All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

The good of it, was free reign for STR's. The bad, was that the few are now ruining it for the many. City's are beginning to crack down heavily on STR's and Scottsdale is already enacting new ordinances, limiting the number of guests you can host and fines starting at $1200 increasing to $2500 should the police visit due to a complaint. I've reached out to neighbors and they have my contact information. What would you do? Take the chance and allow larger #'s to continue to book, or limit your earnings by reducing the # allowed?

For those of you Scottsdale - be careful, I doubt this is going to be a threat, there's just a lot of community pressure.

Thanks for the input!

Mike

P.S.  Hi All, long time no post, sorry! I've taken on another gig and I've had little time to post, let alone review and respond. 

@John Underwood I'm with you John, more and more moving to HA and away for ABB.  @Michael O'Brien I have Nest Cam's with their subscription, one in the backyard at each house. I have pools so I'm concerned about liability and can review the footage up to 5-days should I need to, though rarely do unless the camera alerts me that it is either off-line, or in one case covered with a towel.  Just make sure to clearly advise the guests that it exists and the purpose of the camera. 

Be aware that even though Airbnb may find in your favor, the guest can dispute it and request a refund.  In my opinion, that's absolutely absurd!

@Paul Sandhu the most my guests ever leave behind are clothes and things that cannot be mentioned.  Yes, I agree, claims are part of the business, but it's too frequent and in my opinion ABB is protecting the guest with their policies, not the host.

Recently I've been experiencing an increase in damage to my properties from guests.  I list my properties on both Airbnb and HomeAway and when there is a claim to be filed Airbnb has become ever more scrutinizing than previously so.  Makes me wonder if they have been receiving false claims from hosts.  Just recently I filed a claim for $174 and it felt like I was responding to the IRS when I had to involve Airbnb.  We must have gone back and forth three times on email to settle the claim, and now the guest is asking for the money back!  What?  I thought once Airbnb settled the request there wouldn't be any additional "noise"?  I had to explain again what transpired.  I have photos of the damage and video of this guest abusing my property.  Seems straight forward to me.  I must say, that while HomeAway is costing me a bit more in hosting fees, I don't have the aggravation that Airbnb is creating for hosts.  Anyone else feeling this pain?

In a recent study by Airdna, it ranked AZ as the #1 state for STR's. I have multiple properties in the area and are now slowly divesting from my smaller condos as the market is saturated, and the HOA's are troublesome. If you can, swim upstream to larger, luxury homes. There is less competition, higher ADR's and honestly less aggravation from guests.

I sorted out a way to use MINT.COM for bookkeeping by adding a product called minttoreport.  If you create categories and tags in Mint, you can then import details into minttoreport and generate financials with their template reports.  Super simple and FREE if you deal with Mint's ads.  I also use turnoverbnb for my cleaning crew.  I'm not sure of ALL the channels they sync with but I use it for ABB and VRBO and provides an app for my cleaners so they can follow their own schedule.  I sorted out a "hack" for this tool as well, enter the # of towel sets you want to leave each guest in the notes section.  Saves my cleaners time and saves me $.  Oh, did I mention this tool is free as well unless you use their recommended cleaners?  

Hi Mark,

This is the first time I am using them and so far, so good.  

Mike

HOA's are bad for the STR business and I'm jettisoning a unit of mine this spring because of this same "noise". Once this noise starts, it's like a rolling snowball in HOA communities. That said, I would work all avenues with a 30 day rental policy. It doesn't hurt to keep them listing on ABB and VRBO as well as the traveling nurse type websites.

 Hi Nick,

Can you share your URL?  Would like to check out a live site.

Thanks,

Mike

Indeed @Jon Crosby, HouseCanary's concept is right in-line with this dev path.  After 6 months with VRBO/HA MarketMaker, my personal experience has been "mixed" and I find myself ignoring their recommended pricing, only to get booked anyway.  I know you've been a big fan @John Underwood, still hold true for you?