All Forum Posts by: Chris Gottshall

I actually didn't know you could indicate this on Airbnb until now; and holy cow it was hard to find that setting! I had to search their help content to figure out where it was even listed. I only have a Ring doorbell, but I figured I should list it to be safe.

If guests disregard the check out time, especially after asking and being told "no," I will charge 1 night's stay against their damage deposit IF their tardiness actually resulted in a disruption to my cleaners' schedule such that I need to compensate them extra, or I have to delay check in for the next guest; otherwise I'll just ding them on the review for how well they follow the house rules. Guests may push back, but with photo documentation, they will usually pay.

I appreciate the input. I’m still going to do it on a small scale anyway. :-) At least for now. It may be that my PM business does lead to increased sales activity. Might not be the conventional way of doing it, but I effectively don’t do any sales and I already manage several of my own units so scaling that up by adding more units under management for friends, family, and colleagues is the direction I’m headed. It at least gives me more potential sellers and buyers in the future. I don’t expect to leave my day job from income in PM, but I do see an opportunity to do it better than others have done it for me in the past. 

@Tim Swierczek I’ll reach out to Alyssa as you mentioned and see what she’s doing in this space. Thanks for that suggestion. 

@Miguel Castillo I was told by my market center leaders that KW doesn’t do PM! I’d prefer to stay with KW overall (that’s where I’m at now). Thanks in advance for your advice.

I’m an agent with a traditional buy/sell broker. We are allowed to lease property, but my broker does not do property management as one of its allowed functions. I’m very interested in building a property management business for others (I manage my own properties already and have been approached about managing others’). Thus, I am considering changing my broker to one that provides this service to clients. My challenge is that I don’t know who in the Twin Cities I should be talking to. Seems that most of the big names do buy/sell/lease, but not PM. Or should I just open my own brokerage? (Been told that costly, but haven’t looked into it seriously.)

I’m looking for advice from others who might know someone that I should connect with in the Minneapolis / Saint Paul market. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

The obvious answer is: ask your CPA. :-)

That being said, I know my CPA allowed all of my RE agent expenses on Schedule C in 2017 even though I had no income that year. I made $600 in income in 2018 via a referral to another agent, and that's all I need to feel confident about deducting more than that in allowable expenses. You can definitely show a loss every year, AFAIK. You might consider trying to make a referral or two each year to agents you can get a referral fee from so you can demonstrate the fact that you are actually doing business as a real estate agent.

@Patrick Clark I would start by installing a video doorbell on your STR. I have a Ring brand doorbell, but there are many options. I verify who is coming and going at mine. There are rarely issues, but I have caught some people dodging extra guest fees by claiming 1 or 2 people in their party and then bringing 4 or 5. I have handled this through Airbnb very easily by providing video footage.

This introduction makes me uncomfortable for all of the reasons that others have mentioned. There's a peculiar amount of oversharing here. But, if you're new on the Airbnb platform, you might take your chance on them to try to get a 5-star review. I'd respond letting them know that you don't have folding chairs, or a bread maker, or any knowledge of where to shop keto in the area. Maybe your lack of accommodation in these areas will cause them to rethink their decision. Maybe.

For the future, you can also add a requirement that guests must have a recommendation from at least one other host before they can Instant Book. I have mine set up that way after a couple challenging first-timer experiences.

Whatever you decide, I wish you good luck!

I'd consider them 5-star guests if they didn't damage anything, were good communicators, and followed the house rules including arrival & departure on time / as expected and having the number of people in their party that they said they would. Toothpaste on the faucet, something smeared on the counter tops both sound pretty trivial in terms of cleanup, IMO. How long has your housekeeper been in this business, specifically for vacation rentals?

That’s the first time I’ve seen that help article - thank you for sharing that, @Kevin Lefeuvre. This sounds crazy to me, too. If Airbnb wants to cover the cost, fine. But it’s unreasonable to ask the host to eat it.

@Russell Brazil Definitely year what you’re saying about those suits not being successful. But sometimes being sued is enough of a motivation to cause someone relent a  position.