All Forum Posts by: Joel Lazar

@Joel Lazar Airbnb/VRBO automatically withholds the Hotel Occupancy Taxes for most States and County's taxes requirements. There are some exceptions, like STRs in Austin, Texas, that have their own incremental Hotel Occupancy Taxes not withheld by Airbnb and you can use the country portal to remit this. What additional taxes are you using Avalara for? 

Hello,

Just getting started with our first STR property, and have looked at using both Hospitable (formerly SmartBnB) and OwnerRez. Both look good to me, but I was wondering if anyone had first hand experience using one versus the other? I'm on the fence.

Thank you!

I doubt you need either for one property. 

Id urge you to rethink the management. They charge a large portion that can really erode your revenue. If you have one STR that is set up right then it is not that labor intensive to run. I went to my STR when I bought it for a week and fixed or replaced everything I thought would be a problems. Examples would be a coffee maker that was hard to figure out (I actually replaced all countertop appliances to ensure I wouldn't have an issue, a non comfortable bed, a fan that was discussing, etc. This makes it so I have les service calls I have to deal with and can focus on the guests. As for working with the guests and pricing you have aps such as hospitable and price labs (may others too, this is just what I use) to help automate communication and pricing. I am spending less then an hour a week on my STR. I dont think 4 hours a month is worth 20-30% of my revenue. That's just my opinion. Shoot me a message if you want to talk more indepth

I'm curious how its going? i also have a property with Freaky Fast and i think they grew too freakin' fast for their bridges. I had issues priot to closing and i didn't really trust my gut.  And now a year later I cannot EVER get anyone on the phone or to reply to text or email, and I still don't have my 1099 for 2021 (it is April 18!).  The property management team has changed multiple times in the last year since closing, Jason Englemen seems the only constant. I've taken to texting and calling every week and cannot get them to call or write me back.  The good side is there has been ZERO maintenance issues at the property and all the rent has been paid on time for one property, the other is 1-month behind on rent. The bad side is I'M PRETTY SURE no maintenance means they've not even visited it.  I have great concerns about Jason's team - I really don't want to be skeptical here but I am. Thinking i need to find a different property manager but at a minimum my tax info for 2021. Is anyone else seeing this same experience?