All Forum Posts by: Scott K.

First, just wanted to say congratulations you are now a real rental host! The first psycho renter is always the hardest... 

Jokes aside here is what I'd recommend. 

As a host you are going to encounter these people, if you can detect them a week before they stay, convince them to cancel or just figure out a way to refund them. It's never worth the stress or money. 

If it's too late and they've arrived, you have 2 choices. Either they will be high maintenance but decent folks, or they'll be scumbags. If they're just high maintenance, just do your best. You'll get a 3 star review or they simply won't leave a review at all if you can just be polite, talk to them on the phone, and politely explain that you don't have the ability to fix issues on site, but offer to send a handyman or cleaner etc. Offer them small reimbursements for problems that you can't fix at all. 

If they are scumbags, you'll realize it when they start preemptively complaining about things you can't control. Or they act entitled to things that you never promised. They may be trying to extort you. Once things go down this hole your only hope is to get them to text you that they want a reimbursement. Don't talk to them on the phone. Keep chatting and eventually they'll say the golden phrase, "if you don't reimburse me I'll leave you a bad review" at this point you can call up airbnb and send them screens hots and they'll block the renter from leaving a bad review of you. You must be persistent as they don't like to step in, but keep iterating this is extortion, it's illegal, and you've done everything you can to fix their problems. Ask for a supervisor if they refuse to guarantee they will block their review. I've had 2 guests try to do this and after about an hour with airbnb each time they relent and let you block their reviews. 

Good luck! 

This has been something that's been tough for me to figure out as well. Unless you use an app like getproperly, or igms, and pay a monthly subscription, gcal is your best bet. You just have to sync them up to each other, then try exporting one ical and sending it (vrbo worked the best for me) to your cleaner, and HOPE that the way they sync together, allows that 1 ical link to differentiate between all 3 bookings. (otherwise, if say, airbnb has a back to back, and vrbo grabs that data, it may 'mush' it together and claim its only 1 long booking, screwing up your cleaning schedule)

This is a simple math equation. Run the numbers and see which option would earn you more money in the next 5 years. No one here can tell you because they don't have your specifics. Spend an hour or two and figure it out. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can take the time! 

Location. Location. Location. Most people don't do their research before buying and end up wasting their money and quitting. Even people in the right location end up not putting enough effort and research into how to make a good listing, and making guests happy and sell their house. When I bought my 2nd STR, there were failed STRs on the market that were fantastic opportunities. I bought a place next door when I got outbid. My STR now has a 40% ROI. My place was the exact same floor plan, community, size. Just different street. It's like any other business. If you aren't willing to work hard on it, and you think you can just hire some management company and an interior designer and walk away, you shouldn't be buying into this business.

I had a 6 bedroom that slept 16+ (maximum airbnb allows) for a year. Then the township demanded I go down to 14 people because my septic wasn't big enough. I went down to 14 for the 2nd year. No change in bookings or income at all. Just less parties and less problems. 

It really depends. We can't predict what's going to be financially the best decision. Look at your market and do the math for every option, then choose the one that produces the highest return on investment. Any other way of making this decision is just bad business. 

You should be thinking in terms of ROI. Calculate how much total money will go into your investment, and how much you will get back per year, as a percentage of the initial investment. Choose whatever ROI is higher. This is how I choose what to do with my properties, whether it's flip, LTR, STR, or invest in some other asset or vehicle. Just a FYI I make $6k to $8k a month after expenses per house. But realistically it's not a competition, it's just what options are available to you, and which produces the highest returns.

Welcome to the new dawn of internet companies. No one has phone support anymore. Everything is overseas. I'd suggest smartbnb.io I had a very poor experience with igms support. 

Am I taking crazy pills? Call the damn HOA. Sheesh the lengths people will go to, to avoid picking up the phone...

Yes you do. You have to register with Monroe County and part of that involves proving you registered with etides. You also need to check your Township bylaws and get a permit.