Avantstay pros cons for an owner? Short Term Rental
Investor · Northern Colorado, CO · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 0 votes
I was approached by Avantstay and wondered if anyone in this forum has had experience with them from owner point of view.
@Darlene S.@Kevin Luttrell@Tawney HillI just signed with Avant Stay and I got a pretty good amount of information about what they do. It seems like a pretty good deal. They make you an offer on your house on a 12 month lease. I own a 4 bedroom property in Western Carolina and they offered me $5,200 per month and they pay utilities and landscaping. Its a 12 month lease but they have the option to renew in 12 month increments for the next four years. As the owner, I don't actually have the option to opt out at anytime during those 4 years but they do a 3 percent increase each year and my mortgage is only $1,800 so I think its a pretty good deal. They invest their own money into furniture and other things to enhance the listing. If they back out after the 12 months, they will try to negotiate a deal for you to buy the upscale furnishings from them. I learned some other stuff too. Let me know if anyone wants to talk about it. I think this might be a good way to buy short term rentals but not have as much of a headache from managing it yourself.
I had to look it up but it looks like they are selling it from an inclusive package experience for the renter. I would expect they would take a higher revenue percentage. What did they say it would be? I haven't heard it discussed on here before.
Relatively new company. Basically wanting to lease a property that they will then sublease. Just trying to find out what other owners have experienced with the company and if they found the contractual obligations to be reasonable or not.
They have approached me as well. I havent been able to find much on them. Can you share your experience?
Did either of you continue conversation with Avantstay or find out more info about how they work? I'm considering them as well but haven't found much info on them.
@Darlene S.@Kevin Luttrell@Tawney HillI just signed with Avant Stay and I got a pretty good amount of information about what they do. It seems like a pretty good deal. They make you an offer on your house on a 12 month lease. I own a 4 bedroom property in Western Carolina and they offered me $5,200 per month and they pay utilities and landscaping. Its a 12 month lease but they have the option to renew in 12 month increments for the next four years. As the owner, I don't actually have the option to opt out at anytime during those 4 years but they do a 3 percent increase each year and my mortgage is only $1,800 so I think its a pretty good deal. They invest their own money into furniture and other things to enhance the listing. If they back out after the 12 months, they will try to negotiate a deal for you to buy the upscale furnishings from them. I learned some other stuff too. Let me know if anyone wants to talk about it. I think this might be a good way to buy short term rentals but not have as much of a headache from managing it yourself.
@Matt Schreiber Thanks for your post and for the info! I ended up signing with them as well - 3 months in to the lease so far and it's going well. My terms are identical to yours as far as the 1-year lease with 3 options to renew (for them), 3% yearly rent increase, etc. We'd be making more money if we rented ourselves as STR, but we're saving ~$100k in furnishing costs since Avantstay provided all of the furnishings themselves.
It's a pretty good deal and definitely made sense for us. Rent has been paid timely and we've had no major issues. Like Matt, anyone can feel free to reach out to me if you're researching Avantstay and would like more info about them.
We are considering signing with AvantStay. I was given an ear full about how they don't take as much care of the property as they say. I see most of y'all are new to AvantStay but has anyone seen similar feedback?
@Matt Schreiber @Kevin Luttrell Thanks for providing some insight into AvantStay, we are also considering AvantStay for our property as well, but are having a tough time finding owner insight. Would either of you have some time to discuss so we can learn a bit more?
@Alexander Huseman sure, I can chat later this week if you'd like.
Did they approach you or you considering approaching them? Last I heard, they were pausing their "master lease" options and focusing more on regular property management.
Hey @Alexander Huseman sorry about the delay. So our master lease starts with them November 1st. Our property was already functioning as a short term rental so it is furnished but they are getting rid of some of our furniture and putting in new furniture and they are just charging me for the removal of my items. They also did a Home Inspection and they said they were going to charge me for anything that needs immediate repair. After I make those payments then my lease with them is for $5,250 for 12 months where they pay all of the utilities. It sounds great on paper but I'll have more insight after it goes live and I see how it works. I was trying to work with them to buy more property in different markets and get it under a Master Lease with them but they have been really picky. It seems like to buy another property in any market that they would actually take on the master lease its mostly over 1 million. They need 5 bedrooms or 6 bedrooms and views or beachfront. Anything that nice, I'd rather just manage it myself and make way more than their master lease.
