All Forum Posts by: Dan Johnson

These are all great suggestions. My HVAC guy installed an Ecobee smart wifi thermostat which I can control from anywhere. And he billed it to the local energy company here in town which obviously has a program where they pay for the new smart thermostat.

My water company will send automatic email alerts anytime my daily water usage is unusually high. I can choose the settings, ex: if my average daily water usage is 150 gallons, I choose to be notified anytime the daily water usage exceeds 200 gallons. Probably not as real-time as the Simplisafe water detection but it works for me for now.

Check with your power company and water company about these freebies.

Most short term guests (Air bnb, VRBO) treat the property with respect and leave it in good condition. Plus, it gets cleaned between guests. My air bnb property gets cleaned anywhere from 6-12 times per month. Which means my property is always in top condition. Compare this to long term renters. I worry more about long term renters causing damage to a home. And if you are renting long term and want to kick your tenant out, most of the time it's a hassle. You have to evict and take the necessary steps to evict correctly. This can take months and cost thousands of dollars.

I just went through this exact thing last year. I replaced my lateral sewer line which runs from my house to the street. It is approximately 40-50 feet. The old clay tile sewer line from 1900 had fallen apart and caused backups in the shower every time I did the laundry. 

I hired a 2 man plumber team. They hired an excavator and a guy to operate the excavator to dig out the trench. One part was difficult because my lateral sewer line goes under a retaining wall. They had to be careful digging the trench under the retaining wall but were successful. Old clay tile pipe was replaced with new PVC pipe.

Everything was done in about 6 hours. Total cost was $3,800. I felt that was too high but I was happy just to have it fixed and not worry about it anymore. This is in Arkansas.

Gut feeling is that it's a scam.  I also don't like the short time frame they are giving you. They contacted you today and want a lease to start in 2 days. Red flag. But maybe it's worth it to ask more questions and find out for sure.

If you want to pursue it...make them start filling out paperwork...background check (like Matt suggested), rental application, current and previous landlord info, employment info, current monthly income, last 2 pay stubs. Make sure to charge a fee for the background check and rental application.

If SA allows mobile homes...Your best bet would be to attract working travelers. They just need a bed, bathroom, kitchenette, and a clean and quiet place. Market it on air bnb for business travelers. Make sure to be transparent in your posting that it is a mobile home. Mention this somewhere in the description of your listing. I'd also include 1-2 exterior pics of the mobile home on your Air bnb listing. You'll most likely want to price it less than your competition bc it is a mobile home. 

Some cities have short term rental laws and some don't. I recommend a city that already has air bnb laws. This way it is a known factor. Set yourself up to be legal and compliant

Listing it on Air bnb is a great way to test the waters for short term rental. Air bnb is pretty user friendly and easy to set up an account with. Make sure to be transparent to your guests about the condition of the property. You don't have to go into great detail but if there are a few ugly rooms in the house make sure to mention in your Air Bnb listing that those rooms are currently undergoing renovations. And then I would focus on making the rooms that the Air Bnb guests would use look as nice as possible (living room, kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom).

Hi Richard,

I like that idea of turning your duplex into 2 air bnb units. Sounds like you have an awesome location. Air bnb guests want good locations. Here's what you need to do. Mention in your listing description about the mobile homes next door. Mention it towards the bottom of your listing, maybe in the section about 'other things to know about the property.' Possibly take one picture of the mobile homes and put it at the end of your photos. As long as guests know about this ahead of time, your reviews will be fine.

I have a 1 bedroom/ 1 bathroom unit i posted to air bnb. The bathroom is small and the shower door is pretty bad. When you enter the shower you are right under the showerhead. I noted in my listing, towards the bottom of my listing, that when you enter the shower you will be super close to the shower head. I also wrote that anyone over 6 ft tall or over 200 lbs might have difficulty in this shower.

I've got 16 successful reviews. Nobody has given me a bad review because of the shower situation. Guests just don't want to be surprised. The worst thing you can do is to hide something from them. Just as long as you are transparent they won't hold it against you.

Hi Basit,
That $18k quote for 6 minitsplits is steep. I have a property where I installed 4 minisplits for $5,200. I went online & bought 4 Pioneer mini splits myself for $650 each. And my HVAC guy charged me about $600 to install each one. 3 of the minisplits were easy for him to install because they were at ground level. The last minisplit installation cost a little more because it required him to climb a ladder and run the hoses up exterior siding to the 2nd floor. Now this wasn't in Jax- it's for a multi family I have in Arkansas.

How about finding a tenant/buyer to lease option it to? Try to get a $20-25k down payment with a sale option price of $195k to the tenant/buyer. You currently owe $210k ($177k first loan plus $33k second loan). Take the $20k down payment and apply it to one of the loans so that now you owe $190k. And if the tenant/buyer exercises their option to buy then you will profit $5k ($195k sale price - $190k owed on the loans).