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All Forum Posts by: Lisa Graesser

Lisa Graesser has started 3 posts and replied 295 times.

Post: Are Airbnb and VRBO host fees tax deductible?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334
Quote from @Michael Baum:

@Lisa Graesser, there is no occupancy tax where we are at. There is just a tax the county collects and both VRBO and AirBNB pay that direct. It isn't classified as an occupancy tax. I have to go look at how it is worded.

 Same here, Vrbo collects the state and county tax and they remit the tax. With direct bookings, I collect that tax and remit. The guest pays the tax,  not included as income. I think this is the same as an occupancy tax.

Post: Are Airbnb and VRBO host fees tax deductible?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334
Quote from @Michael Baum:

What @Ryan Moyer said. You can find the fees you paid in your tax statement.

Now, cleaning fees should be a pass through the guest pays so it is not deductible. We do get some deductions on that as we pay our cleaner $300 and we charge $250. Occupancy taxes and STR license fees are also deductible.

Basically anything you pay out of pocket to maintain and run the STR is deductible. Get a good CPA and they can sort it all out. There are a lot of deductions that are not obvious. I did a free Turbo Tax run through and our CPA had a much better return for us. Worth every penny.

Don't your guests pay the occupancy tax? I collect the tax from them and remit, so not included with income and not a write off.

Post: Direct booking web.

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334
Quote from @Leon Lee:
Quote from @Lisa Graesser:

In place of a website, you can list your rentals on Houfy.com. It is free to list and no booking fees.  They also have a website builder you can pay for.

I have used Houfy for a few years and each year I have more and more direct bookings. .many repeat guests, but I also promote using the direct site to anyone that contacts me with interest in renting.


 Lisa

Thank you for the info! One quick question: can you post smart pricing on your listings on the Houfy? I took a quick look and did not find a quick way to connect the smart pricing to the listing. Thought I might have missed something and it is the best to confirm. 

Thanks

Lee


 Hi Lee,

Pricelabs does synce with Houfy. For more information you can join the "Say yes to Houfy " Facebook group

Lisa 

Post: Direct booking web.

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334
Quote from @John Underwood:
Quote from @Lisa Graesser:

In place of a website, you can list your rentals on Houfy.com. It is free to list and no booking fees.  They also have a website builder you can pay for.

I have used Houfy for a few years and each year I have more and more direct bookings. .many repeat guests, but I also promote using the direct site to anyone that contacts me with interest in renting.

Are you using the free version?

I don't know of a paid version. I think you can pay to have your listing highlighted, but I have no need for that, so I haven't looked into it.

Post: Direct booking web.

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334

In place of a website, you can list your rentals on Houfy.com. It is free to list and no booking fees.  They also have a website builder you can pay for.

I have used Houfy for a few years and each year I have more and more direct bookings. .many repeat guests, but I also promote using the direct site to anyone that contacts me with interest in renting.

Post: How do you control or treat odors between STR guests for quick turnovers?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334

@Courtney Nguyen The cleaners cleaned all the linens, floors, carpets and still had that lingering dog smell, after they ran the ozone for an hour and then opened the window s for a little while, the smell was eliminated .

Post: How do you control or treat odors between STR guests for quick turnovers?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334

I have an ozone machine at each house for the cleaner to use if needed. Our homes are "Non-smoking" but I have had a couple of guests depart with the house smelling of smoke. We do allow dogs and have had one guest that the cleaners said the house smelled of wet dog. The cleaners will run the ozone for about an hour after they have finished the cleaning and it eliminates the smell. You just have to air out the house for a little while after you run the ozone, to remove the chemical smell of the ozone machine.https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...

Post: Losing thousands - cancellations left and right due to Austin Energy

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334

I live in Buffalo, NY, and luckily I do not have my STR's here. (They are in Florida and we have to deal with hurricanes.) We had record storms that we were not prepared to handle even with our snow history. Unpredictable weather happens, and it seem this will happen more often. The current weather in Austin is rare. There is only enough manpower to fix everything in a short period of time. Things happen, there is nothing you can do except prepare for the next time and get a generator.

Post: STR slowing down/crash or ramping up?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334
Quote from @Mike Gordon:
Quote from @Lisa Graesser:

No decrease in bookings, I get inquiries daily for peak season Jan-March 2023 and 2024. I am booked through April with direct bookings in May, June and October. I think demand is determined by the popularity of the area where your rentals are located.

Hey, where are your STRs located?


 The Villages, Florida

Post: Smart lock with decent battery life?

Lisa GraesserPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • The Villages, FL
  • Posts 303
  • Votes 334

Try the lithium batteries before you change out the lock. Huge difference with use of the lithium batteries. I have the schlage encode and prior to changing to lithium, I would have to change batteries every 5-7 mo. I put lithium batteries in 2 houses in November and the battery is still showing 100% today.