All Forum Posts by: Dan Stewart

Hey Guys,

So I have two businesses that are starting to take off. Our vacation rental business and my fishing charter business. My dad has always taught me to just get things done and if you can fix it yourself, why pay someone else? In some cases where I am too far away from our properties or don't know how to do it, I have been paying others. If I can get a job done quicker with some help, I have paid a buddy to come over and help me. With my dad being an extremely knowledgeable contractor, pretty much anything that comes my way I can get done on my own or with dads help. However, lately, I am starting to wonder if I should start hiring more out. I am not getting rich by any means doing these two businesses. However, I am starting to wonder if I was hiring out more if might be able to get more accomplished doing something else more productive. 

 What are your thoughts on this? When do you know it's the right time to put more work in other peoples hands?

I would also like to start thinking about my next deal. If I do this, I will definitely need more help.

Hi @Mike Shemp

Thanks for the reply. We do the same thing. My thing is Airbnb really does not charge the "security" deposit like vrbo does. It's almost like a hidden charge the renter does not know about. Therefor the renter does not have any skin in the game. That is what gets me nervous. I tried booking our place with a different name and airbnb actually never mentions anything about a security deposit even though we have it set at $500. Vrbo takes money out of the customers account until the landlord says they are good to go. 

@John Underwood

Hi John,

We do have commercial insurance on the pontoon boat. It is pretty high and we don't make to much extra money off of it in the end. However, I think it is what draws people to our cottage and makes it rent as well as it does. We use to charge a daily rate but we decided after looking at the rental cost in the area we were way to cheap so we raised it to $250 buck no matter how many nights you rent our place. If you rent a week which most of our rentals are we then get $400 for the boat. We also charge a $500 security deposit for the boat in case of damage or insurance claims. We also make everyone sign a term and agreement that they are responsible if something happens. 

Our cleaning lady does do the boat. She did a poor job one time and we did get a lower rating because of it whichw as only a 4 out of 5. The cleaning lady definitely heard about it. Since then we have had no problems. The renters that did have a dirty boat have been back every year since. 

Everyone who rents the boat is responsible for the gas that they use. We have spliced the gas with a 3-way switch so people can take the tank up to the gas station after their rental and fill it up. This can be confusing and probably the toughest thing to deal with. Luckily, that is my parent's responsibility and I don't deal with it. Our process seems very easy but nonboaters it seems to be complicated. However, we can't make it any easier for them. 

On one of our vacation rentals, we offer the opportunity to also rent out our pontoon boat for an extra $400. This has worked out very well for us with 95% of our rentals paying extra for the pontoon boat as well. 

On my house hack vacation rental (different property) I am playing with the idea of adding other recreational opportunities as options for my rentals. I have some ideas but I wanted to see if there is anyone that offers other options for their vacation rentals to bring in extra income. Does anyone do anything like this?

@Kevin Lefeuvre

Great information! We do a Christmas letter at the end of the year thanking them for their support and add ons to our properties. We could do more. I like some of your ideas. 

We would like to get off Airbnb as well but nowhere ready for that. Our one property that is only on Airbnb will be listed on VRBO by springtime to slowly get away from Airbnb. Hopefully one day we can eliminate online sites altogether. 

Thank you all for your responses. We are going to change some things up but hopefully will continue to have awesome renters. 

@Kevin Lefeuvre I am right behind you on getting off Airbnb. We are trying new marketing approaches to hopefully keep renters coming back year after year so we can get off Airbnb. We do not like Airbnb at all. Did you do anything different to fill in your gap with renters not on Airbnb?

Thank you all for your responses. I am still a little confused as I understand that VRBO will hold a security deposit while the guest uses the place. I have noticed this while renting on VRBO. But, does Airbnb hold a security deposit out of someone account? When I try to book my place I don't see anything listed about Airbnb holding a security deposit. When I have rented on Airbnb there is no mention of a security deposit in the booking reservation. I have that we do charge a security deposit on both sites. To me, it doesn't even look like the renter knows that Airbnb does anything with security deposits? 

So I am confused. So on Airbnb and VRBO I have that we charge a $500 security deposit. When we get a booking on VRBO we receive some sort of statement saying that VRBO is holding $500 for damages or theft. On Airbnb it says nothing about security deposits even though I have it marked $500 in the security section. I just went to book our property from a family members account and it never said anything about a security deposit. I like the guest to have a little skin in the game so that is guarantees that our place is left in great condition. The way Airbnb books it doesn't look like that is possible? 

Can anyone confirm how this goes? We have always used VRBO when we have booked our family vacations and seen the $500 held in case of damages. We have never used Airbnb for our personal use. Does Airbnb withdrawl from peoples account for security deposits or do they just plan on withdrawing if there is a problem.?

Also, on another note, how does everyone feel about using booking sites to book their properties? It feels like these sites are more and more putting the guest in charge rather than the homeowner. We have had good luck with Craiglist and have thought about taking our properties off these sites so we have more control. 

Thank you for your response @michael and @dave! I'll look them up.

Does anyone have any recommendations on investing in stocks? I don't have the money currently for another property but figured since the market is doing well right now, I would invest some money in stocks while I save up for the next. 

Thanks