New to STR - Cleaning vs Caretaker?

Question

So after getting hooked on BiggerPockets in Summer of 2019, I finally made a purchase in November 2019 on a cottage 4 hours North of me in Michigan (Petoskey/Harbor Springs area). Purchased a fully furnished Ski Chalet with plans to fix it up a little bit because it is a little older and was filthy inside and then get it up and rented. Then of course COVID had different plans for me, lockdown's, in state travel bans, no AirBnb's allowed, etc. so my wife and I stayed there and used it when we were finally allowed to drive up there again last year to finally fix it up a little bit.

I have rented it just a little bit through word of mouth, but I've been driving there to do the cleaning and laundry every time which has worked fine with only a few rentals so far. However, I've finally listed the property on AirBnb and I'm ready to rent it full time, but I'm not sure who to use to turn the property. I want to self manage the listing itself and just have someone/company clean it, but also not sure if I should have a boots on the ground "Caretaker/Manager" to have guests call if there's issues.

My problem is this, I've search quite a bit and all the property managers in the area want to do the full listing management and charge a huge percentage of gross rent, the cleaning companies I've found are limited to cleaning only or may do laundry for extra but then they refuse to do something silly like dishes if a guest doesn't do them before checking out.

What's the best way to find someone when you aren't fully local to the area and google isn't helping much?

Ken Boone · Answer

@Jonathan Mason Hey one other thing.. This is just a do whatever works for you kind of thing.  But I don't want guests calling someone without my knowledge.  Guests can call about all kinds of things.  The cleaner/maintenance person is going to charge you more for off hour and weekend calls.  I want to be the decision maker for who goes out when and if the issue warrants taking care of immediately or waiting until the morning or weekend is over kind of thing.  Just something to think about.  When you get a good cleaner/maint person or team you don't want to wear them out with guests calls either.  Anyway that is just my two cents.

Todd Goedeke · Answer

@Jonathan Mason check with resorts or hotels/ motels in Mackinac. Their cleaners should be available on one day a week. What s closest town with an assisted living center? They hire mostly individual cleaners.

Go to local gas station or grocery store. Post ad :cleaning lady wanted. You may find a part time attendant looking for extra cash.

Talk to your neighbors. Who cleans for them? Talk to people in area over 80, who cleans for them?

Jonathan Mason · Answer

@Michael Baum Those are really great suggestions. I had totally forgotten about Care.com what a great idea.

Jonathan Mason · Answer

@David Stokley yes, that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, just have to find someone now.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Jonathan Mason, that is a very cool area! So I just did a quick scan on Care.com and there are a number of housecleaners on there. I bet one of them would work for you.

Angieslist is also somewhere to take a look as well as Housekeeper.com.

Dave Stokley · Answer

You definitely need some kind of boots on the ground in case something happens. Seems like your best bet is to find an independent house cleaner who will bill you hourly for the cleaning (so if they have to do all the dishes they get paid for it) and is willing to help out as needed with other stuff (re-stock supplies, take emergency calls, etc.). Maybe you pay someone $50/month to be on call (a retainer basically) plus an hourly rate whenever they actually have to do something.

Jonathan Mason · Answer

@Ken Boone - That makes a lot of sense and I know I'd feel the same way as you, so hopefully others do too. Thanks!

Ken Boone · Answer

So I have not reached out to other local cabin owners but I have had others reach out to me and I am always willing to help.   My market is in the Smoky Mtns so there is plenty of demand there so I can help the next guy out and the market is big enough it doesn't hurt.  Usually I find that helping the other guy is more of a benefit than a liability.  I might learn something in the interaction and the worst case there is someone that will be willing to take my call if I need something down the road.  I also find that building a rapport with other cabin owners helps with referrals too.  If they are booked and someone calls them and says I really wanted to book your place do you have any suggestions, then they are more than willing to send them my way.  You might run into some that are not willing to help, but you will probably find some that are.

It is good to have a few backups when it comes to cleaners and maintenance folks.

Jonathan Mason · Answer

@Ken Boone thanks for the response and suggestions. I thought about reaching out to other rental owners in the neighborhood and surrounding area, there's multiple. I was a little hesitant though considering the fact that I am now competition to them, no? Have you done this and yielded decent referrals before? A little fearful they'll send me someone that they fired for poor performance lol.

Otherwise, I have thought about reaching out to local agents, previous owners operated (poorly) as a rental the last 18 months they owned it. My thought was to reach out to the selling agent from when I purchased and see if she had any recommendations.

Also good thought on being the person they call. I'm guessing having one (or maybe a couple) local handymen for maintenance on call is the better strategy vs a caretaker.

New to STR - Cleaning vs Caretaker?

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