All Forum Posts by: Christine Cho

@Michael Baum @Jon Martin

Thanks everyone for your comments, I really appreciate it - I shouldn't let myself be emotionally affected by these incidents. The guest did leave a review and I have yet to see what it is but pretty sure it will be negative. Hoping to be able dispute it and I will follow up here on how that goes.

@Patricia Andriolo-Bull I agree, under those circumstance I would have been lenient, but I'm in Colorado and we weren't affected by weather. From our exchange of messages the guest booked with possibility of canceling to begin with. However, cancellation during stay is pretty unique situation and I don't think airbnb app is equipped to handle those cases well. The guest chose alteration request over cancellation as it gave more refund. This put me at a difficult position having to explain the difference between cancellation and alteration request, and why alteration request is not in line with cancellation policy. The guest didn't understand why I wouldn't accept the request when is was "possible" on their end in the app.

Yes, it was the penalty I paid for not being firm and not knowing what do to...it seems like alteration request being used as way to get more refund is not new issue, and until Airbnb fixes this hosts have to be aware and plan for the course of action and stick with it.

I’ve been hosting for three years and recently encountered an issue I hadn’t faced before: an alteration request to check out earlier during a stay. In hindsight, I could have communicated better, so I’m sharing my experience for other hosts.

Guest booked an 11-night stay. On the 6th night, guest sent an alteration request to check out earlier, after 7 nights. This would be a 100% refund for the unspent 4 nights, according to the payout adjustment. I declined the request with a message that I cannot accept the alteration request as it is too close to those unspent nights. However, I offered to accept an alteration for 9 nights (2 nights fewer than original booking), which would have been roughly 50% refund.

Message between me (M) and guest (G):

 - G: shares Airbnb's cancellation policy after check-in: a 50% refund of every night that remains 24 hours after you cancel. No refund of nights you spent or the service fee.

- M : please proceed with the cancellation instead of alteration.

- G: cancellation results in immediate cancellation, not starting after the 7th night.

- M: suggests to cancel on the morning after 7th night.

- G: there is no refund at all with a cancellation and resubmitted the same alteration request.

 - M: the alteration request is 100% refund for unspent nights, which is not in line with the cancellation refund policy and would leave me at a loss. I reiterated they can cancel now and check out tomorrow, or send a different alteration request that was a middle ground for us (roughly 50% refund)

 - G: alteration is a larger refund and it is possible through Airbnb app. They couldn't understand why it would be loss for me or why they wouldn't get get the full refund since those night would be available for booking.

 - M: explain that I'm not obligated to accept alteration requests and in this case, guest is asking me to absorb the full loss for the cancelled nights. I also mention that alterations like this is effectively a cancellation, and so close to the dates effected hurts my operation and should not be possible per cancellation policy.

 - Guest insists booking was made because of moderate cancellation policy. At this point I suggest we resolve this through Airbnb support.

Ultimately, the resolution was to refund the guest 50% for those unspent nights. I don't understand why the guest was seeing $0 refund through cancellation (assuming what the guest said was true), given that the cancellation policy was as follows: 

"After check in: Partial refund. Get back 50% of every night that remains 24 hours after you cancel. No refund of nights you spent or the service fee."

In the end, I felt I offered a fair resolution but left with a sour guest who might leave a bad review. I read that I could dispute bad review in cases like this, but I also spent a lot of time and mental energy to find a middle ground. It should be airbnb's obligation to not allow alterations like this in the first place.  Lesson learned: in the future, I'll decline any alteration requests that effectively act as a cancellation of nights so close to check-in or during stay. I would decline reiterating cancellation policy and advise guest to cancel or contact Airbnb support if they believe they are entitled to a larger refund.

If anybody else has similar experience, I'd love to hear the outcome and any advise!

Former Chicagoan here!

I wish I had done house hacking when I was living in Chicago (almost 10 years of rental living ugh). I think Chicago has a lot of houses in the surrounding neighborhoods of downtown that are up-down duplex, so a building can be 4 stories high with each unit having 2 stories. My friend is doing this in Logan Square. If you are finding it difficult to find cash flowing property, try looking into short term rental possibility (Airbnb). Lakeview East is desirable and it can convert a net-zero property to cash flowing one. I househacked in Denver renting out my walk-out basement and it was a better financial decision than to have a long term rental.

