All Forum Posts by: Luke Carl

@Luka Milicevic I would think that just by taking over your own management you'd be looking at 10%++++ increase. 

To continue big johns topic of pets... we quickly learned that wasn't for us. We figured oh, no carpet, pets no big deal and we can charge more! Wrong. Once you're a pet house you're always a pet house and people that don't have pets will always complain about smells and hairs so you're essentially limiting yourself to pets only or opening yourself up to bad reviews. Plus the extra work to send them the resolution for the pet fee quickly gets old. And your housekeeper will hate you. 

Late check-outs are common on Airbnb and are expected for free. VRBO you won't get this often. Early check in is more common on both platforms. We've played around with check-in/out times and 11&4 works best for us but again we're in a different market. 

My guess is that after a month or so of self managing you'll get the hang of things and learn how to keep the asses in the seats which is the ultimate goal. We shoot for 85% year round and quite frankly I never even look at the calendars anymore I just assume they're jammed and they always are. 

But nice stuff like new pots pans couches HUGE TVs etc and the money will come. 

And watch Black Mirror "Nosedive" on Netflix. 

There is a difference between an “AirBnB” and a Vacation Rental. People have been renting out their homes on the beach to others since as long as the beach has existed. Centuries before AirBnB.

Travis Rasmussen our VRs are in Gatlinburg/pigeon forge. 13 million tourists per year. If you do a 15% down payment and do things right you can get 100% cash on cash return in the first year.

I use the AirBnB app and the vrbo app. This business is so review sensitive I’m not ready to relinquish power to someone else so we have stopped at 5 VRs and we’re focused once again on LTRs. If I were to scale to say 15-20 I’d look in to outsourcing and training an assistant. It’s easy work but I can already feel 4 start reviews coming in by just mentioning this lol 

Forgive me I assumed it was a PM like evolve. I use the AirBnB app and the Homeaway app and it takes a couple of minutes per day not sure I’d be interested in making it any easier than it already is. So.... again. I have no answers to your question and shouldn’t have replied in the first place

How in the world is it taking 30 minutes per booking? Mine take zero seconds per booking the bookings just come in and I send an automated thank you/instructions 

I manage 5 vacation rentals remotely using my cell phone and it takes about 5 minutes per day. And I have a day job. Unless you have 200 of them why risk someone else screwing up your business.

@Anna Domzalski This thread was better suited for the STR Vacation Rental forum. Your subject wording is blowing my brain up a bit.

You can’t finance a condo on the beach conventional so dig deeper in to that side of things. 

Tell your husband you need to start buying the duplexes and before you know it you can go on vacation anywhere anytime. I’m 37 and retired. 

Think of it this way.... staying in tour condo on the beach is not going to cost you a penny less than renting out your condo on the beach to someone else and staying in the one next door. Buying one for partial use is not a good idea if the goal is to make money. If the goal is fun, then for me personally I’d rather have fun in a different city or country every time. 

Also 6% of what? 6% Coc financed? If so you’ll never make it. My vacation rentals make 100% cash on cash annual with a 15% down payment. Let’s not forget you’re going to have to replace furniture, appliances and probably remodel. This thing will make you go broke. 

Congrats on making your first step by posting a thread! I would suggest reading more books and listening to the podcast and asking more questions! 

Do not give up. Make a goal to buy something that cash flows this year!  

If you do get in to the vacation rental business you must self manage or you will be lucky to break even like Chris. It's very easy. I manage 5 vacation rentals remotely it takes about 5 minutes per day on my phone.

Why not outsource your guest communication to India for peanuts. AirBnB makes it crazy easy with the co-host function. Just find someone that you can train that understands your business model. Have them contact you only when something weird happens like a tree falls on the roof.

Noah Weitzman Inner city AirBnB is risky. Make sure it’ll cash flow when you’re forced to put a long term tenant in there. Why not San Marcos it’s right in your back yard and gets a lot of traffic