All Forum Posts by: Carolyn Fuller

@Juan Diaz BTW, We live in a gritty neighborhood with tons of character, definitely not an upper/middle class area. Some people relish this kind of urban environment. We do and our guests seem to love it, as well. Then again, we do pitch it such, that those who are drawn to bustling city environments are the ones who are likely to book our apartment. The apartment and the garden outside the door are delightful retreats. It really is an oasis in the midst of a bustling urban neighborhood. 

We have 2 rentals in Cambridge, MA, which is a city that is very similar to Oakland. We rent both apartments during the academic year by the semester or full year term. Then during the summer, we rent one on the "sublet" market for 3 months because it is in a condo association building and we don't want to be annoying to the other residents. We generally have to take a hit on the rent during the summer because there is a glut of summer sublets available in Cambridge. The other one is on the first floor of our 2 family house. So we rent it as a vacation rental on Airbnb and VRBO/HomeAway. We have had great experience with vacationers but I think it has helped that we are here to greet each guest as they arrive and it doesn't hurt that we live upstairs. We pay $70 to have the apartment thoroughly cleaned between each visitor and we add this fee to the reservation total. We also put out fresh flowers and a high end chocolate bar on each pillow. 

I was very concerned originally that we'd have guest who weren't happy with our busy urban neighborhood. But perhaps because we emphasize we are in the midst of a hopping urban environment, we've had no complaints from any of our guests. We generally get 5 star reviews from our visitors.

I use DWOLLA and love it. It is free and painless. Last month my tenants paid on May 30 and it was in my checking account by June 6.

@Joe Henry Thanks! I just signed up and it looks like a great alternative to IPN.

@Chris Reitzel - Do you know what the dwolla.com pricing is? I'm looking for a low price alternative to IPN now that Intuit is dropping the service.

@Joe Henry, Some of my tenants are uncomfortable with ACH or run into technical difficulties with IPN (Intuit Payment Network) which is what I use. 

Some of my tenants love ACH.

Sadly IPN is going away. It is being replaced by a service that will eventually cost $13 per month. I don't think I have enough incoming payments to warrant paying $13 per month. Dwolla.com looks like a reasonable alternative but they don't publish their pricing online. Anyone know what their pricing is?

@Account ClosedI agree that it is preferable to meet the tenant prior to renting to them but that is not always possible in this academic setting. We have experience with another rental that we manage through HomeAway. Although that rental is by the semester instead of by the year, it is still long enough to warrant meeting the prospective tenant when possible. But it just isn't possible all the time. 

One of our first applicants for this new studio is currently in Japan and is not going to be able to make a trip here before he arrives for a year's academic appointment. I'm not willing to turn him away just because I am unable to meet him in person.

Thank you both, @Roy N. & @Travis Lloyd. I think PayPal is the way we will go. We already have our bank account set up with them for outgoing payments. It appears to be easy to request an incoming payment.

We have a fully furnished studio apartment near a university that we want to rent to academics. Many of these academics are coming from overseas. That means getting their initial deposit can be challenging if they don't have a US bank account. Is their an online payment service that accepts international payments?

Thanks!