All Forum Posts by: Ken Boone

Only consider a refund if it is a legit reason.  Otherwise they will take your money and still not be happy and still give you a 1 star review.  Also, if you ever give a refund, make it clear that you will not process the refund until after check out.  This way you can make sure they didn't trash your place or anything else.  If you give them the refund early, they just may find more problems (or create more problems).  I no longer give refunds just to prevent a bad review.  

So I use Guesty for Hosts and I will concur that their customer service is TERRIBLE.  No doubt without question.  However, I have been using Airbnb and VRBO through that system for several years now.

1)  Once integrated with AirBnb you cannot edit your listing on Airbnb website, you have to do it through Guesty with Hosts.  I have not had any problem doing that, updating pics, updating listing info, etc.. VRBO is not API connected like AirBNB is, so if you want to edit your listing on VRBO, you need to use VRBO.  We have never had a problem doing that.  you should not be prevented from doing that.

2) There is a delay on messaging sometimes, but generally its pretty good has been my experience

3) So since VRBO is not API connected like AirBnb, I do see issues every now and there with things syncing and yes it can be a hassle to get it fixed.  Normally our issues revolve around changing a price.  What I have learned to do to help things is that when you get a VRBO booking, go into Guesty for Hosts and hit sync reservations right away.  That seems to help.

4) VRBO handles our payments like they always have, using whoever they use to process it and they handle remitting our taxes just as AirBnb does.  

5) Impossible to speak to customer service on the phone.  I mean impossible.  I finally got to talk to a Guesty person by setting up a conf call as a new interested customer on the main Guesty platform, not Guesty for hosts.  When I got them on the call, I explained my tech support issue that has been going on for over a month, with no resolve and this was the only way I could talk to someone.  I still never got a call, but I did get a little more detail in my email responses from them after that.   This is where I say their support is TERRIBLE.

So bottom line for me is when it is working it works great - which is most of the time.. When there is a problem.. they suck and they suck bad.

My problem is that I spent an extensive amount of time researching other PMS packages while I was having major problems and I have additional automations built off of the system.  I didn't find anything that I liked better that would make it worth it for me to change my workflow.  Instead I learned how to deal with the issues that happen from time to time.

Ok I have 4 cabins in that market myself and know many owners in that market.  It’s gonna take a very special 1 bedroom cabin to make 76k.  I think that projection is too high for that cabin.   I could be dead wrong but I don’t see that happening. I don’t own any 1 bedrooms so that market is not my specialty so I would look for some feedback from someone who is managing cabins like @Collin Hays

So if I did my math right you are going to pay $911 per sq ft?   Wow.  Purchasing this depends like all other investments on how the numbers work out and what your plan for the property is.  Are you doing this for purely an investment?   If so are tiny homes a fad that is here today and gone tomorrow?  Or are you purchasing for your use and you want to rent it out when you are not using it?   So it depends.  From a purely investment standpoint  I would like to see the numbers you ran. 

Quote from @Ed O.:

Are you folks really paying 2500-3000 for a cost seg study on a single family home? If so, I think that's ..... crazy. Why not do it yourself?

Because 1) I don’t have the time or energy to go figure out exactly what I need to do myself.  They produce a huge detailed report.  And 2) if I am audited they back me up. And 3) I’ll recoup enough money the first year to make it worth it for me.  To me it would be crazy to do it myself.  

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Well that I a good thing @Ken Boone. I was quoted 12k to do ours. Not sure why. 

So my cpa initially told me the company they use was going to be much higher like 8k or more but then when I talked with a friend of mine who is also a cpa he told me no no no that's not the right product and pointed me to Madison Specs. I think the the thing is is that most people doing cost seg are more familiar with the larger commercial market and not the SFH STRs and they point you in the direction of the companies that charge those amounts that typically do those larger properties. Think the cost seg has gotten more popular in the STR market and there are a lot of people that just don't have the expertise with it yet. That's just me guessing though based on my experience and the people I talked with. Madison Specs specializes in this Str market.

@Yatin G. Actually the prices are going up.  They were $2500 last year.  I think the demand has definitely gone up and that is why the price is moving up.   They do the whole deal without ever coming on site.   They use pics, surveys, floorpans etc.. 

@Michael Baum From my understanding those numbers you posted is in more inline for commercial properties.   I am having a cost seg study done right now by Madison Spec that @Luke Carl Mentioned above.  The cost is 3k and they will back you up if you get audited.  My CPA is also happy with them so far.  

Depending on where you are located in that market, you will most likely get the lion's share of business from VRBO.  All of my cabins in that market with the exception of the one I have in Wears Valley get 80% or more of the bookings from VRBO.  This seems to hold true for most of the owners I know in that market as well.

OK since this is new construction.  I will GUARANTEE you are going to have issues.  You really are going to need to stay there for a couple of weeks to flush everything out.  You need to test every outlet, be there when it rains, test every window, take baths, showers in every bathroom. Make sure hot water is where it is supposed to be, cold water the same.  If this is a well, good chance you might have bad water quality and will need water treatment.  Use all the appliances multiple times, check every inch of it out.  You are going to flush out a ton of stuff.. Been there many times, especially in that market, a lot of builders jumped on the bandwagon, they don't have good labor in that market, and there are high odds of a lot of punch list items that need to be done before you have guests in there.

Sure it's fully furnished, but I guarantee it will NOT be fully furnished.  There will be items you need to add to do things right and you won't know until you live there for a week or two.