As for timing, if you were going to rent for a year while you look for a property anyway, I'd keep living at parent's house and look at property aggressively during weekends or weekdays after work. Tour the house, walk around the neighborhood and learn the area. Skip the rent so you are ready to pull the trigger when you find a good one!

I don't have a comprehensive experience  but I tried to find the least costly one for every step for me and applicants/tenants. If you want just single platform for all, I'd go with Zillow because it is great finding and screening tenants.

Finding/screening tenants: Zillow costs $30 or $40 for applicants for screening and background, income check which they can use it for any listing within 30 days, so very affordable. Messaging and setting up tour date/time was possible. Apartments.com cost $99 for me to post and it didn't bring enough quality and serious leads for me.

Lease: Zillow provides state-specific lease (pretty basic) creation, sign, and management.

Payments: Zillow Payments exists but I set up with apartments.com since that allowed for split payment between roommates (Zillow didn't allow split payments at the time). I also used Venmo briefly which you'd have to manually create payment requests.

@Tanner Pile @Bonnie Low @Conner Olsen @Heather Loyal @Ben Einspahr @Bill B. @Jamie Banks

Thank you all for the replies! To update for anyone who runs into this post, I got the GE washer/dryer combo installed last October. Here are a few highlights:

- I wasn't getting enough leads through FF, but as soon as I decided to get it and updated my listing to include washer/dryer, I got more leads (not a ton still)

- 2-adult with a pet were interested in the unit but decided not to pursue after learning that it was a washer/dryer combo. So there are some limitations to it creating enough value, but rest of leads didn't see any issue and I was able to get the unit filled through August at the time of writing. I'm still not able to rent for higher, just same as before considering the down season during winter and changes in market

- There were few options as far as where to install, I decided to go with next to kitchen sink

- Additional thing I decided to do/pay for is replace the sump pump, as the existing sump pump was too small to handle a 1-bedroom basement per plumber. It solved the any potential sump pump smell issue that I was worried about so it was worth it!

It will be a long run to recoup the cost, but it was worth it to keep it occupied and I'll need to closely manage price according to market.

@Josh Na I too, went though a mid-term rental vacancy that I stressed over all day. Despite me being all over zillow, facebook, furnished finder, I couldn't create demand that was not there. Take small strategic changes one at a time - quick things you could try are allowing pets or lowering price. I ended up installing washer and dryer which was something I've been thinking about doing for some time, and finally pulled the trigger due to vacancy.

Hi,

I'm operating a STR turned MTR 1 bedroom basement unit. It doesn't have a washer or dryer, but I've been thinking about placing one so I can attract more tenants. I haven't had vacancy issue so far for the 3 months since STR to MTR, but I'll be entering slower months (is there slow months for MTR?) after the current tenant and I notice many tenant leads on furnished finder are looking for washer dryer in unit. The issue is, washer and dryer combo (not the stackable, the one where you can wash and dry without taking out) is my only option for now since the unit does not have vent. I'm concerned with two things:

1. does it create enough value for tenants looking for washer/dryer in unit considering its downsides such as taking long and not drying as well?

2. should I consult with plumber before investing in this? It is a basement unit and I've had sump pump smell issue when there was heavy rain, which is pretty rare in Denver.

Also looking for any suggestion or experience around this topic. Thank you all.

@Paul Kim +1 on congrats on the purchase! I'm also new to MTR, so probably not going to be able to add too much detail to what is already here. But curious is there a reason for not trying STR? For all the furnishing you'll do, might as well do both options since STR can yield more profit and you're not facing regulation if it is your primary.

Back to your question, I honestly don't know much about travel nurse situation in CO vs other locations but what I've seen in the "leads" in Furnished Finder (my property is also 10-15 min drive from multiple hospitals) it is a mix of traveling healthcare workers, digital nomads, relocation, etc. There are multiple general inquires per day, but mostly didn't match my property. Top two things that can widen the pool are: allowing pets and having a washer and dryer.