All Forum Posts by: Anthony R.

@Paul Sandhu I've read many of your posts over the last couple weeks I've been on here. Always solid info and often entertaining! You and your wife are quite the power couple! Really cool the way you work together!

Thank you, @Bruce Woodruff.

For a one-STR owner, a channel manager like Guesty is not needed? I thought they help systematize and automate (calendar synch, text messages, etc.)?

You're right about knowing expenses--I'm in a learning curve right now, so I was trying to keep my expectations realistic by padding my potential costs in case I later became aware of something.

Yes, while it's great PM companies throw linens in as included, those will be a cost I'll need to pick up. Sounds great that they do, but as I dig into the cost of linens I realize it's minimal, esp for my 1bd/1ba.

I won't be cleaning; I live 2.5 hrs away, so I'll have to partner with someone there.

Thanks for your reply!

Quote from @John Underwood:

You should be saving about 20% or more of your gross income, not net profit. This can be huge.

Thanks, as always, John! PM companies I've talked to take their cut after state and local taxes. So, their 20% of net is about equivalent to 17.5% of gross. Either way, at wildest best-guess predictions for gross, it'd be about $1500-2000 if I did it myself, or $5200 if I handed over the reins. But very likely it'd be more like $3,500 year as that best-guess figure (from AirDNA) is aggressive.

Thanks @Randy Dubiskas. Not paying for PL will cut costs for sure. I didn't know VRBO had that feature as I've not created my account yet--good to know! Also, I'm toying with the idea of only doing VRBO and not Airbnb because I've read a lot of anti-AB feedback in STR owner FB groups lately, and that the quality of guest seems to vary (though VRBO has its bad apples too), and it would keep me from trying to manager too much/synchronize calendars, etc.

Hi All,

Things are moving forward with getting my STR up and running by end of next month. I'm still on the fence about self-managing remotely vs a local PM company. Those of you who self-manage remotely, have you ever done a breakdown of your monthly costs? Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, below is my (educated?) guess for what it would cost me per month to self manage.

50 Guesty/OwnerRez/Whatever
50 For miscellaneous I might be missing on this list
30 Detergent & cleaners
20 PriceLabs - Dynamic Pricing
20 Linens
10 Trash bags
Total: $180/mo | $2160/yr

My 1bd/1ba is not going to be bringing in beaucoup bucks, just based on its size. At my best projections, the difference between self-managing and outsourcing responsibilities to a PM is less than $3k. It'd be nice to have ~$3k in my pocket, but at my price-point maybe that's a "convenience fee" to myself for getting to be hands-off?

Thoughts? Thanks again--ya'll are amazing!
P.S.: Mrs R is not too keen on getting into the PM biz, which I totally understand; she is busy with a lot of other things.

Thank you, @Patricia Steiner! I know this isn't FB, but what a sweet reply! My wife will really appreciate it, too. BTW...We used to live in Tampa. Hyde Park...SO beautiful!!!

Excellent points and tip. Thank you @Bruce Woodruff!

Maybe consider getting it staged, taking photos, and showing it staged, so potentials can picture it in their minds?

Any small improvements you can make to make it more attractive? (New paint? Counter tops? bathroom vanities?)