TurnKey Vacation Rentals

[Thomas Gonzalez]

Does anyone have experience with TurnKey Vacation Rentals Company.  As I mentioned, it looks like I am going to invest in SC.  But I am really concerned with it being managed to my standards.  I have heard good things from one person which is helping me in SC.  But I would love to hear more comments and possible suggestions on owning long distance properties. I am very happy that I found a good realtor here on BP. 

[Danette C.]

Thomas:

No experience with them, however....I did look them up.  They're fairly new.  I only see 6 rentals in the area we used to manage ours.  So, you may want to investigate other management companies as well.  Look through your area on their site; see how many listings there are on different dates throughout the year.  I know VRBO/AirBnB have an abundance for the area we had our properties and yes overwhelming but obviously very popular sites for travelers to go to.  Having used both personally for advertising and booking own reservations across the US and not knowing about Turnkey until you mentioned it, I am not sure what costs are but you might want to look at evolve which has been around a little bit longer.  You want to make sure you are seen and being on popular sites is helpful.  Read the reviews from both sides:  https://www.trustpilot.com/rev...

Okay this is going to be long, but hopefully helpful.  So we started nightly rentals in MO back in 2011. We renovated our properties so they were on the higher quality end and had looked at property rental companies, but couldn't justify handing 40% over to them.  So what started with one cabin on VRBO, became 7 properties on our own website with a reservations system over a couple of years. We lived 40 min from the properties from 2011-2014.  I was extremely anal; often having issues of "letting go" and things weren't going to be exactly the way I want them whether it was how the toilet paper was folded decoratively or a welcome sign with guests' names and snacks laid out in the goody box.  It took awhile to find good housekeeping staff and knowing there are going to be mistakes made.  I went through 3 HVAC guys before I found a really reliable one.  Same with handymen; finally finding a good one that was always on top of things.  I was very fortunate to have been involved in BNI group and everyone had referrals as well as my RE agent who had a list of references as well.  So while living nearby, I was able to get people in place as well as have back ups in emergency situations.

We then moved out East in 2014.  I managed the properties as well as a couple of other owners' properties until this current year.  I made a point to travel out to MO every 3-4 months to do "surprise inspections" and go through make sure everything is still up to my standards.  Sometimes, I would have friends stay at a unit and check things out for me and let me know about any concerns/issues.  

So here are pros and cons of managing yourself.

Pros:  you keep all profits (except 3% to credit card company), get to know guests, create a rapport with regular guests, make it personalized and memorable for your guests (my housekeeping staff was great and would leave flowers for anniversaries and balloons for bdays)

Cons: Phone calls late at night sometimes, dealing with guests who are nasty and ignore your rules (ie no pets/no smoking, but it's nice having damage waiver in place), trial and error finding right housekeeping/maintenance/HVAC/plumbing people.

Going with a property management company pros and cons:

Pros:  they deal with all the issues and reservations calls

Cons: they may not be as attentive to your property as you would be and don't follow through with rules of no pets/no smoking. They charge between 20-40% except for companies like evolve (charge 10% I believe), which I don't fully understand.

So, can you do it?  ABSOLUTELY!  Just know what your limitations are and if you want to have contact with guests.  You can also hand it over to a management company, but do your research before just picking anyone. Ask the management company for some references and make sure to ask the references about topics that are important to you.   I would suggest you give it a try on your own for a year.  Experience the holidays and summer and see if it is a good fit for you.  If it's not a good fit, you'll probably know within 6 months.  So do legwork now to have a backup plan in place should you find that managing on your own is giving you a headache.

I can count maybe seven times out of ten years, I questioned myself managing nightly rentals. I honestly loved it. We had amazing guests who were with us for all ten years. We had a handful of guests who got fined for smoking or pets or somehow managed to break the bathroom sink vanity. So why did we get out of nightly rentals? Well, I felt it was time for a change. I noticed the resorts weren't keeping up the property grounds as well, there was talk of indoor waterpark, and clientele was really changing in the area. Indoor waterpark most likely will increase the HOA/COA fees.

So with that being said, we moved over to LT rentals near the hospital and university.  I am still itching for a nightly rental in our area but considering where we are, there are a lot of properties not able to be nightly rentals because the township is trying to keep them out.  

Sorry so long winded and probably off topic at certain points.  Just know you can do it yourself. Give it a try.  Don't like it, then go with a management company.  However, be ready to "let go" as it won't always be up to your expectations.  This is an investment.  Yes, you might go down and stay once in awhile, but you are handing it over to be cared for by someone else.  Have a number in mind that you want to have in your pocket every month/year & ask the management company to show you comps of similar properties and the profit the owner walked away with after fees/expenses/etc.  Know what you are willing to "let go" of and I say that because one of my owners ended up selling because she really had a hard time letting go of the fact that guests/strangers were sleeping/having sex in the beds.  People will leave lights on, crank the AC and even freeze it, etc...you learn ways to control that, but be ready to work through some of those things.  It's always hard in the beginning, but once you know what you can and can't handle, it'll fall into place.