be able to do 30 day rentals. Before considering purchasing, I would have your parents send you the HOA documents - there may even be a sub-HOA (or second HOA) as well depending on the area.

Edited to say that you could look at this as a snowbird rental and rent it for 90 days twice per year to two snowbirds (or more) - depending on what the HOA allows. Could be a good mid-term rental prospect (again, depending on HOA). Based on the price, unless they give you an great deal $2,500 LTR may only break even. If you are considering retiring here yourself, that may be good enough to purchase. Good luck!

@Joshua Messinger thank you I'm definitely going to look into Stripe. I made these two reservations super early in my STR career so learning along the way. I think people are more used to paying service fees for credit cards than for PayPal transactions.

@Michael Baum when you return the deposit, do you ever get pushback from your guests about the PayPal fee being removed from their deposit?

I have my short-term rental on Airbnb and also have a direct booking website. Currently, the direct booking site is very basic and does not allow for online payments (yet).  I have two upcoming direct bookings in September. I am using PayPal business to create the invoices. I've sent both my direct bookings invoices for their initial 20% non-refundable deposits (which they have both paid) and have now sent them the full invoice for the remainder of the balance + a $250 refundable damage deposit. They have both paid in full. 

Question 1 - Paypal takes a decent percentage for this service (especially for out-of-country bookings). I have now officially paid PayPal four times for the two different bookings (2 deposits and balance/damage deposit).  I like that I have the ability to invoice for tracking/tax purposes but wonder if there is a less expensive alternative. I'm sure Stripe will take their percentage too but will be looking into this later for my website. Does anyone use Zelle with customers?  If using Paypal, do you pass on the cost to the purchaser?  I typically wouldn't but I paid a vendor recently via PayPal and she made me pay the PayPal service fee. What is typical?  

Question 2 - When I hopefully give back the $250 damage deposit to both of my direct bookings, will PayPal take a percentage of that as well? I can see that as a customer I would be a bit annoyed by this as I wouldn't get my WHOLE deposit back. What is everyone doing for collecting deposits?

I primarily used the enemy method combined with Pricelabs market reports for my areas of interest. I started with about 10 areas ($100 for reports @ $10 each) and quickly weeded them down to my preferred two locations and then made an offer (and by "made an offer" - I made 10 offers until I got one in the crazy spring '22 market).  The Pricelabs market reports really helped me see my local competition and what I could "safely" offer on a home in the area.

I forgot to mention that I also use Schlage Encode for my digital lock and it automates codes for each guest when linked to my Hospitable account.

For cleaners - use TurnoverBnb or Properly App

I use the Thumbtack app to find vendors (plumbers, electricians, handymen, wall paperers, etc)

Definitely make use of a program like Hospitable or OwnerRez to make conversations with guests easier and automated.

Outside cameras are a must and asking for photos from your housekeeping staff after each clean is vital. They are the lynchpin of your business so treat them right! 

I know many people use PayPal invoicing. I'm currently using Zelle to pay our cleaners and the Properly App. We have their W-9 for tax time and issuing a 1099.

I think most people don't mind logging on to their own streaming accounts (they get their own recommendations, it feels more private, etc). If you don't already provide cable TV (for those who don't have streaming), I would suggest purchasing a few but the problem is you might have someone log out of the STR's Netflix account (For example) and log in to their own account AND forget to log back off - just funky stuff like that to consider.