AIRBNB

[Ryan McCann]

Calling all investors who have had success using Airbnb on their properties!! What are the best tips that you can provide? What are the biggest pitfalls and things to avoid? Do you have any checklist or Airbnb hacks to share? Thank you kindly !!!

[Blair Russell]

To be honest most of it is learning on the fly as each property, tenant, and location is different. My randomly assorted list of tips to avoid stress and headaches: 

1. Compliance - Check and keep up with all regulations, rules, taxes, insurances, everything! You do not want to get a nasty surprise.

2. Let go - Stuff will break and go wrong, remember it is vacation and not life or death (normally). Fix it and move on,

3. Deep Breath - Always good advice. Slow down and take a deep breath before making decisions especially where money is concerned you can sometimes be blinded and make bad choices. 

4. Technology - Leverage all the available technologies you can. It will make your life so much easier fi you have control. Locks, thermostats, lights, cameras, home automation, supply delivery,  anything you can think of that will allow you to monitor your house and keep records of activity. 

5. People - Pick a good handyman and housekeeper, I would go with an individual rather than a company because you really do need specialty service. I look for people who seem settled and want part time work and are available most of the day (maybe someone who does a night shift). They need to have as much pride in the reviews as you do. Pay them well. They will be cheaper than a management company in the long run and you want them to be loyal. 

6.Don't buy cheap stuff! Reasonably priced good quality stuff, or good deals on nice (but not that nice) things are the way to go. Cheap stuff always breaks and looks crappy. I'm anti IKEA but some people are all about it. Have a really nice and memorable feature for guests to distract them from other things (huge tv, fire pit, hot tub, PS4) 

7. Before you ever rent it stay in your house for a week and find out what is wrong with it. Do bugs start appearing at night, is there super loud noise in the mornings every tuesday? address it, acknowledge it and/or fix it.

That's all I can think of now.