(Advice Requested) STR My Primary Residence for High Demand Weekends

[Jasen Bankson]

Hi!  I live right next to Clemson University in Upstate South Carolina and am considering renting my home on game weekends in the fall and on graduation weekends.  Those weekends everything in town is booked up and there is high demand for places for people to stay near the university.  My family has a place to go out of town and we hear about people renting their homes on those weekends and doing well so we think we may try it.  I'm looking for some advice, experience / thoughts from people that may rent their primary residence periodically like this to get an insights on things to know, be aware of, pitfalls to avoid, etc.  I haven't done STRs before, but have done a lot of other real estate (long term, flips, notes, etc).  A couple things we are considering related to this are:

- This is our primary, so we don't HAVE to rent it.  We are just looking to capitalize on some high demand, so from a pricing standpoint I'm trying to 'price it to be worth it', but still be reasonable enough to get some bookings

- We are planning to leave our stuff in the house and just put things away that we care about and lock up stuff we don't want people into.  Any advice on what to leave vs. put away (i.e. family photos, clothes in closets, kids toys, etc)

- We have a large house and could sleep 15-20 people.  Thoughts on larger groups like this?  I would be charging a pretty high price (since it could be 3 or so families splitting) and I'm heard this generally will keep the riff-raff away. True? False? (I know there are always cases where people cause problems, but generally speaking a high price rental is going to help avoid that I think??) I obviously don't want to have a party house, so I want to avoid that, but would like to use the full potential for the house to get the best rate I can.  I plan to list through Airbnb since they have insurance and screen people

- I plan to have professional photos taken for the listing to have it present really well. Anything specific/out of the ordinary to have photos of beyond the usual?

- What's the best way to establish 'house rules'?  In the listing and posted around the house?  Any house rules examples that anyone already uses that they'd be willing to share?

And I'm open to any other info those of you with experience have to offer!

Thank you!

[Alex Scattareggia]

If I were in your shoes I would do the following.

1. Price it astronomically high. Like you said, you don´t need the income.  There will probably be some headaches that arise so make it worth your time.  High price might be enough to keep out folks who won´t respect your place, but even the best group can get rowdy when you have 10-20 people drinking all day. 

2. Have an amazing cleaning staff and that shows up on time.  Turning over a house that big after a weekend of partying is a lot of work and I would hate to come back to my primary home and feel like people had been in it all weekend.  You can pass this cost on to the client through the cleaning fee, and I wouldn´t skimp on cleaning in this specific situation. 

I completely agree with John above about having the cleaning staff put away all personal belongings and probably having a completely different set of linens, towels etc for the family vs renters.

3.Turn off instant book. This enables you to screen the clients a bit more.  When people are inquiring about your place make it VERY clear what the rules of the house are, and finish with ¨if you guys are in agreement with all of that I would love to welcome you to our place this weekend! If you are looking for more of a party place, I can point you in the right direction¨ You will also have the option of setting your security deposit, the bigger the home the bigger the deposit. 

Thats a pretty basic primer.  I have two big rentals in party destinations and making very clear upfront what is allowed and not is the only way to really screen the clients.  If in doubt just say no!  One really bad group can sour you on the whole thing and also eat up the profits of 4 or 5 bookings in the worst-case scenarios.  Sounds like you are in an ideal market and have the perfect product so I am sure you will crush it. Good luck