All Forum Posts by: Kevin Lefeuvre

@Farhan Abbasi check this previous discussion:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/53...

I'm using Wyzecam coupled with Google Photos for my properties. $25 each with no recurring costs. You can't beat the price and the ease of installation and the ease of use. Does what it says it does: HD quality videos and still images. Great night feature. Wifi connected. Adjustable sensitivity to motion. Motion detection zone also adjustable (not trigger when a car passes in the street). Extremely easy to install. App on iphone/android. Notifies when motion with a short video. Only 24 hours recording with memory card. So you need to extract what you need in 24 hours and store if the short video coverage is not enough (only limitation which has not been an issue so far). I use Google photos which offers unlimited free storage. Automated backup on the cloud thanks to Google Photo app. So the short motion clips get backed up on Google and stay for ever. No subscription to pay neither to Google nor to Wyzecam. The company is a startup with China/Bay Area affiliations, developing things fast.
 

No they won't let you rent even a sqft of your house on Airbnb or similar platforms. The city is very agressive on this. Call them and check for yourself.

Bubble? Hmm! LA is undervalued, just like the rest of SoCal. Look at the bay area and the SF fog and the cold beaches and where they are. The media and entertainment industry has a huge untapped potential, and people , especially millennials move easily, to better climate from anywhere so demand will grow faster in the future. Inventory will be short for ever. And salaries for millenials are catching those in the bay area.

I remember in 1997, I hesitated to buy in the bay area, everyone told me the prices are crazy, the growth will not last , bubble... etc... They gave all the "so called smart" stats with the ratio of the RE price vs. salaries, loan amounts, etc... But the equation is easier than all that. Supply vs. Demand and the size of inventory. Growth has been around 250%-300% since 97!!! despite 2 or 3 crisis in between and there is no change to expect in the long run (except short up and downs) because there is no end to the migrations to California in a foreseeable future. You get 5% less cash flow than elsewhere and 10-20% more appreciation... No brainer. The challenge is to get loans...

Selena I had similar issues making me to enforce ID requirement and  require a higher deposit (which is a total joke on airbnb, but that's a post for another day).
Here's how I do : I have instant booking on. As soon as I receive a booking, I have an email out saying this: "Thanks for choosing my property and booking through this site; To complete and confirm your reservation, I'll need your government photo ID and the first name/last name/age of all the guests." Then you have the full picture and may want to push them to cancel.

Great catch. I'm going to mention this to my airbnb rep...

Your comparison to the hotel is pertinent. First, guests have a higher risk of stolen ID in a hotel with potentially dozen employees having access to their copy of ID, while the host is usually an individual or a very small business. Second, guests are entering someone's house, in some cases in the same house where the host lives. And they don't want to show ID? Airbnb should enforce it and even share it with the hosts instead of being a pain in between.

My key take away here, as mentioned by @Julie McCoy, @Ethan Cooke, @William Leahy is that bringing up the "review" word in the communication in the right way is not bad. I had wanted to avoid that, and I have successfully kept my superstar/premier partner status until now without bringing it up, but maybe it gives a better guarantee and less 4 stars if mentioned. Will work on the articulation and possibly share later. Thank you all.

@William Leahy good one. Thanks

@Alan Grobmeier, @Diane G. you are right , this is not for you. 

Please keep it up, you are helping us doing even better by discouraging new hosts. Thank you ;-)

 Very interesting approach! Thanks Jenessa.

 ... sharing experiences and looking to see how others deal with the issue.