All Forum Posts by: Matt Mertz

The price makes me wonder if STRs are allowed there.

Get customer references for the builder.

Call Gatlinburg Building and Planning Department to make sure it's zoned for STRs.

Is it in Gatlinburg city limits?  This matters for snow plowing (which was an issue just this week).  Gatlinburg plows the streets.

Quote from @Bien Nguyen:

@Matt Mertz - have you thought about using OwnerRez 's 3rd party vendor for damage protection policy?  I just started doing that and trying to figure out how to charge the guest since Airbnb doesn't recognize or have a line item to charge for that.  It's pretty reasonable and depending on the policy chosen, covers much more than a few hundred dollars for a security deposit.   

I can show you if you are interested, and will keep you posted on how it goes 😉 

Bien Nguyen 

Sweet Retreats Vacation Properties LLC

Bien, I just wrote out this long response to why we don't use it but then realized you're talking about damage protection, not travel insurance.  You taught me something new today!

I will be taking a closer look at it. 

We will still keep the security deposit because we think that's a great deterrent to bad behavior.

Please share your damage protection experience with us and how you implement it in your pricing.

@Bien Nguyen that is our exact tech stack.

I will mention that OwnerRez solved one of our earlier headaches - it allows real security deposits (even with Airbnb bookings).  A security deposit is peace of mind and we've only had to collect from it a few times (probably because people behave when there's a security deposit on the line.)  :)

OwnerRez also has built in rental agreements, e-sign and archiving.

We meant to replace TouchStay but it's so darn useful when we need to update the guidebook really fast.  It's worth the cost IMO.

I saw this Airbnb listing analysis recently: https://rankbreeze.com/airbnb-rankings-study/

According to this, the best properties (defined by their Airbnb search rankings) contained 30-60 pictures so I think you're fine on the picture count.  However I'd put a caption on each one.  Airbnb also allows you to group them by room so I'd do that as well so your listing looks more organized.

I was having trouble telling if you had pro pics or not.  If you took them yourself, then pretty good job.  I have some nitpicks like rug labels and power cords showing but nothing major.

Besides the listing improvement, have you consider listing it on VRBO as well?  There's a lot of PMS systems that make this pretty simple and may help fill in your calendar.

I think you need to consider 2 primary factors: cost of the property (higher interest rates) and more competition (lots of people jumped in but it depends on your market).

Those two together basically mean less revenue for you.  

I've seen some people talk about breaking even and being happy about it because they're counting on house appreciation and enjoy having a vacation home.  Personally I think this industry is too much of a hassle to settle for breaking even.  I'd look at LTRs in that case (if that's even possible anymore).

Having said that, we're very happy with our cabin but it was a custom build when construction costs weren't crazy.  We couldn't build the same thing today.

Thanks for sharing!

Just curious, do you ever get single couples (or smaller groups) that just want to stay at the dome?  Was wondering about your thought process of adding the geodome alongside an already very nice cabin.

Congrats Joel!  It's always good to feel your work vindicated.

One thing I'd caution you on is to not quit your W2 job(s) too quickly, even if you hit your goal.  Give it a little time and use the extra money for future investing or rainy days.

FF has been a disappointment to us. We have a SFH in Pflugerville TX (just north of Austin) and most of the leads we see are 1-2 bedroom folks (ours is listed 3bed at $3200/mo).

The leads we get from people that want a SFH never materialize. We assume it's from the massive competition in the market.

We listed our place on Airbnb for funsies and got bookings there.

My conclusion is that the "traveling nurse" market is better suited for 1-2 bedroom townhomes and condos. And in Austin, the SFH market has a ton of competition.

We're ok because our home is paid for which is why we tipped our toe in this market.  But as far as I'm concerned, the MTR market in north Austin is not worth it.

Quote from @John Carbone:

Anecdotal for sure, but all 8 of my listings currently qualify and have the “new badge” and I noticed the badge earlier in the week when I looked at my listings. I had a massive surge in bookings this week across all of my properties,not sure if that is why, but I’m not complaining. 

We have 2 properties listed.  One has the badge, the other does not.  There's been a noticeable increase in activity (bookings/inquiries) for the badged property since then.  Not huge: 1 week long booking for spring break and 3 inquiries, but it was pretty quiet before that.