Airbnb hosts to get relief in coronavirus stimulus bill

[James Carlson]

Looks like Airbnb hosts will get some relief under the coronavirus stimulus package about to pass Congress.

The current language includes two provisions that could help short-term rental owners that are struggling:

1. Hosts testing positive for Covid-19, or hosts with family members testing positive with the virus, would be eligible to apply for unemployment benefits.
2. Hosts are also eligible to apply for small business loans to cover your mortgage and utility bills and possibly independent contractors like cleaners.

This will be welcome news to a lot of our clients in Denver and Colorado Springs (as well as Erin and I, as we own an STR duplex in the Springs with some partners). I know we've been scrambling to get medium-term renters in there, like traveling nurses or others.

There's a small blip here written by Reuters.

[Mark Miles]

Originally posted by @Don Konipol:

@Paul Sandhu, it seems you may be hit with a double whammy, the pandemic AND oil prices

 BUT...  you’re one of the few on here without mortgages, right? Didn’t you buy most of your houses for like $10,000 at foreclosure? So it sounds like you may be in a position to weather this better than many other investors

[Paul Sandhu]

@Don Konipol @Mark Miles

It's actually a triple whammy, my official day job is doing pre-employment drug screens on the refinery contractors.  There are going to be no new contractors coming to this town for work.

Mark, you're right.  No mortgage.  But I have to pay monthly electric, gas, cable, internet, trash and have the lawns mowed.

[Kelly M.]

@David VanWert

I had to defer my commercial loan payment by two months due to a major (declared national emergency) flood to my property and street two years ago. They tacked the payment onto the end of the mortgage. I refinanced that loan and never heard a peep about the new lenders. Never a question. So, hopefully it wouldn't negatively affect you.

[James Carlson]

I think the deferred mortgage payments would be the bigger help as long as a) you're not required to pay all deferred payments at once at the end of the agreed-upon term; and b) it doesn't hurt your credit or ability to get a loan in the future. (Good to hear about your experience, @Kelly M.

I think the important thing is to GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING. Don't agree to anything over the phone with some service rep. Have paperwork sent to you that shows that the payments will be tacked on to the end of the loan term, not the end of the deferment period and that they won't be reporting this to the credit bureaus.

[Ken Latchers]

But the beauty of this is, unlike the stock market or similar things that could go down to zero, owning your short-term rentals allows you to build equity which can be tapped in bad times. I watched the stop market go way down thinking that my properties would be fine.

It's actually a triple whammy, my official day job is doing pre-employment drug screens on the refinery contractors.  There are going to be no new contractors coming to this town for work.

Mark, you're right.  No mortgage.  But I have to pay monthly electric, gas, cable, internet, trash and have the lawns mowed.

[Robert S.]

I would call my insurance agency to file a claim using the “loss of use” portion of my policy.

[David VanWert]

@Robert S. checked into that a bit. Looks like that only applies to physical damage to your property such as fire.  

[James Carlson]

Airbnb just announced today (March 30) that they've set aside $250 million to offset losses to hosts.

The press release states, "When a guest cancels a reservation due to a COVID-19 related circumstance, with a check-in between March 14 and May 31, we will pay you 25% of what you would normally receive through your cancellation policy. This applies retroactively to all COVID-19 related cancellations during this period."

I know a lot of Airbnb hosts and STR buyers I've worked with in Denver and Colorado Springs were pissed that Airbnb overrode hosts' existing cancellation policies to unilaterally refund any guest for cancelling. This isn't full coverage, by any means, but it's something, and I'm happy to see Airbnb take a step toward doing the right thing.

[David VanWert]

Watched the livestream with the CEO also sounds like superhosts were going to receive 5K as well directly from AirBnb. There were no real details but sounds like a bit of help. Something is better than nothing! 

[James Carlson]

For those interested, we're going to host a discussion about Covid-19 and Airbnb in Colorado tonight starting at 6 p.m. MST.

[Miles McClure]

Sorry I missed the discussion. The paycheck program is max 2.5x monthly payroll costs 1 year average. 500 employees or less. Used for payroll, health care, mortgage interest, rent, utilities, and interest on other debt before 2-15. 10yr max term 8 weeks of all the above FORGIVEN except payroll on anyone above 100k. 4% cap on interest rate. All fees are waived. Can't recieve assistance from any other program or what you do receive will count against this. Will be porportionally reduced if less people are employed compared to same time in 2019. I am working on this for our bank but the mechanics have not been relesed by the fed or sba as of right now. They said Friday this weekend and later today eariler today. As soon as we have the mechanics from the fed or sba (they keep going back and for as to who is administering it)its a 1 page no collerteral no guarantee loan doc. It's going to go fast as it will not cover all small business in the country. Hope this helps. 

[David VanWert]

@Shelby Pracht wondering if you ever heard back on your SBA loan? I applied about a week after you did and haven't heard a word. I got an email about the 10K advance about a day after I applied and filled that out right away but haven't heard on that either. Any good news on your end. With Mammoth being shut down now until at least May 31st, things are going to start to get tight. 

[Shelby Pracht]

@David VanWert I also did the new application as soon as I heard, and still haven't heard anything. Thankful that all my long term tenants were able to pay rent for April so I have a bit of cushion, but it would definitely be nice to know something.

[David VanWert]

@Shelby Pracht Thanks for the update, hopefully you get feedback on those applications soon!