How to find good people for rehab + air bnb management

[Tina Willis]

[Cory J Thornton]

Hey @Tina Willis - I don't currently invest in STRs. If I was going to jump into the space, I would identify the top 10 (in terms of booking and rating) properties in my market, pull the tax web site info to get at owner information, then try to find a way to build a bridge to some of those owners. They may be able to help you connect the dots. You may also be able to stalk the social media of the top properties in your area, scroll to their first posts, and see if they did any shout outs to the team that helped them bring the property to market. 

Best of luck! 

[Scott E.]

For a rehab, you should ask a few real estate agents. Most good real estate agents will be able to connect you with a reputable general contractor.

For property management, just google "short term rental property management near me" and call the ones with the best reviews. Ask them about occupancy rates, average nightly rate, high season, low season, what they think about the location of your property, how many properties they manage, their average property rating, etc.

[Tina Willis]

Quote from @Scott E.:

For a rehab, you should ask a few real estate agents. Most good real estate agents will be able to connect you with a reputable general contractor.

For property management, just google "short term rental property management near me" and call the ones with the best reviews. Ask them about occupancy rates, average nightly rate, high season, low season, what they think about the location of your property, how many properties they manage, their average property rating, etc.

Thank you so much.

We were actually looking for subs.. My husband is an AC contractor and very skilled in basically all trades. He's just too busy.

Thanks for the info on the air bnb questions.

We are also considering sticking with long term leases. But switching to having property management, rather than my husband, doing that work. We've just heard such bad things about most property management companies. Then again, dealing with the properties isn't really what we'd like to be doing.

[Drew Sygit]

@Tina Willis

Even if someone give you a referral, what meets their expectations, may not meet yours.

In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.

It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator – and they often select the first PMC they call!

So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.

EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean? What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.? You’d be shocked by how little actual screening many PMC’s do!

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

We have a 14-page management contract that we've added our real experiences to over the years, with the intent of protecting both us AND the landlord. Beyond the Monthly Management, Placement & Maintenance fees, all other fees in our contract are IF EVENT -> THEN fees.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processes

We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

P.S. If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general. Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊

Please send us any feedback via email, as we do not use the DM feature here.

[Drew Sygit]

@Tina Willis Finding Contractors

Suggestions:

1) Check internet and Facebook for local investor groups. Join, "earn your stripes" and then ask for handyman references.

2) Camp out at local Home Depot at 6-8am both mornings to solicit hard working, 1-3 man contractors there at that time. Especially Saturday mornings!

3) Drive around the neighborhoods your properties are in and look for contractors working on houses. Ignore those with fancy vehicles as they will charge you to pay for those vehicles! Make nice with them to get their phone/email. Don't bother giving them your card, they're too busy to contact you. Most won't have their own cards. While talking nose around and ask questions about what kind of work they do, but more importantly ask what they DON'T do.

4) You can also try to hire a low to middle demographic starving newer agent to be your rental agent AND handyman. Many of these types didn't go to college, but worked with their hands in previous occupations and know other people that work with their hands. With the sales market slowing, there will be a bunch of these.

[Eliott Elias]

Trial and error, what makes someone qualified to be good? You can either pay top dollar and have piece of mind your business is being ran smoothly or go cheap and be a grownup babysitter. 

[January Johnson]

Quote from @Tina Willis:

I tell my STR buyers to join nextdoor.com. I call it "Facebook for nosy neighbors", but it's local people recommending local people (plus some nosy neighbor business, ha ha). There are already recommendations there for all kinds of contractors, but you can also ask for some. Highly recommend for this purpose!