All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

Hi @Erik Kuhi,

I'm from Jersey as well, and remotely manage 2 properties.  One is 7 hours north, and one is 7 hours south.

It is absolutely possible to self-manage the properties.  As some of the folks have said, it requires having a good cleaner, a good handyman, and as much automation as possible.

Mike

We are in two vacation destinations, and outside of the initial lockdown periods, it's been busier than ever.

Mike

@Nolan Yamada

We use Proper insurance. It’s geared toward short-term rentals.

Mike

We do allow instant booking and we ask every guest to give us the "secret phrase" that is located in our House Rules, and also eSign a rental agreement.

In the house rules it says"Please provide this phrase along with your request.  Your booking request, and even instant bookings, will not be considered finalized until we receive this phrase."  

In 80% of the cases, the guest does not provide the phrase and we ask them to provide it before we consider their booking finalized.

I have heard of some hosts collecting a security deposit from guests with no reviews, but have not tried that personally.

Mike

We have one property 7 hours north of us in the White Mountains, NH and one property 7 hours south of us in the Outer Banks.   The critical pieces are a good handyman, good cleaner, and automating as much as possible...and what you can't automate, turn it into an easily repeatable process and don't stray off your process.

Mike

Hi @Casey Dye,

What @Luke Carl said is spot on. You do NOT need to be local and you also do NOT need a PM. Here is a true story that happened to me to support this....the "toilet in the middle of the night" scenario you always hear about typically with LTRs, but in this case it is a STR.

I was on vacation with my wife on the West coast 2 years ago. We have a STR in the Outer Banks. At 4:00am I got a phone call (because on the East coast it was 7:00am). It was our guest and she said "I took a walk this morning and saw water pouring out from under the house." Our house is near the ocean, so it is elevated which is why she could see water coming out. Based on where she described it, I knew the hot water heater had blown. Here is exactly what I did:

1. I apologized for the issue, and offered to buy our guest dinner that night.

2. I went on my phone and looked up the plumber we had used previously.  If I didn't have that, I just would have used HomeAdvisor, Angie's List, or Google, or Facebook groups to find one.

3. I called the plumber and explained the situation and they agreed to come fix it asap.

I then went back to bed.  I received a phone call at about 6:30am (West Coast time) from the plumber letting me know the new water heater was installed and working.  Later that day I called the local restaurant, got a gift card, and then emailed the guest all the details of how to get it.

There was no PM involved in any of this.   All said and done it was about 30 minutes of my time, and a little anxiety for a few minutes.  You can absolutely manage STRs remotely without a PM.

Mike

I believe @John Underwood said it perfectly.  STRs are more work, but can be more money.  

If you add automation, documented/organized processes, and virtual assistants, you can help reduce the workload quite a bit.

Mike

It can work.  The other thing hack some people do is if they live in a high-demand area, vacation area, etc. and their situation allows for it, they will even rent out their place from time-to-time (so in your duplex you plan on living in) and then go stay at a hotel room a little farther away from town/vacation area once in awhile so they can rent out their primary too.

Hi @Ryan Asterita,

I own 2 short-term vacation rentals (one in NH and one in NC) and would be happy to answer any questions you have about short-term rentals, setting up your team, what to expect, and automating processes.

One other piece of advice that I recently learned the hard way myself and would like to share with you is to check the Facebook and Google reviews of the lender you decide to work with.  I recently had a very bad experience with a lender, and I foolishly made the mistake of only looking at their reviews on BBB (which were good), but didn't look at Facebook/Google which painted an entirely different story.  My suggestion is that always check those reviews before working with a lender, and if they have less than 4 stars, there is probably a reason for that, and to look for a better lender.

Mike