All Forum Posts by: Dave Stokley

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @Dave Stokley:

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Ethan Hanes, so everyone does have to start somewhere, but usually that is under someone who has the experience. Internships etc.

Like @Dave Stokley, I usually don't hire recent college grads that have never actually done the work. The company I worked for was huge so getting RCG's was acceptable for some entry level jobs. They have the infrastructure and a lot of people overseeing new peoples work while they learn.

So would you take your car for major service, like a head gasket, to a shop that had never touched a car before? They will do the job for 1/4 the cost of experienced shops. it's your only car and you rely on it for everything.

That is kinda what you are asking of owners.

Michael, I’m a bit confused by your response. Airbnb co-hosting is not like a car shop. That really wasn’t the best example. Airbnb co-hosting is not rocket science. I have experience dealing with real estate contracts (expense sheets, profit and loss statements, net income, etc.), so I already have experience in the field.

My job is to be sure everything is running properly and the owner is getting the most net income possible. 

You’ve made several comments now that are worrisome and reinforce my feeling that you’re a little naive about what you’re trying to do:

”we both are commercial real estate agents and know the ins and outs of property management, solely by listening to other property owners.”

Huh? Please don’t ever use this line to try to sell your services. 

”There really is no risk involved.”
Yeah only someone’s ability to pay their mortgage.

”Airbnb co-hosting is not rocket science. I have experience dealing with real estate contracts (expense sheets, profit and loss statements, net income, etc.), so I already have experience in the field.”

If it’s so easy, why are you here asking advice? And moreover, why would anyone pay you to do something so easy?

Asking people for advice then telling the people generous enough to offer it that what they do is so easy that any old real estate agent could do it probably isn’t going to make you many friends here. 




 I’m confused. Don’t you co-host? 

Yes. That’s why I’m offering advice. What are you confused about?

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Ethan Hanes, so everyone does have to start somewhere, but usually that is under someone who has the experience. Internships etc.

Like @Dave Stokley, I usually don't hire recent college grads that have never actually done the work. The company I worked for was huge so getting RCG's was acceptable for some entry level jobs. They have the infrastructure and a lot of people overseeing new peoples work while they learn.

So would you take your car for major service, like a head gasket, to a shop that had never touched a car before? They will do the job for 1/4 the cost of experienced shops. it's your only car and you rely on it for everything.

That is kinda what you are asking of owners.

Michael, I’m a bit confused by your response. Airbnb co-hosting is not like a car shop. That really wasn’t the best example. Airbnb co-hosting is not rocket science. I have experience dealing with real estate contracts (expense sheets, profit and loss statements, net income, etc.), so I already have experience in the field.

My job is to be sure everything is running properly and the owner is getting the most net income possible. 

You’ve made several comments now that are worrisome and reinforce my feeling that you’re a little naive about what you’re trying to do:

”we both are commercial real estate agents and know the ins and outs of property management, solely by listening to other property owners.”

Huh? Please don’t ever use this line to try to sell your services. 

”There really is no risk involved.”
Yeah only someone’s ability to pay their mortgage.

”Airbnb co-hosting is not rocket science. I have experience dealing with real estate contracts (expense sheets, profit and loss statements, net income, etc.), so I already have experience in the field.”

If it’s so easy, why are you here asking advice? And moreover, why would anyone pay you to do something so easy?

Asking people for advice then telling the people generous enough to offer it that what they do is so easy that any old real estate agent could do it probably isn’t going to make you many friends here. 




 

No idea who's behind it but there's currently a bill in the Ohio House (HB 563) that would prevent local governments from treating STR differently than LTR.

Quote from @Leslie Anne Morris:

Come back once you have used them for several months.  Would love to hear your take on it then.  I own a property management company and we get business coming from Evolve running.

LOL right! This is the first person I've ever met that is happy with Evolve. Pretty much everyone says that Evolve barely does anything and they still have to do a lot of stuff themselves. This gushing review seems too good to be real. But yeah I'm biased too because I've had several clients come to me from Evolve.

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Ethan Hanes, why would someone hire you do something you have never done before? You want to learn on the job with someone else's investment.

Basically you could ruin someone's property on VRBO and AirBNB so they have to start over. I understand you want to get started, but maybe you should start saving and buy a property and learn that way.

Michael,

Thanks for your response. The same reason anyone would ever hire a beginner. To give them experience and to get a discount. There would be no one starting any career if they weren’t allowed to be a “beginner”. In our situation, we would be sure that the expectations are laid out clearly with the owner. We would create a contract that demonstrates that the owner can relieve us of our co-hosting duties whenever. However, we both are commercial real estate agents and know the ins and outs of property management, solely by listening to other property owners. 

I get and appreciate your mentality, Ethan, because I’m the same way: I’m super self-confident and pretty damn sure I can be good at whatever I decide to dedicate myself to. But, I agree with Michael. In almost any industry most people don’t start out on their own with no experience. Rather they typically get a job working under someone with experience to learn the ropes, or like Michael is suggesting and like I did, create their own experience it by doing it for themselves first. 

Lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, etc., all typically get a job at a firm where they learn from a veteran. I would NEVER hire a brand new professional in any of these fields no matter how much of a discount they were offering. Same goes for someone managing my real estate.

It seems like you have two options to gain some experience:
1. Buy your own property for STR and learn the ropes there, or
2. Go work for another PM for a year. 
Or you could probably do both!

I don’t think anyone is saying you shouldn’t do it, but just that it’s unreasonable to ask someone to trust you with a hugely valuable asset which you have no prior experience with. 

good luck!

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Are you licensed and insured to manage property for people?

I have an LLC and a real estate license in California.

An LLC does nothing for being able to manage properties.

So are you licensed and insured to manage other people's properties?

You may be, I'm just checking.

No. What kind of licensing and insurance is required?

 Well it appears neither of us knows. But you should find out what it takes to be legal before trying to fo it. 

Just trying to keep you out of trouble.

It may not be required. It’s a state by state thing. Just Google it. 

I’m using Guesty and it works well with Airbnb but not really at all with vrbo. I think it’s a vrbo problem, not a PMS problem.

I would not expect someone to follow your instructions to clean a place during their stay, especially if you’re charging a cleaning fee. In my experience people are sloppy so any time I have a longer stay (a couple weeks) I’ll block a day for deep cleaning. 

In my experience Airbnb doesn’t take responsibility for enforcing local minimum stay rules. I have seen them require permit numbers in places that require permits.

No, it’s awful to use and the guests are also low quality.

Your question about cleaners deserves a completely different thread, but who the hell has time to FaceTime after every clean? I use a service called Properly that has visual checklists and requires the cleaners to take pics as they go. People that work for properly review the pics in real time. You won’t be surprised to hear that our cleaners hate this too!