Thanks. same situation for us but we don't go live with them until January 2023. I would expect to pay for repairs, and even removal of my furniture. But like you say, the devil will be in the details over time. One concern is the debate of whether a repair is needed due to renter user or deterioration of item over time.
I was approached by Avantstay and wondered if anyone in this forum has had experience with them from owner point of view.
AvantStay bought our prior management
company and we decided to give them an
opportunity with our short term rental. It has
been exhausting. They didn't actively advertise
our home on websites and we had low tenant
response. They billed us or overcharged us to
help them have an income. I fired them and they
stole all my bed linens as well as towels and bed
bug pillow cases. They completed the last
cleaning and left stains all over the bath mat and
a yellow sticky substance in our utility drawer.
Please beware. Find someone you trust. Not a
team.
Thanks. same situation for us but we don't go live with them until January 2023. I would expect to pay for repairs, and even removal of my furniture. But like you say, the devil will be in the details over time. One concern is the debate of whether a repair is needed due to renter user or deterioration of item over time.
Don’t do it
@Matt Schreiber any updates on how this is going? Recently spoke with them about their master lease program for my STR in Oceanside. I have no interest in looking at their shared revenue model but figured I would look at what they had to offer for this model.
I'm a 20x AirBnb superhost who realized I have more productive uses of my time than hosting directly. I put my first property in Bend, OR with Avantstay and the number one thing I have to share is: they take very good care of the property.
Second main point: Avantstay has excellent systems to find guests who will treat property and neighborhood responsibly. Noise monitoring. Partysquasher (monitors and limits number of devices connected to wifi). Exterior security cameras. Team of people watching notifications and contacting guests and if necessary going out to property to address issues. Security company on retainer.
I did a lot of research on options. Not impressed with other large institutional managers who are very light with boots on the ground and in many ways have the attidude they are assisting you in managing the property, not managing it for you. I looked at local companies, and while many locals have great boots on the ground, they lack the economies of scale and systems like what Avantstay uses to attract, vet, monitor, and enforce.
I just have one property and it's just been a year, so early days, but I believe a lot of it comes down to their local managers. My best understanding from talking to reps is they have one local employee (in addition to vendors like cleaners, landscapers...) per 10 listings/properties.
Cameron is our local manager in Bend and I have his cell phone. He lives locally, is very responsive. While we were onboarding the property to the system and trying to figure out the automated sprinklers, he was out there every day watering the lawn by hand, stopping the buck and taking personal responsibility.
Bought and onboarded the property in 2022. Real revenue has not lived up to projections. Maybe it's the Airbnbust. Maybe it's property location. Keeping it real here. They use demand-based pricing like anyone else who cares about revenue.
Avantstay has a whole licensing department. I will say I had to nudge them to do the work of renewing the license. They remit the taxes. It's a big enough company to recognize it's in their best interest to stay on the right side of the law. My #1 fear going into this was partying guests disturbing neighbors and damaging the property. With all the measures they have, it's never been an issue to my knowledge and the neighbors would let me know in no uncertain terms, as they had a poorly managed STR in the neighborhood previously.
Avantstay's services cost money because they provide value. Every individual contract is different. When I signed up, there were two different options: Lease, where they pay you fixed amount/mo and arbitrage the difference, and revenue share, where they take a management fee, pass on fixed costs. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the management. But it takes time and energy from internally motivated people who take responsiblity. My experience is those have been in short supply since beginning of time.
To check the proof in the pudding: look at Avantstay's host ratings on Airbnb or other platforms. They list properties on their own site, plus Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com. Avantstay maintains superhost status with thosands of homes and reviews. Compare that to national competitors Vacasa or Evolve for example.
