All Forum Posts by: Luke Carl

Simone Koga excellent question! In our first one we waited until we were closed, only because we were scared not to. In our case it got booked so quickly we rented it before it was even cleaned because people were begging us. I explained to a guest that the floors hadn’t been cleaned yet and he didn’t care. I spoke to him on the phone and clarified that we would be expecting an awesome review because we told him ahead of time the floors hadn’t been moped. Now... we wait until the appraisal comes back. At that point we’re pretty confident it’s going to close. Again, in our market, Pigeon Forge Gatlinburg, things book fast and often. Unless of course you have a clunker that’s never been stained and has 20” TVs that weigh 400lbs. Easy fixed they many new (or old) owners don’t fix. To answer your question.... it’s up to you. If it doesn’t close you’ll just have to spend some time explaining your problem to customer service and inconvenience your guests. Some of which won’t care at all and some of which will send you hate mail such as.... “I’m a pilot for American Airlines and I’m going to post your cabins listing on the American Airlines employee Facebook group and tell everyone what a piece of junk your property is. Good luck ever getting another guest. Have fun cleaning up your stinky sewer” Yes. That was an actual message we received after having to cancel 3 guests due to a broken pipe. 2 of which couldn’t care less. Keep in mind this happened in February so there were probably 8000 other properties to pick from. I don’t want that kid flying my plane! The most important thing to consider is the the second you get your first message from a prospective guest all of your stress and anxiety will melt away. And it will very shortly turn into a different type of stress.

Wendy Schultz am I to assume you’re with @nick shuber I hate to also assume you’re looking for other people’s cash to buy a 9 bedroom house when you don’t even know how to find a cleaning person yet. Please tell me that’s not the case. Get your feet wet and prove yourself first. Learn how to buy bath towels and fill out a monthly spreadsheet. I’m assuming you’ll tell me otherwise.

Nick Shuber The chances of you finding someone in your market on this forum are slim. We get this exact question with “insert town name here” a couple times per week. Unfortunately for us most folks don’t hang out on this forum long enough to know that. My suggestion is always the same. Go on AirBnB and send 100 hosts the same email “hello we love the area and are buying a vacation home here which we plan to rent out when we’re not here. We’re nervous and see that you’re a pro we were hoping you’d share a bit of your knowledge with us” You can’t just flat out ask for their housekeepers phone number they won’t write back. You’ve got to make friends first. If you’re lucky you’ll get 3 replies out of the 100. Also check if there’s a local Facebook group and a Next Door for the area and get in on those. I should back track by asking if you’ve found out if the area is short term rental friendly or if they’re running folks off. And if it’s a condo don’t forget to ask if they allow self management. In this business you’ve got to self manage to make money. Once you’ve got everything sorted out and you’re a couple of weeks away from closing.... give me a call for one hour I’ll teach you how to manage it from a distance. No strings attached. I just like to pay it forward. Good luck!

Hello! Google “Orlando AirBnB” and hit the News button. If it says a bunch of stuff like “Orlando cracks down on AirBnB” don’t do it. If they have a sales tax payment system in place you’ll be good. Once you decide whether you’ll go through with it or not you get on the phone with me for one hour and I teach you how to manage. Sounds crazy but I have this phone call with total strangers about one per week. A stranger did it for me when I started so I love to give back. We get this exact question in our little VR community about 3 times per week and it’s always the same answers. Of course we realize not many people live on this forum. And we also realize why! Lol. **awaits president Paul Sandhu clever reply**

For newbies out there that are hungry I would like to point out that I'm able to keep my cabins in the 300 days per year area by self managing, so not only do I save the PM fees, I also gross more. In @Chuck Kramer case this is a non issue it sounds like he's got dough coming in from all angles and doesn't need to bother with sending messages to guests. Which is the goal for many! 

As far as your offers, if you're not getting cabins you're not offering enough. They're often times going for more thank asking these days. @Avery Carl is closing 15 cabins this month. 

Also... The STR schedule E vs schedule C debate rolls on. Consult with a CPA of course, but I don't provide daily services such as breakfast or housekeeping, so as far as we're concerned it's passive. Again, **please read all IRS regulations and consult with a CPA.

Lots of good points @Chuck Kramer. I have 5 in the area and I self manage. I have 1 in Gatlinburg, 3 in Pigeon Forge, and 1 in Wears Valley. They all produce the same occupancy rate. Packed. 

Gatlinburg is my least favorite of the three. Gatlinburg cabins tend to be older and often times not well taken care of unless they’re in some fancy hoa with a pool which is not my style. 

You’re wrong about the septic. You can advertise it to sleep as many as you want regardless of the size of the septic. You can’t however sell a 4 bedroom with a 3 bedroom septic as a 4 bedroom. For sales purposes the amount of field line is king. 100ft per bedroom (might be 95 or 105) 

As far as renting.... if you have a 1 bedroom condo with 6 bunk beds you can advertise it as sleeping 6.  I could be wrong which would make you right but that would make no sense to me. There are thousands of 2 bedroom cabins with 1 bedroom septic being rented with a 6 person max. This is because there were no inspections when the majority of these cabins were built. They’d give out a one bedroom permit, builder built 3 bedrooms, county/city never came back out to inspect. Not until 2008 anyway. 

I’m surprised you bother with evolve with so much knowledge why let them take a cut for something you can do easily? I manage 5 remotely with a day job. And I’m an idiot. 

Also should point out the OP is over a year old so we’re beating a dead cabin. 

Avery Carl has sold several very large cabins in the smoky mountain areas of pigeon forge and Gatlinburg. She specializes in self managing clients. Although we do generally see that the giant ~1million cabins don’t end up being self managed. She sold one recently for 800k cash I think it was 7 bedroom? That owner was (not surprisingly) not interested in management. I can’t give you actual numbers because my cabins are all 1-2 bedroom. Tim Schroeder is closing on a 6 bedroom soon.

You don't want randoms running an "airbnb" in your property they'll be terrible at it. Anyone can sponsor a race car but not just anyone should get behind the wheel. 

@Gabrielle E. This question gets asked on this forum at least once per week. The OP generally doesn't like what we have to say here and they move on to whatever their next idea is. This question is generally asked by someone with a small amount of funds that can't get in to their next deal and they're eager to keep things moving so they ask themselves "how can I make money with no money in real estate?" 

I agree with @Paul Sandhu on this subject always. I'll also add that I don't think it's a good idea to "airbnb" in cities. 

Another idea is Brandon Turners No and Low Money Down! Great book!! 

We purchased our first vacation rental cabin in the smoky mountains (Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge) with the idea that we would use it and enjoy it quite often. It was so successful so quickly that we bought 5 more. Now we have the option of staying in any of them but often times when we come to the area it’s last minute and we’re all booked so we stay in a hotel. We’re out here right now staying in one that had a last minute cancelation. The renter didn’t even ask for their money back so I didn’t offer. (Strict cancelation policy but we’re flexible if someone asks). So we’re staying in our own house on someone else’s dime. There’s not much relaxing happening though. The second I walk in to one of them I make a list of all the things I want to fix or upgrade and spend the whole trip either hiking or at the hardware store. It works perfect for me though I don’t know how to relax. Running my 21st full marathon in 3 weeks. Good luck! Dive in!