All Forum Posts by: Justin Brin

@Justin Brin long term rentals definitely have greater wear and tear. STVR guests are rarely in the home. They occupy a property 60-70% of the time , nights booked per year and are not in the property most of time while on vacation.

Set your mind at ease by triple net leasing your property( leasing company pays for furniture, RE taxes, insurance and interior maintenance.) As a triple net lease tenant the property will get cleaned weekly, while making sure the property is properly maintained.

@Justin Brin I do have a trusted, competent successful arbitrage operator for my out of state rental and it has been great for several years. It all comes down to the quality of the operator. I would not consider arbitrage for my other properties as I don't have that quality of an operator available for these locations. I do carry STR insurance myself that allows arbitrage and it costs several times as much as landlord insurance.

Because I do it myself. Like @Andrew Steffens said, I don't need to arbitrage it.

Regarding some of your other points. You won't be paying me what I make as a STR. If you did, then you wouldn't make a dime. So for you to make money, I make less.

I can see some folks allowing it, but I doubt that many here would allow it. We all run our STRs ourselves for the most part.

In the end, I never know how an arbitrager would do. Most don't have any experience at all and are using my property as a test case.

I could get stuck with a house full of substandard furniture and accessories that I need to deal with. Possible damage that didn't get fixed because the arbitrager wasn't able to make a go and they just walked away.

There are all sorts of possibilities for problems.

Exactly. Don't forget the cost to furnish the house, including linens, kitchen stuff, etc. Some owners don't want to put out tens of thousands more to outfit a high quality STR. As you say, some don't have the time to manage it themselves. And hiring a property manager will cost you 20-40% of your gross. It's not as simple as everyone saying do it yourself. You have to want to, and have the time.

The fact that someone wants to arbitrage your property is a sign that it might be a good STR, but you have to investigate. Airdna, Mashvisor, Awning, Rabbu, and AllTheRooms have calculators to help you estimate what you could make from a particular property. The gross amounts usually include cleaning fees, which you then pay right out to your cleaner, so factor that in when you figure out your net. Remember your costs will be more for an STR, you'll be paying for a lot of things you wouldn't with an LTR - higher STR insurance, all utilities including internet, supplies like toilet paper, paper towels, dishwasher detergent etc, upkeep on furniture and linens if damaged, yard maintenance and grass cutting/snow removal, trash removal, etc.
The other way is called the Enemy Method, where you go to Airbnb and Vrbo, look at your direct competitors, and figure out how full their calendars are, at what prices, keep a tally of their income, and make a guess as to their yearly gross. In a seasonal area, that requires time to look at them over the year.

And yes, you can ask for more from an arbitager. And as I said before, you need to make sure they have and continue to have STR insurance, not just homeowner-type or renter's insurance.

Hey @Justin Brin, nope. I wouldn't arbitrage my place.

I would not let some arbitrage my property because I can do it myself and cut them out :)

Even if you are not interested you could hire a good local manager and still cut them out.

You'd think STR would cause more wear and tear, but the host has to keep it up in great condition to get 5 star reviews. And with cleaners going in after stay, it gets cleaned way more than with LTRs. I have an LTR that was occupied for 8 years by one tenant, and it was sooo much work after they left. It cost us a lot of time and money to get it back in shape. With an STR, it would have been kept in much better shape.

Short term guests are frequently on vacation, and are outside of the house a lot of the time, sightseeing, eating out. Versus long term guests who are home most of the time, cooking most meals in, putting maximum wear and tear on a place. I would consider allowing someone to arbitrage a rental house of mine for STR it if it were empty and I was having a hard time finding a tenant. I would be a stickler about making sure they had the correct insurance. Unlike some people here, I don't think arbitrage is any riskier than having a bad tenant on your own.

My personal house or one of my investment homes? 

My personal house, no way would I STR it at all. My investment homes, maybe but I'd do it myself if I was going to do so. I wouldn't be kicking out all the profit to someone who has no equity in the property.

@Justin Brin

1. I would not rent my house short term. I live in dc area and could do it especially at inauguration etc but for us it’s not worth it in the sense of our house is our house - not someone else’s. Sometimes not about the $.

Now this is my opinion and for others it’s very different depending on the situation - I just wanted to share an alternative point of view

Regarding what has more wear and tear, I would say short term rentals have more wear and tear to them than long term tenants but also depends on the tenants.