All Forum Posts by: Kyle Parks

@Sandy Metivier

It seems the ship has sailed on good deals in good neighborhoods. Lots of out of state investors have driven the prices way up. I have a double in lakewood I bought for 110k just over 4 years ago. It would appraise at 240+ with no improvements.

The issue here is that as others have said the numbers don't make much sense. When I bought the average 2/1 rent was 750/mo. Now its around 1100ish. People have not gotten 20% raises to account for the rent hikes and I personally feel as if it is unsustainable. "Don't try to time the market" well I honestly do not see how prices can go any higher in lakewood.

With all that said- Lakewood is as gay and multicultural as you are going to get in the cleveland area. Our little city is very progressive and we are very small business oriented.

Airbnb Arbitrage is a very high risk low reward venture. Where did you hear about it?

 When you first go live an airbnb prompt comes up asking if you want to give a 20% discount. Its for the first 3 guests and gives you a search ranking boost. Being a new property also gives you a boost. 

having friends that make soap, kombutcha , beer , ect is a pretty awesome way to promote them and give your guests a cool experience. Id put beers and kombutcha in the fridge. If someone has a longer stay id consider giving them a bar of soap as a gift (having it in the bathroom will end with alot of waste) as I use liquid soap throughout the house. 

@Joe Splitrock

Joe,

We apply discounts on a case by case basis. Mostly for returning guests. We also switched away from moderate to strict. Got tired of the people who booked 3 months prior and all the sudden realized that there is a pandemic going on.

We still do 1 night stays but in ohio we get tons of drive through traffic- id imagine your market is very different.

We have our units set for 14 day max stay and are pretty firm on it (returning guests can stay longer). I am not in the mood or do I have the mental capacity to deal with any covid related eviction stuff. Also - the people who have wanted to book for lets say 2 months would end up with us leaving ALOT of money on the table.

We are fortunate to be 100% booked for the last year. January is the first month since we started were we are not 80% booked the month prior.

@James Wise

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cd4-UnU8lWY

@Matt Oberski

Also to more directly answer your original question

Always have more settings than possible guests. 6 table settings for 4 people. We have netflix, hulu, Disney plus, espn plus and HBO. Disney hulu and espn are currently bundled for like 8 bucks a month.

- q tips

- makeup remover pads

- womens hygiene products (pads tampons)

- Himalayan salt

- pepper grinder

- olive oil

- extra tp

- pack and play

- coffee from our local shop

- tea from our local shop

- beer from our local shop

- shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand soap and dish soap all from our local refill shop.

I'm sure there is stuff I missed. We are all about local. People are pretty pumped that we don't have FOLGERS and head and shoulders. Or that we throw our guests beers. When I'm done driving 4 hours or so I want to chill and drink a beer.

Anyways I'm done ranting if you have any questions ping me :)

@Matt Oberski

From my experiences -

1) Superhost

2) Ratings / Reviews

3) Amenities

4) distance from city center

5) price

When launching an airbnb i think of it like an airplane taking off. You need to hit the gas as hard and gain speed before you run out of runway. You do this by :

A) setting up the airbnb up front. I dont want to have to add stuff later. Exceeding guest expectations is the name of the game.

B) having a median rental price with the 20% discount for the first booking. (I don't try to make money at first - I try to get good reviews).

C) Have the best looking/ best photos of any listing in the area. Im lucky to be married to an iPhone genius. Her photos look straight out of home and garden.

Once you are in the air (to stay with the metaphor) and at a decent cruising altitude of 10-15 five star reviews- now you raise your rates a little and start to pay off the accrued debt from furnishing the place.

Many people dislike 1 night stays. I love them! More fast and easy reviews. The more reviews the more trustworthy your place is.

Get to cruising altitude. Get 5* reviews. Under promise. Over deliver. We have beers and bubble water waiting in the fridge for our guests. We put up a Christmas tree and decorations. Its your anniversary? Hand written note with a bottle of bubbly on ice waiting for you.

Other places have in their listing "bottle of wine waiting for you". Its tacky. Not the gifting of the bottle - but the fact that people are making a big deal of it.

Thats my 2 cents. I'm sure many disagree with how we do things but it works well in our market :)

I think bunk beds are "out" and tacky. Every time I see one in a competitors listing it cheapens the place, IMO. 

none of the high performers in my area have them

@Benjamin Vail

Just spoke to them. Thanks. You just changed my life.

 Perfect answer. If you are consistently booked you may need to raise your rates. Take a couple hours and do some research on your area and how many places accommodate groups of 8+