All Forum Posts by: Marek Ma
Marek Ma has started 0 posts and replied 3 times.
Post: AirBnB / Short Term Rental Property Management
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- Votes 3
Quote from @Sandra Andrews:
Quote from @Marek Ma:
This is a really old post, but just in case anyone searches and finds it. We hired Host-Aid to manage our property in Pittsburgh in Nov 2021, and are firing them this week. Gave it a shot, but they're a small start-up that hasn't quite figured out how to do this well. Too-small team for what they manage (I assume... or they're busy with other stuff, hard to tell), terrible communications with us as clients, and communications to guests were often grammatically incorrect, sloppy, and failed to use the guest's correct names or truly read what was being asked. We tried to note that we needed more communications from them, but response emails to us were always very defensive in tone. I wouldn't recommend given other options out there (there are other options that we found in Pittsburgh - Facebook page is a great place to locate them).
@Marek Ma Curious as to whether you ended up finding a STR property manager that you liked in Pittsburgh. I'm looking for one myself.
We decided to just manage ourselves remotely. Hired a cleaning company, found 3 good handymen/contractors and an HVAC guy, and just do it ourselves for our two properties. It's been working well and saved us a ton for very little effort...
Post: How Much Does It Truly Cost to Furnish a New Airbnb
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- Votes 3
Wow, where are you shopping on Wayfair? I can't fathom doing it for that little. Couches for under $1k all have reviews that they sag in no time, have frames that break, etc.
We did a house in late 2021 that cost us about $25k in total (3bed/2bath), and are doing a house now that will be substantially more. Just to replace a worn out kitchen counter is running minimum $6k (for laminate!!) or $10k for lower quality quartz. We DIY all we can - paint the cabinets instead of replacing, even paint floor tile to spruce up bathrooms, etc. But labor right now for the things we can't do - yikes!
Our goal is to make up all start-up costs by 1 year. We'll hit it for that $25k price tag on house #1 (in 11 months, at current trajectory). That one was a happy accident, but now I use that on purpose - my start-up budget needs to be what I expect to pull in during year 1 (after utilities/taxes/upkeep/etc). That way, the quality of things match the estimated amount I think we'll charge for the site.
Post: AirBnB / Short Term Rental Property Management
- Posts 3
- Votes 3
This is a really old post, but just in case anyone searches and finds it. We hired Host-Aid to manage our property in Pittsburgh in Nov 2021, and are firing them this week. Gave it a shot, but they're a small start-up that hasn't quite figured out how to do this well. Too-small team for what they manage (I assume... or they're busy with other stuff, hard to tell), terrible communications with us as clients, and communications to guests were often grammatically incorrect, sloppy, and failed to use the guest's correct names or truly read what was being asked. We tried to note that we needed more communications from them, but response emails to us were always very defensive in tone. I wouldn't recommend given other options out there (there are other options that we found in Pittsburgh - Facebook page is a great place to locate them).