All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

Quote from @Henry T.:

OK smarty pants.. How do you protect yourself from a terrorist review taking your plane down? 

This is absolutely hilarious!

Quote from @Michael Baum:

So I am out of my depth when it comes to being a property manager. @Ryan Moyer or @collin H would be a good bet to ask.

From what I have read on BP and the net in general, a co-host is someone who answers calls, handles check ins, deals with guest problems, schedule cleaners etc.

A PM does all that, plus handles the cleaning directly along with property maintenance. 

We are co-hosts and handle everything property related expect for the items I listed above. We have a client that is literally on the other side of country, has a full-time job with no extra time for handling a STR property. This is why we charge 20%-25% it's the full service along with strong marketing!

Quote from @Jesse Turner:

@Sarah Kensinger it appears that Utah requires it except in cases where leases are less than 30 days (STRs).

So what could a PM do in Ohio that a co-host can't?

Hold security deposits, create the OTA listing, collect rents. The latter is a huge plus to clients, they get to keep their listing if we part ways!

Quote from @Michael Baum:

I hear ya @Sarah Kensinger, but a single data point from someone who had a bad experience doesn't mean they suck and are terrible. I know folks who have had terrible trouble with GoDaddy and just about every other hosting company out there.

Toyota and Honda are considered top notch for reliability but I can find posts and info from folks who had big problems. No one is saying they are unreliable overall.

I just keep looking for experiences with Bluehost and nearly all are positive. Just saying.

There is pros and cons for everything. We had done research before creating any website and yes Bluehost was a bit better then GoDaddy. But when all of this played out, we researched again and found that Bluehost had sold out, moved overseas and was an absolute headache for many people. That was finally our "it's time to move to a different hosting provider". There's even some on the forum that have spoken of similar troubles.

Rob Abasolo/Robuilt has done tiny homes for years. You could check into his social media, podcasts, etc. to see if he ever talks about how he does financing. 

Quote from @Jesse Turner:

@Luke Carl and @John Carbone, when you say "licensed", is that as an agent? That would look different state to state, right?

Pretty much all the states besides I think 5 states require a PM to have a realtor broker's license or a PM license. A co-host can't do certain things since we're not "full management" anyway and due to the state laws.

Some good thoughts are already here, so I'll just throw out one thing.... what could you be the most passionate for?

Quote from @Michael Baum:

I have no idea what you have against Bluehost @Sarah Kensinger. it is one of the largest hosting companies in the USA with very little downtime and good customer support.

It's Wordpress offerings are among the best there is.

I have been hosting a bunch of websites on Bluehost over the years with 99.8% uptime.

It is still rated one of the best Wordpress web hosting companies around.

Please provide some specifics, like major articles that covers the nightmares.

I don't need a major article to give specifics on nightmares, I lived through one!
Their rates have fallen dramatically over the last few months since they sold off to some overseas company and moved all customer service overseas. Very friendly customer service but they can't do a thing for you and place you on a call back list that never calls you back. I had to call customer service over 5 times, spending over an hour on the phone and then I only received emails to which I couldn't reply. 

So, after building an entire website out we lost the entire thing because Bluehost pulled our account, refunded our money, yet no one could explain why. We lost an entire month of live time fighting for our website, had to pay money to get our domain name back, then found out no you can't have your domain name, and we won't refund your money for that domain name. So, we moved over to GoDaddy and have had zero issues!! Went live in a matter of weeks and we've enjoyed an easy to manage website ever since! 

So, there would be the short version for a very long headache!

Welcome to the STR world!! I would highly suggest you "get in a room" with likeminded people that can give you value and help grow your STR circle. We utilized social media to learn and find people that add value, which led us to a mastermind that fits our business goals. STR host/investor meet-ups or conferences are a great way to meet more people and learn!

Best of luck!!

I don't know much about the Blue Ridge Mountains, but there are a couple STR host/investors from that area, that meet up once a month in Atlanta. Here is the next meet-up link.....The STRategic Investor. If you go to the next event, tell Kyle I sent you. :)