All Forum Posts by: Matt Mertz

I started with Hospitable and moved to OwnerRez when we decided we needed a direct booking site.  We only have 1 property.

I can say both are great.  If you're keeping it lite with no direct booking site, I'd recommend Hospitable.  It's very easy to use, great UI and includes Schlage Encode password automation for free.

I was surprised at how easy it was to get a direct booking site up with OwnerRez.  They have website templates, payment processing integration, rental agreement templates/signing/archiving.  It handles Vrbo payments, so you get the guest payment at time of booking.  They support credit card security holds for Airbnb.

My criticism of OwnerRez is that the messaging center is pretty confusing (compared to Hospitable); there's no free door lock automation (you need to integrate with another vendor like RemoteLock); and the initial setup is more involved than Hospitable.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I like new construction.  You get the opportunity to build something that stands out from the competition which can be important in saturated markets.  I'm not sure if your area is as bad as the Smokies.

If you do want to build, I'd recommend getting a real estate agent.  They can be very helpful with looking at zoning, septic, easements and other questions that will pop up.

We paid cash for our land which covered the down payment for our construction loan.  Basically you work with a builder who can give you a cost estimate (including septic and well).  Then you take this number to a bank for that loan.  We added in another 15% as a buffer.  Btw, we ended up paying for some things out of pocket at the end of the project (landscaping and the driveway) because of cost overruns (we started right when lumber prices went through the roof).

After your agent, I believe the builder is critical.  Find a reputable and established one.  You want a local builder that has a good relationship with his subcontractors.  The builder may also have a relationship with a bank for construction loans.

We hired a great architect as well.  Wasn't cheap but we don't regret it one bit.  We love our floorplan.

Good luck!

We have one property, a big cabin (sleeps 16) with a $375 cleaning fee.  We give our cleaners a $50 bonus if the guest leaves a 5 star review (overall).  That's a 13% bonus and it's a nice round number that feels like a substantial bonus.

I don't have any historical data since we've had the same cleaners and we've only been live since December 2021.  But I can say that they do an incredible job and have a sense of ownership in the house.

Every stay has been 5 star except for one 4 star (when we started).  Every Airbnb review is 5 stars.  For some reason we get a small minority of guests that don't review on VRBO (I suppose because those guests are older and less tech savvy).

Additionally we plan on giving them a big Christmas bonus this year because we appreciate the good work they do for us.  There's no math or incentives involved.  It's just gratitude.

As for your strategy, the first thing I thought was that I wouldn't be motivated by a $5 bonus.  But I don't know your market and pricing.  

I like 5 star review metric bonuses (after all, a clean house is the foundation of a 5 star stay) but it has to motivate your cleaners.  Increase the bonus or perhaps lump together 2-3 5 star stays into a larger bonus.  I don't know.  I'm just saying if I was a cleaner and I got a $5 bonus it would not impress me (and in fact may do the opposite).

I recommend listening to podcasts.  It's an efficient way to passively learn while doing other things.  It helps because there's so much to learn.

Good luck on your journey!

Much respect @Collin Hays 

I was just going by your scenario if you never made a dime in cashflow then an STR would still be worth it. I don't think the market is there yet (and hope it never gets there).

I do find it suspect that I keep seeing homes priced at 10x the supposed annual gross income.  i.e. A cabin priced at 1mil that supposedly grosses 100k per year.  It's like everyone is basing their home prices based on the supposed gross revenue numbers from 2020-2021 record numbers.

What you're describing looks like an LTR. I believe the expectation for an average investor is that putting the effort and work into an STR should reward you with high cashflow + appreciation.

I started with an LTR and the renters paid off my mortgage and appreciation eventually turned it into a giant piggy bank.  Very minimal hands-on management involved.

I got into an STR in Gatlinburg with the LTR model as a baseline with massive cashflow on top of that. Very hands-on but luckily for us it's paying off with high cashflow. We built and furnished at $276/sq ft.

Today it seems prices are so high that you end up doing the work of managing an STR with an LTR return.

I believe you can check RemoteLock .com and use their service. They support a wide range of lock manufacturers.  It's around $6/mo/lock.

I was going to sign up for them but I discovered that Hospitable (my PMS) recently added Schlage Encode remote lock integration.

It can generate the code based on the guest's phone number; set a schedule of when it's active; and put the code in your guest check-in message.  It automatically does all this when we get a new booking over Airbnb or VRBO.

It works great and is included in the Hospitable's monthly fee.

In fact, I was contemplating moving over to OwnerRez to start working on a direct booking site but Hospitable works so good I'm kinda stuck.  Good problem to have I guess.

Another vote for Southpoint for my cabin in Gatlinburg.  The folks we dealt with were friendly and responsive.  Though full disclosure: I haven't had to make any claims yet.  

They were cheaper than my first, popular choice Proper.

We also got a personal umbrella policy to cover us since we don't have our properties in an LLC yet. We'd still have the umbrella regardless.

We went with PriceLabs because it's a flat fee per month.  I just checked and apparently Wheelhouse now also provides a flat fee model as well.

We're using Hospitable as our PMS.  It's a fine piece of software but not as full featured as I want.  I'm considering OwnerRez.  Luckily most of these have trial periods to test them out.

Thanks @Cole Britting.  We really think it's beautiful because it's our baby.  :)

I gotta say 2021 was a busy year with the construction, supply shortages, cost overruns, furnishing, handling all the logistics remotely.  Finding a cleaner.  Took us a month to get the driveway poured.  It was nuts... very stressful and busy.

Makes the day to day hosting seem simple in comparison.