All Forum Posts by: Collin Hays

Yes, "extraordinary" is generally off the table. In the Smokies, not only has demand softened, but inventory has grown.  Owners are easily discounting 30-40 percent over a few years ago to keep their properties occupied.  

Input costs have also risen substantially. Insurance premiums are way up. Utility companies have targeted rentals as ripe for new income and are charging significantly more for power to a rental cabin than a residential dwelling right next door. Property taxes have gone up significantly, as taxing authorities have figured out that all of those out of state investment property owners are choice pick'ns for more taxes, so they are levying much higher taxes on the investment properties than residential.  Municipalities have also began charging annual "safety fees" (another tax) for investment properties.  

When taxing authorities - and I include utilities in that bucket since there usually is no competition and you have no choice - discovered all of the profit in the vacation rental market, they went in whole hog to claw out much of that for themselves.  

That's what gubmit does, just give them enough time.

Quote from @Josh Ball:

We've started a new condo in a vacation town a couple of hours away. We're allowing pets (with a $75 fee) to pass along to the cleaners. After this recent guest, the pet hair, pet debris from a dog that was clearly walking in grass & brought in the unit has caused for a deep clean of our unit. We knew that by allowing pets, we would need to schedule deep cleanings every so often but we had dog hair everywhere, mud marks on the door like it had been scratching to get outside, paw marks on the rugs, sheets, etc. 

I'm thinking about adding a message to guests who book with a pet that "no pets can be left unattended in the unit" to try to reduce the people bringing pets just to avoid boarding costs.

What do y'all do in this situation? This is our first guest who has left a good bit of hair/debris from their dog.

Great info from Andrew. When we allow pets, it does eventually cause an expensive repair.  We just replaced a sofa that was ruined by a dog.  It was $1200.  We charged the guest $800 of that, but of course they are screaming and crying, threatening to charge it back, get a lawyer, etc.  We obviously will lose a chargeback, per usual. So I suppose it's just a cost of doing business.

Studies show that over 50% of travelers are taking Fido along for the trip, even if the accommodations don't allow him.  Most of our properties are pet friendly, but only a small percentage of guests actually report, and pay for, the extra pet.

You can Google "real estate photographers" or "interior photographers" in your neck of the woods and probably come up with several options.  You are smart for doing so, as this is a specialty craft, and not all photographers are good at it.

I would never invest in anything jointly with friends and family.  

Quote from @Alexander Canha:

Hello!

I have one STR under my belt but looking to grow and wanted to do so using private money as I have some friends and family that have expressed interest. I was hoping to connect with someone who has used this type of financing to purchase and manage an STR in any capacity. Thanks!

Are you investing for yourself, with a loan from other people?  Or are you investing FOR other people?  

If you are simply borrowing from friends and family, that would be a big "no" for me. Relationships are not worth jeopardizing over business deals, even if it's just a one percent chance. 

If you are investing FOR other people - friends and family - you have the same risk. If things go bad, it damages your relationships. I went in business once with two friends and we all went in agreeing that nothing would jeopardize our friendships. Famous last words.  Fellow investors have different goals, mindsets, quirks, and risk tolerances. That leads to a lot of problems. The business ultimately failed because of these divergences. We kept our friendships intact, but it was pretty painful, and I would never do it again.

Just an hour west of Asheville is the Maggie Valley-Waynesville-Cataloochee area. This is a somewhat less commercialized version of Gatlinburg, and might be worth considering.

Great writeup! Thank you for sharing!

We don't use VAs. One of us can be reached at all times with a text or call.

My own experience is that VAs are mostly good for platitudes.  "Unfortunately" and "I am sorry" are the ones you hear most of the time.  

Quote from @Sunil Ghosal:

Quote from @Dan H.:

Quote from @Collin Hays:

We are currently dealing with two homeowners that insist on saving a few dollars on utilities by putting upper and lower limits on the thermostat. They are getting blistered with poor reviews, and future guests are calling in to cancel because of the reviews.  Penny wise, pound foolish.

Just. Don't.  

 I could not disagree with this post more:

- not setting a minimum could freeze the AC resulting is large repair bill

- tenants can set ac low just to run up the electric bill or set the heat to run up the gas bill.

- humidity can be an issue.  It is important for the HVAC to control humidity. 

The important thing is to set the limits at appropriate limits.   If you are setting the limits too restrictive, this is not smart.  But appropriate limits is smart.   Not setting any limits is not smart and can be costly.  A frozen AC can be costly.  Intentionally wasteful utilities can be costly.  

I have limits set on all of our STR HVAC systems.

This is known as the "Property Manager" Mindset. They don't pay for the HVAC or Electric bill. It's not their property so they don't care if something breaks/utility bill is high. Below are some of the Property Manager Mindset Examples:

- Tell the Home Owner that renting at $1/night is good (Inventory is Perishable)
- Tell the Home Owner to Turn up Pool Temps to 90+ F
- Tell the Home Owner that HVAC and Electric Bills are to be expected.

Meanwhile, instead of the driving profitability to your home, the PM focuses 100% of their effort on recruiting new home owners. This is a trick I've seen PMs pull on home owners all the time. PMs in my experience never really care about the net profitability. The only thing they care about is "number of properties under management". Whatever they can do to simplify their operations to scale as much as possible is what they will want you to do. Its nothing more then where their incentive lies.

This probably isn't the right thread to grind your axe against Property Managers. If I had no regard for my client's "net profitability, I wouldn't be concerned about negative reviews and guests cancelling future reservations. 

Quote from @Michael Baum:

We have a simple WiFi thermostat (Emerson Sensi) but it gives me alerts when things are out of spec.

Like humidity. If you see the thermostat stays 65 degrees but humidity is 80% inside. You know they have the windows open. N. Idaho doesn't see super high humidity. Usually in the 30's but combine with AC running. Yikes.

Other than that, we don't cap any settings and so far so good. I do look at the settings a few times a day and if I feel they are out of whack, I will change it on the fly.

You look a few times a day?

We need to come up with a hobby for you.  🤣