All Forum Posts by: Dan Bunker

I've automated very similar to what has been outlined here but my costs are closer to $30 a month for AWS servers and databases. Being a software developer/consultant before investing in STRs allowed me to automate anything I need to on my custom platform. I run 6 properties now with no employees and around 10 minutes of my time needed every week. Learning to code or partnering with a software person can save you tons over the life of your business. You can also hire out the work but if you don't understand what can be done and how to do it, you usually end up building your custom software several times and the ROI goes out the window.

There are some good off-the-shelf solutions as mentioned though, which is a great option if you don't want to DIY. 

Yup, I posted about this last week. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/817582-coming-soon-to-a-vacation-town-near-you

STR owners need to get ready to weather the storm no matter where you reside. In my area they are issuing misdemeanors and some jail time to those breaking the ban (even out camping on BLM land). They can't be everywhere but they just need to make an example of a couple ordinance breakers to be effective. Good luck!

I get the limited resources and what not. Moab's situation isn't much different than St. George with Zion or any other small town by a national park (West Yellowstone, etc.). I know St. George is bigger but ventilators there to population size is probably comparable. Anyway, I'm not bummed about trying to protect the health of the community and as a result I lose with my STRs. What I am disappointed about is how they went about it. A 9 hour window to shut everything down and then threats of legal action starting after that 9 hour window. We really didn't have any advanced notice. Even if we had 48 hours we could have had a better chance of talking to guests about the problem and then trying to move them to fall time or whatever. At this point I have guests cancelling even out to fall now because they think Moab is the plague and no one wants them there. This hurts many more locals than it does me and it makes me sad for my cleaners, handy guys and all others now that it's a ghost town.

There are 3 counties in this part of Utah that have put together a Southeast Health Department. As of last year they started requiring STR owners to purchase a health license to legally operate an STR in these 3 counties. The health department issued the mandate and the county and town are enforcing. It was interesting in the legal/gov doc they sent out. They said they would be issuing class B misdemeanors for every night they found guests in a property and claimed they would go door to door knocking and checking. They certainly don't have the manpower to do that so it's an idle threat but one that "encourages" compliance.

Things were going well until my vacation rental town I own in literally shut the entire town and county down. If you think your in the woods/wilderness cabins and homes are immune to this right now, you might want to reconsider. Moab is about as remote a place in the US where you'd think would be a good place to get away from it all. The health department in these counties even closed camping anywhere in the county even if you're 100 miles from anyone else. They managed to shut down the wilderness for any non-locals. STR's and hotels were given a 9 hour notice to clear all reservations starting the next day for 14-30 days. Interesting times.

https://moabtimes.com/2020/03/17/moab-hotels-now-closed-to-nonlocal-visitors/

If you're going to build your own site, you should make it more than just a place to book your rentals but more like a vacation guide for your area. I own several places in Moab, UT and that's what I did. Guests love the tips on restaurants, hikes, etc. Plus they can come back and book directly or use Airbnb or VRBO. I build and manage all my own software from reservations to the data science, listing management and SEO pieces. I'd be happy to give you a quote for a site or ideas if you want to PM me. I've been building and consulting in software far longer than building my real estate portfolio.

All my STR's came with bookings. Wasn't a big deal. At one I got a check for 15K at closing and a list of bookings I had to honor. There's no better way to buy property than to have it come with $$. Others were with a management company. I just had them manage it until the last booking and then took over. I lost out on some commission for a couple of months but in the long run not a major problem. There are lots of ways to deal with this and it's a common thing if you are buying in a true vacation area.

@Brandon Metzler Give vpinsight.com a look as well. They roll up the airbnb and homeaway data. Another great option is to track down some hosts around you and just ask them about occupancy, etc.

@Dennis Gallof

Check out vpinsight.com. It analyzes your comparable nearby market and gives you numbers on exactly what occupancy and rates are in your area. It currently doesn't autoprice but that feature is coming. It does show you rates each day on a calendar and can tell you if you are low or high or right on though.

Airbnb price tips are notoriously low. However, after playing around with using those in a few off season times, Airbnb will reward you in search rankings if you use their price tips. If you're looking to get some bookings or reviews or are just getting started, it may be worth using those tips.

@Pavan Mediratta

I've built my own systems that automate the keycodes in one of a few ways. I can import the ical calendar from my listings and it sets the code to the last four of the renters phone number based off of the arrival date. I also have a reservation system I have that I can manage codes through. I've been thinking about making it a software SaaS product others can use for the Hub and Nest lock management. If anyone would be interested in something like that, reach out to me.