All Forum Posts by: Calvin Baughman

Hi all--we are looking for feedback from short-term rental hosts in the Washington, DC area. We host 2 airbnb properties (2 apartments in the same rowhouse) and are looking for someone to clean when we have Sunday turnovers. If the person or service is fantastic, there is potential for A LOT of business (~160 turns per year). If anyone has a referral, we'd be so grateful, though I realize it's a big ask to offer someone wonderful out to strangers!

Also, does anyone use/have feedback on local Airbnb cleaning services? I have seen GuestPrep, Clean'd, TIDY (although it looks like they don't do Sundays), TurnoverBnb, Spekless. We have used GuestPrep, and unfortunately have had a pretty consistently bad experience. I keep wishing they will be better, but to no avail. I would appreciate any feedback on these services, or others I haven't heard of. We're just looking for cleaning, not property management.

We do need folks to either launder linens or take them offsite to launder, but need to keep the price reasonable.

Many thanks in advance for any feedback or referrals you are able to share!

Best,

Farrah

Greetings, we are beginners with str investing, went under contract for a new construction house, 3/3.5, 2000 sq ft, across the street from the beach, good area with many restaurants and entertainment. Having cold feet! Estimates say the rental potential is 55 to 75k a year. I notice a lot of competition from beach front condos of the same size. The community has 120 houses, similar size, all eligible to be strs. Large community pool, 2400 Hoa a year. The house is not on a water. We are  6 hour drive away, so plan to use management comp. No mortgage, so can skip the insurance (is it a good idea at all?). My hope is if it will not give lots of cashflow, at least we’ll cover the expenses and it will appreciate as the area will develop, inflation raises etc. My thinking- many ppl escape Florida now bc of taxes and insurance cost. Maybe Alabama cost will flourish soon. Any thoughts? Should we do it? Have to decide by Friday. 

We have had two guests check out since 5/1 and have not been paid by VRBO for either. We have called VRBO multiple times and the response we get is it being handled by billing. They tell us they have no way to transfer us to billing and they provide no other details. Payout dates are not showing in the system.

I have started sending DMs on Twitter as of today. Is anyone else experiencing this issue and has anyone found a good way to move these issues forward?

Thanks!

From my research, seems like healthcare is one of the largest employers in San Antonio. Anyone has experience doing mid-term rental in this SA for travel nurses?

I am looking at zip code 78229, and you can still get single family homes in the mid 200k range.

Hi,

My wife and I are exploring vacation rental opportunities. We live in NYC and we are looking to invest in STRs to offset some of our W2 income. We are open to suggestions on location. Would love to chat.

Thanks,

Angelo

Scheherazarde,

If you are correctly permitted, you will have to decide between offering by the room or whole house.  You cannot do both simultaneously.
Mike

Im looking to move our 5 (soon to be 17) short term rentals over from being solely listed on airbnb, to a comprehensive PMS system to save on airbnb fees and build some efficiencies into our workflow. I've looked into Guesty (which seems too expensive for what I hear to be awful customer service), Hostaway, Owner Rez, and Lodgify. Hostaway is my favorite so far.  Owner Rez sounds like it may be a bit dated and less user friendly, and Lodgify may be primarily good for it's booking system, but otherwise limiting from a features standpoint. 

Pricing per unit for 17 units:

Guesty - $60/month

Hostaway - $35/month

Lodgify - $13/month

TurnoverBnB - $6/month

I've also played with the idea of doing a combination of services to include either Breezeway or TurnoverBnB for their cleaning team systems. Does anyone have a favorite system or cocktail of systems to smoothly run their operation? I would love any thoughts! Thanks y'all!

 We have officially entered the "Hiney Showing" phase in the Smokies.  That is, homes being offered for less than what was paid for them very recently.  It's all a part of the boom/bust real estate cycle in resort areas.  The inevitable end to "But this time it's different" chants. 

I'll be posting these as I see them.  

Here's the first. No further bookings in April or May. It was purchased for $2.4 million in 2022.  Asking $2.25 million today, and offering $20K in "buyer credits".

3385 Birds Creek Rd, Sevierville, TN 37876 | MLS #1256702 | Zillow

Looking to connect with other members who are looking to invest or actively investing in Costa Rica? Cheers!