All Forum Posts by: Christian Hutchinson

Without getting into my business model...

I rent housing to medical doctors in Metro Detroit on Training.  Everyone in the house is a doctor, medical student, resident.  Someone could be a 4th Year Medical Student from Seattle doing a 4 week ENT Rotation.  Someone could be from Saudia Arabia here for 3 month 'fellowship' in Cardic Intervention Techniques. Someone could be here from Nepal who is a doctor in their home country but wishes to complete residency in the USA, and is completing a Step 1 or Step 2 exam.

Point is people will do things such as take people's laptops or backpacks.  Or they have money to pay for their housing stay, but then they meet someone from their home country less fortunate and then they allow them to stay with them, or 'crash' on the couch.  Two guests will be Argentina and they will celebrate a big win in the World Cup and leave the kitchen trashed for 2-3 days, or more.  You don't know who created the mess.  If we clean it up, it encourages them to be irresponsible, if we 'fine' everyone in the house it creates a problem.

A guest might be headed to Boston for their next training rotation and the other returning to South Sudan, and they see the trunk where we keep extra pillows, blankets, etc.  They decide to help themselves to these blankets.  Well, 2 people left on the same day. Their Flight was at 6AM and 3AM.  When I show up at 10AM I just see everything is gone. How do I know who stole?

These people are vetted, they are referred through the hospitals they are providing training. This isn't a 'typical' boarding house. But as you see we still have certain challenges because people are people.

We tried to not have cameras, but the breaking point was I showed up one-time on a Saturday morning at 5AM and found two people sleeping on the couch.  Okay maybe they were hanging out and stayed the night. That would just constitute a warning.  But instead, everyone in the house said they didn't know who the people were or denied there was someone in the living room sleeping (I took a pictures). Once that happened I realized that people were openly blatantly breaking the rules and there would be potentially more issues.

Every door has electronic locks with a personalized door code only the guest has (I have a key and a owner code). The front door to enter the house has a code.  But I caught a non-guest enter the house one-time with the code.  I was there cleaning the person opened the door and I was standing right there. Again, upon questioning no one could say who this person was.  

Quote from @Jon Martin:

Quote from @Christian Hutchinson:

This would be like telling a hotel you can't have interior cameras in their hallways to to their individual rooms.

Horrible comparison. I don’t prance down a hotel hallway in my underwear, but I do expect to be able to do that in a kitchen of a house I rent. A kitchen or interior hallway inside a home is still a private space where I expect exclusive and private control over, whereas a hotel hallway is a shared space where privacy is not expected.

While I’m not a fan of a lot of their policies and priorities, I don’t think AirBnb is out of line with this one. 

 The KITCHEN is shared with other guests. You are not in a house by yourself.  There are other people renting rooms. Walk into a house.  Think like a ski lodge...its a 6000 sq ft home.  The living room with the TV (no camera).  The kitchen (camera).  The hallway that accesses private bedrooms, bathrooms (camera), stairway (camera), entry door - exterior (camera). Bathrooms, bedrooms are not being monitored.  Think of walking through a Hampton Inn. There are doors on each side of you...That Hallway has a camera.  The ice machine/vending machine lobby has a camera, the 2nd,3rd,4th floor elevator lobby has a camera.

Quote from @Matthew Crivelli:

Quote from @Christian Hutchinson:

So you wouldn't stay in a hotel with a camera in the hallway? stairway?, or elevator lobby?

This isn't renting a whole house/unit.

Imagine its 6 rooms in a building.  Having cameras in the hallways these rooms go to is a problem? or the shared kitchen.

Someone steals someone's food, or cooks a meal leaving the area dirty? how do we assign responsibility?

Does each room have an individual bathroom? 

 one room does, the other 5 rooms share 2.5 bathrooms. the cameras have no views of the bathroom doors.

Like I said, kitchen, stairway, entryway and common hallway.

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

In a hotel, you cant have cameras in the rooms. Anywhere privacy is expected, which is anywhere within the space being rented, and in a house that includes the common areas, you cant have cameras.