Avantstay also did the furnishing. They have a team of designers who do it online. It was a lot of back and forth, but they bring the value of design professionals to the table. They have a brand they're trying to keep consistent over the entire portfolio. Clean, brightly lit, clutter-free, modern luxury.
No one will ever take care of your property like you will, but Avantstay is the closest thing I've ever had to the fairy tale of passive investing in real estate.
My listing with Avantstay: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/681188061555402266
@Matt Schreiber any updates on how this is going? Recently spoke with them about their master lease program for my STR in Oceanside. I have no interest in looking at their shared revenue model but figured I would look at what they had to offer for this model.
I'm almost 2 years in now with Avantstay on their master lease program. Best decision I ever made for these properties. I second everything @Sandor Lau said above, communication and property care has been excellent.
Seems like a lot of the negative comments and reviews are related to bookings, advertising, extra fees, etc. I can't speak to that since it's all irrelevant on the master lease - we get our agreed-upon rent on the 1st each month and that's that. The only fees I incur are non-guest related repairs which Avantstay handles and the vendors they use are reasonable on cost.
I would not have decided to use them if they were only offering property management services, and I'm glad I didn't because they did take quite a bit of time to get my properties up and running and bookings coming in. Didn't matter to me being on the master lease - I got paid my rent regardless of what they were doing. And from what I understand, management was not happy with some of the employees dragging their feet on things like pictures, listings, etc haha.
However now that it's been a couple years and Avantstay is running these like a well-oiled machine, I probably will continue with them as a PM company when my master lease is up.
Avantstay, a newer entrant in Houston's short-term rental market, offers owners a range of services, including impressive marketing, thorough guest screening, and comprehensive property management. Their focus on attracting higher-end guests may reduce potential issues.
Great feedback. We're nearing the end of our first year master lease and it has been a very good experience. Our area, Destin FL. is somewhat new for AvantStay and they have had some growing pains with their resources in this area, BUT it has not impacted our experience or their quality of service. My son also signed up with them in May and that is going well too.
They have a new area manager and he is on the ball and on site checking out our properties closely. We have a direct connection with him with frequent communications.
I would recommend AvantStay.
@Sandor Lau thanks for sharing! Very insightful. Can you elaborate on the fees for your property and how that compares to hiring a cohost that charges 20-25%. People mentioned master lease so are they essentially arbitraging the unit?
Yes, basically arbitrage.
Avantstay did reach out to me several years ago. I opted to not go with Avantstay because I did not feel that they had much for protection for the owner if things should not go as smoothly. Also we felt we were going to make more self managing than with the payments they were offering. We did out earn them. We made the right decision.
The master lease is just like a lease to someone to live there. Obviously with a few differences. It’s an annual lease for 1 year with three additional optional years. They pay all of the utilities and regular routine maintenance such as pool, yard, trash, etc.
We have a guaranteed income. We pay for repairs, taxes, insurance and HOA fees.
Instead of living in it they sublease it to vacationers.
@yu liu, I believe management fee is 25% for my contract but every contract is different. 20-25% is very common among the vendors I looked at. I believe Evolve is 10%, but that's because your'e doing your own work and they're assisting you.
Unlike cohosts, Avantstay is actually managing. They manage listing and book guests. Manage cleaning (and inspect the work of cleaners). Refill supplies. Care for yard, repairs, and hot tub.
They put utilities in their name and keep them paid. Here is a critical item I ran into with other properties: Avantstay has a vendor to take out and bring in the bins. Many guests are fed up with all the chores AirBnb hosts require of them while charging cleaning fee. https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalisitza/checklist-fees-screens.... Avantstay takes care of the chores.
We go to our property typically 2-3 times a year. Of course I inspect and think of ways to improve guest experience. We normally have our area manager Cameron over for lunch at the property he takes such good care of. I give him a list of repairs and improvements. And he does it. It's much like being a guest when we stay there.
@Dwane Twente so this is basically a rental arbitrage company. What kind of insurance do you carry? For Short term renters ? for long term renters? what insurance protection does avantstay provide?