All Forum Posts by: Karen Chenaille

@Andrea Cole I like how your response is worded. Hope you don’t mind if I steal it. :-)

@Jay Hinrichs. When a guest cancels they don’t get to review the host.

@Stewart Campbell. The setup cost and annual registration fees of an LLC will eat into your profits and are overkill for just a single rental. Another way to protect yourself is to get a STR policy as @Luke Carl suggests but you could increase the general liability on it. Call proper insurance and CBiz for quotes. Their exclusions are different. Be sure to specifically ask what they don’t cover.  I have found Proper to cost a bit more but they don’t exclude as much as CBiz. 

@Tehane Gallimore I have properties scattered atrium the eastern half of the country. All driving destinations. No cancellations. In fact we have had an uptick this past weekend. 

@Ramzi Nuseibeh I know for a fact proper does mixed use. Give them a jingle. Everyone else is correct..manage that baby on your own. 

@Tehane Gallimore. I am huge on automation and pulling myself out of the equation. I do this with boatload of automation and a virtual assistant. This also allows me to scale. Who knows? If you get the automation down pat, you may feel like you could take on more. It sounds like you are in a great area for STR. With the automation I can work a full time job and take on plenty of extracurricular pursuits

If you only have one property a lot of PMS let you use their platform for free. You are making great returns. You may want to try automation first before selling it. There are lots of tools mentioned in the STR forums. I use SmartBnB OwnerRez and a couple of automated pricing tools.

If the guests are taking up a lot of your time you may want to figure out what parts of the check in or stay they are reaching out to you more frequently on. You may just need to improve your instructions or in-unit information. STR's are a hospitality business but that does not mean you are expected to be a slave to your guests.

Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about automation. 

@Raif Harris you don’t need to be close to an area to invest. Read the book Long Distance Real Estate investing by @ David Green. It teaches you How to build Remote teams. 

The STR regs around ski mountains are very relaxed. STR has been going on in these places long before Air BnB and HomeAway were a "thing". There is a Vermont STR Facebook group that I follow to keep an eye on where Vermont is headed with STR. At present you just need a meals and room tax license. I am not aware of any other requirements beyond that.

@Lucas Carl you need to convince my husband of that! :-)

A reputable cleaner will ensure your unit gets cleaned hell or high water. As a long distance investor you should be asking that question during the vetting process. Cleaning and property maintenance are big business in the smokies. If you can’t find a cleaner who has your back keep looking. 

Hi Mike

The best way to find a reliable cleaner is to go stay in a few competing Air BnB’s. This is a bit more time consuming but it allows you to find out about the area as well and make solid recommendations to your guests. 

I have had good luck with local Facebook job ads too but I had to do a bunch of screening calling references.