MTR questions that I cant find answers to!

[Dolan Bradley]

Hi Bigger Pockets Community,

I am a licensed real estate agent with a team out of Dana Point, CA and I am getting into the MTR space and have a load of questions. I put a brief summary of how I found myself entering the MTR space below the questions.

Questions:

1) Do you recommend listing MTRs on the MLS (why, why not)

2) Should I operate my MTRs separately from my RE license/ business i.e. 

3) Any tips on how to manage funds when hosting for an owner, should I collect rents via all platforms and payout minus commissions, expenses, etc.?

4) How should I structure agreements with property owners? Via a property management agreement connected to my RE license or a private agreement not related to my RE license? 

5) In such agreements what do you typically agree on regarding expenses, utilities, commissions, etc.?

6) As a RE agent can I market my services to manage MTRs? (Weird one but I feel like there's some grey area regarding how to market and if it can be connected to your RE license)

7) Do you recommend having a site separate from my Real Estate site? I am planning on separating the two but wanted to get opinions because if I can market the service as an agent then I would likely at least link the MTR site on my RE site. 

8) I will have some properties coming up in FL so I would likely have separate MTR sites for each market. Thoughts?

9) Leases! I plan on always having tenants sign leases regardless of the platform they book on, should I use standard DRE lease agreements with additional terms or use my own entirely and not even utilize my RE license info? Are there any recommended terms to include or templates?

10) Any insight that you think would be helpful! I'm sure there are plenty of questions I can't think of at the moment but any insight is greatly appreciated!

Summary: I pretty much stumbled into the MTR market in a number of ways. First I helped some clients with leasing their property above my office while they were out of town. It was a very nicely furnished and fully remodeled condo that was pretty easy to get a tenant in for a few months well over market rent, as we approached the end of the lease the owners told me they had a friend reach out saying he has someone wanting to rent for 14k per month for 3 months! The last tenant we had in there was 8k for 3 months so this was a huge surprise for all. The owners went ahead and took him up on it and I didn't push back as they are great clients that have purchased before with us in the past and I wanted the best for them. When I handed the keys over to the guy that was taking over we spoke a bit about what he does and he told me about how he gets insurance rentals, corp house, vacation rentals, etc. to manage MTRs with a 25% commission. Shortly after I had a long trip to Europe planned for my family and wanted to sublet my current property as I had a good relationship with the owners and didn't want to spend 6100 per month while I was out of the country for 4 months. The owners gave me permission to sublet and I quickly found a tenant to rent for 6 months at 8k per month to where I net around 1500 after utilities. When I got back in town I helped a client purchase a new home and they asked if I would manage and rent their current property for them. So now I have extended my lease to continue subletting, picked up a property in a prime location to manage, and also have a family member that wants me to do the same with their property. After doing some research in the space I have decided to make this a big part of my business whether it's managing MTRs or purchasing properties myself to do so as well. 

Any suggestions or insight to the questions above would be greatly appreciated and if anyone would like to connect to hop on a call and share their insight I would love that!

Dolan Bradley