What are you going to do when someone walks from the bathroom to the bedroom naked. Now youve recorded someone in the nude. What if its a child? Now youre going to prison for 20 years and registering as a sex offender because you inadvertently created child pornography.

 I have a clothing policy because its mixed-gendered housing.

There are shared hallways and stairways.  And people are not renting the whole building. 

So you wouldn't stay in a hotel with a camera in the hallway? stairway?, or elevator lobby?

This isn't renting a whole house/unit.

Imagine its 6 rooms in a building.  Having cameras in the hallways these rooms go to is a problem? or the shared kitchen.

Someone steals someone's food, or cooks a meal leaving the area dirty? how do we assign responsibility?

Hello,

I have a property I rent rooms out to individuals. I literally had cameras installed last week.  AirBnB is one of the platforms I use.  I installed them in the common hallway, the entry door, kitchen, and a common hallway where there are multiple rooms.

How does Airbnb expect people to monitor their properties.  People may attempt to break-in to others rooms.  There are things such as damages to common areas, theft, unauthorized guests, etc.  The cameras are not in bathrooms or bedrooms. Literally Hallways and a kitchen.

This would be like telling a hotel you can't have interior cameras in their hallways to to their individual rooms.

I have a house that is 4000 sq ft. I am planning to rent to medical students/residents

I have 4b/2.5ba for 4000 sq ft.  They will share a kitchen. We also have a laundry room. And living room with Tav and couches. I also have provided cookware, and kitchenware, plates, bowls.

I have put electronic locks on their bedroom doors. Each bedroom has a Smart TV, Desk and queen/king bed.

any rules I need to set specifically?

Whats your cash in, and projected rents?

Originally posted by @Kimberly Johnson:

Wow! The wisdom you've shared is priceless. Thank you both so much the real scenarios and crunching the numbers. I NOW have a new longer term perspective on the BRRR method. Cashflow for the first year or so is realistic, but it sounds like the location and quality of renter is super important to "lower" the risk of being sued, cost of evictions, and having my appliances stolen!!! I may look at the suburbs of Detroit, as suggested by someone earlier in this convo. This means I may pay a little more for the property but the area may mean higher cashflow. Another take away is to do minimum updates to make the property liveable. Does anyone add a "clause" in their lease related to the first $100/200 of repairs being the responsibility of the tenant? Has it worked/not worked? Also, I considered condos downtown for Airbnb. I just hate not owning the land and structure and of course paying HOAs. Are either of you doing short term rentals? @Paul S. @Christian Hutchinson

@Kimberly Johnson

I tried that short-term rental game twice.  My first one was on North End studio, it was $50/day.  I got 20 bookings in 3 days. But I started looking at the profiles of the renters they were all local. 90% of them were female, and 2 days or less.  2 of the people booking booked weekly, for 2 days each week.  I got a really nervous.  Something felt off. I pulled the property cancelled the listing and kept it long-term.

Then I posted another property in Brush Park at $90/day.  But then on weekdays is would be between $65-$75 per day.  Again, same sort of bookings.  Right before Covid hit, we decided we were going to go back to long-term rental, because the short-term crowd, drew a certain type clientele.  That frankly, I don't want to associate with.

If you can do a property thats over $100/day, its worth it.  But if you have 2+ bedrooms watch out.  If you can't get more than $75/bedroom/day you attract a certain type of crowd.

Thats what I experienced. 

I think, they will be pretty responsive. I had a shooting happen a few doors down from a property in 2016.  I had the whole incident on camera.  License plates, who came and went from the house, etc.  I called the precinct and told them I had the whole incident on camera.  I just sent them footage, and arrest were made.

DPD can be unhelpful.  But if I have video footage, and the person's name who did it.  They will fill out a report.

Also, on tenant prospects if you show you are securing the building/area and you will be present.  Tenants behave differently.  Plus you aren't filling out an apartment building, its 2 units not 10.