All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

1.  Google Calendar to sync schedules (also sync Airbnb to VRBO and visa versa to avoid double bookings)

2.  Beyond Price during low season, manage myself during high season.  Had an interest conversation today with roomdots.com and will be testing their solution(s).

3.  @Jon Crosby has developed a keen way to automate messaging.  I haven't been able to implement, but it's a winner.  I know he will chime in....

4. Mint.com for accounting coupled with MinttoReport

5.  Excel, excel, excel

Best of luck,

Mike

@Ramsey Blankenship I think you are giving your brother and the friends good advice on creating clear understandings of how this partnership could work.  I have always been very hesitant to do business with friends, when things are going well - it's great, but when things are not so good, it can be challenging to say the least.  I would create a written agreement between them all so when a disagreement occurs they can refer back to the document.  Although I am opposed to hiring property management companies, I would really consider it in this case.  Another option is if they choose to self manage, I would create a various "positions" where one person might be responsible for managing the schedule, guests, cleanings, etc... to avoid confusion and conflict bookings; another may be responsible for maintenance; another responsible for financial tracking, etc....  These are big responsibilities and time consuming, so they may consider a weighted compensation from the rentals for compensation of these positions.  Honestly, it makes me uneasy trying to formulate all that might be required.

@Craig Teeter  Like @Monica Painton I use Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway exclusively.  I tried booking.com but their technology isn't up to snuff just yet and I have found their users shopping for a deal.  As @James Carlson mentioned, I do have my own site up and running but never completed an actual booking this way. It does however lend great credibility to what we are all doing and has allowed me to take guests direct after their first stay (I believe I "own" the guest relationship once they have stayed at my home).  I have north of 60% occupancy and a much stronger cap rate than I could expect from long term rentals.  But it does come with some heavy lifting work, so don't get sucked into the "just list your home and we'll do the rest" stories of the big platforms.  @Jen Faulkner - brilliant idea, and I'm no different with my contact list.  Need to find someone to outsource an email / blog campaign to.  As @Matt K. stated, Airdna.co is a useful tool, make sure to check it out.

Best of luck,

Mike

@Brett Shoemaker I am a huge fan of @Jon Crosby's, he knows his stuff and has sound advice; and @Avery Carl is a popular contributor with great posts like the one above.  I agree with Jon, it's helpful to be within a few hours of home, but that could be via airplane.  I am able to manage (3) properties (about to be more) remotely - a 2 hour flight away, very successfully.  Yes, year one is like drinking from a fire hose but you'll learn it quickly and there are a LOT of resources at your disposal.  One that I really believe in is Airdna.co (not .com).  They just released a new tool called market minder which is a very cool dashboard once you have your property up and running.  You'll want to just start with a tool called investment explorer.  You're advantage is their demo data is Nashville, which according to them is a very hot area for Airbnb.  While their data is not 100% accurate (my research has been about 90% in comparison against my actual data) it will shave hours, even days off of your hunt for "where to invest".  I don't know of any great tools for the other platforms like HomeAway.  Best of luck and I'm available anytime of you want to ping me.  I do offer a couple of spreadsheets to BP fans, one is a Cash on Cash calculator, the other is a tracking sheet I created for my VR's.  Just send me a private message and I'll reply with copies of them.

Cheers,

Mike

@Nana Nyarko Can you send me a private message.  Can send attachments on the BP dashboard.

Thanks,

Mike

I would check out @Jon Crosby's suggestion and automated messaging he just posted a few days ago.  If you're techy or know someone that can help you set this up it's a really great idea and solution.  I'm not sure this link will come across via BP, but just search for free-mail-automation-hack.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/47...

Mike

Hi Brian,

I would initially recommend looking at tools like airdna.co (not .com).  They capture data from Airbnb and provide it to investors like yourself.  You could also go to sites like airbnb and VRBO to view rental rates in the area.  Once you have identified if this makes sense, then pursue finding a management company if you do not want to manage it yourself.

Best of luck,

Mike

@Jon Crosby Brilliant stuff Jon, thanks so much for sharing!  Mike

I had a similar situation just recently. I ended up splitting the current rents with the seller. Neither of us were terribly happy about it, but it seemed to be a fair and equitable way to sort it out.

Mike

@John P. Thank you!