Newbie STR owner again

[Holly Polf]

Thanks to all who offer great input and advice on this forum! I hope that in a year or two I can offer advice too!

Anyway, I am purchasing an STR in Villano Beach. Its currently an active listing with a management company. Although I would love to have a management company, I am not sure we can afford it starting out, so I am hoping to self-manage initially and hoping not to screw things up too much!

My question - We are set for a closing end of February. The property is already almost 100% booked for March, the calendar is not open after that. I know in her book Avery Carl recommends cancelling all current bookings and starting fresh, but the property is pretty turnkey and I really hate to lose those bookings and honestly would feel bad for the people who are planning their spring break vacations for next month thinking they have a great place to stay lined up.

One option Avery mentioned is having the property management company contact current bookings and asking them to cancel their bookings and rebook on the new listing. Has anyone done this successfully?

Has anyone kept a management company on staff for a month or two initially in a new market to give you time to get your own systems set up?

How have you navigated current bookings on an STR you have purchased?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Collin Hays:

I understand your not wanting to give up the revenue.

However, transferring reservations to a new owner is actually a bit complex:

1.  Deposits have been paid to the incumbent.  They would need to refund all of those.

2.  Rental agreements - no doubt your rental agreement will be different from the incumbent's agreement.  So the guests will have to sign new agreements.

3.  Housekeeping, door lock codes, etc.  How are you going to coordinate all of the with the incumbent?

As you can see, the Property Manager is going to be working as hard at this as you are, possibly more.  I don't think they will do it.  

As to your second question, whether or not to retain the current PM for a short period:  You can do that.  You can say "May 1 is our takeover date, please take reservations up until that time."  You can then begin marketing the property on your own.  HOWEVER, I do not think VRBO and Airbnb do not allow two accounts for the same property, so you have that hurdle to cross.

My advice would be to cut ties and move on.  Your calendar will quickly fill up.  

 I agree with Collin.

Maybe the PM would be nice enough to give the guests your contact info.

Maybe you could offer a fee for this if they don't agree at first.