All Forum Posts by: Ken Boone

Yep.. As much as I hate quoting CNBC.   Major chlorine tablet maker's plant burned down at the end of last year.  Out pool cleaner warned us about it in the fall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/3...

If you are buying in the Smoky Mountains you will most likely be buying an established STR or a new construction STR so if there is an HOA it won't be a problem. Don't have any knowledge about Lake Norman though.

Yea my cleaner said she is seeing a rash of this.  A few weeks ago we had someone stay in a 2 bedroom pool cabin we have.  Airbnb said 6 guests - this place sleeps 6.  We also have everyone sign an online rental agreement in which they list the names of all parties that will be staying.  They listed 5 there.  It was a 2 night booking.  2 adults and 8 kids showed up.  I considered dealing with it right then, but figured I would ride it out as most of the time things usually work out ok.  We warned my cleaners that there were 10 people in that cabin to prepare them.  Yep it was trashed.  It was the worst I have seen yet.  They didn't follow any of the check out rules.  Left the place a wreck.  It was actually disgusting.  Didn't even try to hide it.   The toilet in the pool room was left full and not flushed.  Then on top of all the garbage in the garbage can next to the toilet was one of our towels in which someone wiped their backside with it and left it sit there.  Food was everywhere, pots and pans just coated with burnt stuff.. My cleaners pulled out 13 bags of garbage as the guest didn't take it out themselves or even bother collecting it.  The hot tub looked like someone had diarrhea in it.  It was awful.

My cleaner said she is seeing this a lot more.  Folks that all of the sudden became stimulus rich and decided to spend it on vacation but these people don't know how to act.  Fortunately this doesn't happen too often.

So basically.. coming from YourPorter.. nothing will change - same bad customer service...;) 

@Hans Baldau Greenville is exploding and they expect the population to go through the roof in the next 10 years.  The problem here is like most other places right now, the cost of real estate has gone up so much, it's harder and harder to find properties and it is a sellers market for sure.

@Hans Baldau Congrats on your first investment.  Most folks think about it, analyze it forever and never pull the trigger.  Each one is a learning experience to help you with the next.  Wish you the best of luck with your new property.  Tons of stuff on this forum that will help you along.

I have been using a Vera Plus Z-wave controller to control my door locks which are Kwikset 910 and 914 models.  It works fine but I wanted to automate it completely.  I recently learned about the RBOYS app which will automatically program the door locks from my channel manager calendar but it requires a smartthings hub.  So I too learned about the whole issue with Aeotec taking over the production of the hub and the v3 version was just finally released a few weeks ago in the US.  I had a pre-order in for about a month and just got them recently.  I just installed two of the smartthings hubs in two of my cabins, and going to install in the 3rd one today.  Basically replaced the Vera Plus hub, and swapped it out with the Aeotec Smartthings hub.  Then installed the Rboys Rental Lock Automator software and so far everything seems to be working fine.  It is too early to say for sure yet, but time will tell.  I guess what I am saying is I wouldn't be too concerned with Aeotec taking over the smartthings hub.  They have been producing z-wave stuff for quite awhile.

The Rboys software is basically a SmartApp that you purchase that will get installed and I basically export the iCal from YourPorter to it.  On the date of the guest arrival it will go out and program the lock to the last 4 of their phone number at the time I specify and will remove the code on the day of check out at the time I specify.  It also lets me set permanent codes for my cleaners and such.   Since you can tie it to your channel manager it basically works with AirBnb and VRBO and number of other channels as well.

@Michael Baum  Thanks again Michael - was able to refresh everything with the stop at Costco tonight!

The fact is that more and more new people are moving to AirBnb and VRBO so it is actually not uncommon at all.

Justin - you just got to deal with it man.  You can put one or two large bait stations outside against the foundation of your cabin.  Set traps during vacancy - if you have any.  That has been my problem.  I'm booked pretty constant.  We have set traps in places that won't get a kid.  i.e. under the stove, under kitchen sink, behind refrigerator etc.  Have your cleaner check them regularly.  You have to deal with it cause at some point your guest is gonna see mouse droppings and depending on where they are from they might freak out or they might realize that they are in a wooded outdoorsy environment and mice just happen every now and then.  If you have mice you might end up with a dead mouse smelling in the house anyway.  Smell should go away in a few days - which it stinks for guest (literally) - but you definitely have to do something.  Long term solution for us is to leave a large bait station outside and clear back some of the brush closer to the cabin.  Short term, you gotta set some traps and get them out of there.  A good pest control team can help you as well and do some periodic checks for you too.  Oh yea if you are in a bear area, they tend to take the bait stations if it is not staked down some how.