Big Bear Lake Vacation Rental

[Susana L.]

Hello Friends!

I am very interesting in purchasing a small cabin up in Big Bear.  I would like to use it personally only a couple times a year and rent it out as a vacation rental the rest of the year.  I would like to use VRBO or AirBnB to list and a local management company to manage the property and renters.  

In my research, I have seen some community posts about Big Bear having strict rules on vacation rental owners. For those of you that have experience as an investor in this area, I would love to pick your brain!  Here are some of my questions  :)

1.  What is the best resource for me to obtain info about rules and restrictions for those that own vacation rentals in Big Bear?

2.  I would love to manage the property myself but I live in Orange County and work full-time.  Although I'm less than 2 hours away, it probably would be more efficient to hire a management company.  I have never managed a vacation rental before.  It seems a little more hands-on than a regular residential rental?  Also, I have read that local property management companies take as much as 30% commission from rental income.  This seems excessive, doesn't it?  Or is this typical?

3.  Do you prefer VRBO or AirBnB?  Or do local management companies handle the bookings for you?  

4.  Do you get year-round renters or is it typically only summer and winter seasons that your property is booked up?

Any advice or guidance you can offer is SO SO SO much appreciated!  I am so thankful to have found BP and find value in being a part of this community every day!  Thank you again!

Susana  :)

[Mark P.]

Hey Susana. Nice to see you and wish you do well renting in Big Bear. 

It is a great area you are targeting to cash flow year round. The slow season is in March, April and in September, October but still profitable. Otherwise I am booked all other months with 2 day min stay and over 90% occupancy using just Airbnb (3-9% being weird one day gaps between the bookings).

At the beginning I signed up with VRBO and Flipkey but never got to list there. Bookings started coming in just from one platform and that I also found more convenient afterwards, to manage everything through one app. Doesn’t hurt to try others, but if you like to see your listing successful, I believe you should choose one. You don’t want to have split ratings and ranking otherwise you won’t make it anywhere. It is not officially disclosed by the company but no doubt Airbnb will give a priority to listings that offer all or most days on the platform. They appreciate those “super” hosts who do rentals professionally and do as much business as possible with them.

Some would say to create two listings though, one on Airbnb and one VRBO, so if one goes down you have a back up. I think if you do everything right, there is no reason why the system will decide to take yours down.

Before you start renting, make sure to create a good guide book for your guests. You should include all the nuances about the house, tips and any additional info you think will help to make guest’s stay a pleasure. Include as much details as possible, some things may be obvious to you but not to others. They are not familiar with your house at all. I also leave the manuals for appliances. 

The other day my guest contacted me about needing help with a coffee machine, said cannot find the manual for it among other manuals we have at the cabin (I need to double check that by the way when I be there). The easy solution was to send him to YouTube. Be surprised there is a video on YouTube about how your model of coffee machine works. Get help from other users who simply upload 2-3 min video showing what buttons to press, not biggie, but that requires you to be on top of your rental. At the end the guest left extremely happy and had a good cup of coffee that managed to do it himself. I am sure he did enjoy it.

So yes, you need to stand by for questions and fix issues when they come up. You are about to create an experience, not just throw them in your house and have them figure stuff out.

I believe 25-30% of the gross amount is a lot though. But this is what they charge to manage your rental from A to Z. No need to keep an eye on supplies, deal with clogged toilets, replace dirty towels and broken dishes, answer (sometimes) dumb questions, manage check-ins and arrange cleanings. What you can do though, if you don’t want to run the business yourself, is to send a request for help from other hosts in the area. Speak with a few people, see what they can offer you. By sending a request, Airbnb alerts all hosts in Big Bear who are offering managing services about your interest. I am sure you can cut your expenses that way. They should also provide you with a check-in person to comply with rules.

You may find all the rules and regulations here:

https://www.citybigbearlake.com/index.php/code-compliance

It is very hard to pick up a VR business from distance unless the house is a turn key home. Otherwise I don’t see how one would put all the pieces together. You need to be here to begin with, put management in place and then go do your other business.

If you do it on your own, you just need two key people: contractor/maintenance guy and a cleaning lady. One of them can be your check-in person when you establish good relationships with him/her.

I love hosting people and see them being happy while enjoying the home I created. Getting started in this business is a lot of fun and requires your time. It took me 6 months from closing the deal on a cabin, going through entire renovation, then furnishing the place and decorating to get the first booking. The booking came in the next day after listing the place, that’s not a problem, but getting the home from a dump to the place that people can’t wait to spend their vacation at is a task.

Once again, unless you find a turn key property which will be a unique place and have some character, otherwise you just gonna look like most of the houses that don't rent as good. No reason to invest so much money and time and not even make 5% ROI. Standout with your home - the key to success in VR industry. It can be very profitable when you do.

Seatch for articles on Google about making it right. You may also do some reading here:

http://www.destinationbigbear.com/blog/big-bear-cabin-homeowner-information/

Go over their articles under Homeowners Information. Hope this helps!