All Forum Posts by: Peter Hagemann

We take pets in our rental units as well as our vacation rental units

For our long term rental units we charge a one time non refundable pet fee of $300 and have them also sign a Pet addendum for any damage .

For Vacation Rentals we charge a one time non refundable pet fee of $75 per pet up to 1 month stay longer than 1 month stay we add another $75 , we also limit pets to under 50 lbs and we do not allow cats in vacation rentals.

Hello Rebecca

When you use Google browser and type in a business into search engine or let's say you use search words like "Hotels in Manasota Key" our listing will come up because we registered with Google, and Google verified us as being a legit business . A Google map will usually come up showing all places in a area, or if you are more specific withe the business name just that business will show up on Google maps.

Our guest will also leave reviews on Google which will also help with you property showing up on search results.

And the best part it is FREE!

We do not use Security damage from the Likes of HOMEAWAY, TRIPADVISOR, FLIPKEY OR VRBO.

We are self insured meaning we charge a onetime nonrefundable Damage Waiver Fee for us $59 a stay. We do say in our agreement that any damage one $1500 will be charged to their credit card.

We find our guest prefer this rather than giving maybe  a $350 deposit to HOMEAWAY, TRIPADVISOR, FLIPKEY OR VRBO and then waiting a couple of weeks after their stay to see if they are going to get their deposit back.

Damage Waiver Fee is a nice revenue stream for us. Usually the only damage we get is a broken dish or Glass which is more a cost of doing business . Our clients are more high end market.

Another nice revenue stream is Pet Fees for us $75 per pet per stay.

House Keeping is also another nice revenue stream for us we charge $150 per stay cleaning fee, cleaner cost us between $85 to $100

We use MYVR

Website builder, booking and calendar sync between VRBO,HOMEAWAY,FLIPKEY,TRIPADVISOR and will also do AiBnB but we do not use AirBnB

Many of our neighbors here on Manasota Key do not do calendar sync and are always double booking. not good for reviews

Use them all the times, even for when friends rent our Vacation Rentals

Everything is spelled out black and white,

No... You told me this or you did not tell me that.

This way everyone is on the same page

At $500 a night you sound like you are a little more high end, with our 13 vacation rental units we are also going after the high end market.

I would a least compt them the first night. Yes the unit was usable, but they were also inconvenienced. No air for 1 night and I would imagine workers in and out the next day.

We worry more about our reviews, one bad review can scare off future customers.

Our Google business listing and reviews is sending us more customers than VRBO,HOMEAWAY, FLIPKEY and TripAdvisor combined. We don't use AirBnB

In Charlotte county here in Florida, We are on the Beach, Manasota Key where short term rentals are allowed.

We have to collect from the guest or renters a 12% for taxes, 7% for the state of Florida and 5% for Charlotte county resort tax

Guest or renters pay this we just collect and file withe State and County

Anything over 6 months rentals do not pay taxes.

We do get snowbirds for 6 months so we usually will write the lease up for 6 months plus 1 day

As having 13 Vacation rental units on the SouthWest Coast of Florida , walking distance to the beach, I will have to say we love it and it so far has been very profitable.

I have a couple of prerequisites when looking to purchase a property to use as a vacation rental property .

One, is the area acceptable for vacation rental properties ? Zoning or local government allows 

Two, if the vacation rental market were to dry up, could you pay the mortgage and bills with a long term rental/example, here on the beach during season (winter) 1 bedroom units are bring in $3500 a month, 2 bedroom units upwards of $4500 a month so lets just say you have a 2 bedroom house that has a mortgage of say $1800 a month, you can do very well as a vacation rental. But as a long term rental unit the local rental economy can only handle rents in the neighborhood of $1000 to $1200 a month. No high paying jobs close to the beach, not like Orlando.

This is the main reason I stick to Multi family units, my 13 units are divided into 2 Quadraplexes, and 1 Five Plex which greatly brings down the price of each unit and my mortgages could be covered with long term renters in the $1000 to $1200 range if need be.

Have accumulated 4 properties, 1. Primary home 2. Duplex/Luxury Town Home properties 3 and 4 are Quadplex and Triplex used as vacation Rentals 

Primary Home has a equity line

Duplex/Luxury Town home has equity line

Quadplex and Triplex no lines of credit but have combined equity of $700,000 recent appraisals done on both properties

 Bank said unable for lines of credit on investment properties

Debt to income is high because all properties are residential 

Excellent Rental income

Excellent Credit.

Excellent High paying job

1.5 million in retirement accounts 401k can not touch or move to a self directed IRA because only 58 years old

Have found a commercial property a 5 plex for about $600,000

Trying to figure how to get funding to buy this new project

Looking for suggestions.

Thanks

Pete