All Forum Posts by: James Carlson

I wouldn't disagree with @Garry C. To wildly stereotype, I think the percentage of VRBO users who are more responsible and respectful is higher. I'll say, though, that in my experience, I had very few problems with Airbnb guests, and whatever problems I did have were outweighed by the megaphone that their platform provides to potential customers. But again, see what your market area is like and how listings on each platform are faring in your area . Maybe VRBO is the best option for your particular locale.

@Jeff B.. Thanks for the update. I hear a lot of people wanting to buy a place as an STR. First step has to be to check all the local zoning and license regulations. Potential STR investors need to go further and give their council office a call to see if anything is in the works.

That said, probably the best thing to do would be to buy an investment property in a location where you are allowed to do STRs. But run your numbers beforehand based on it being a long-term rental. Then, you can rent it on Airbnb, make good money, and you still have a cushion when/if the city changes the law and you have to switch to a long-term model.

Hi @Andrew Grieb. First off, congratulations on considering short-term renting. It can be give some great returns.

Airbnb has agreements with only a few cities to actually collect the lodger's tax, and my bet is that Edmond does not have an agreement. (You should check on that.) That means you'll have to collect it yourself, either in person or by lumping it into your overall price.

I think @Ariel Smith is right. Use both platforms. The pay-per-booking model is my preference as well. VRBO charges homeowners 8% per booking. Airbnb charges homeowners 3% per booking. When I did short-term rentals, I charged more on VRBO to account for the extra commission.

I think the distinction between what kind of guests use which platform is eroding slowly, but it seems to me there is still a difference. In my experience, VRBO has more whole, big houses for rent. I would say the users of VRBO tend to skew older than Airbnb's users, as well. That said, tons of people put their whole house on Airbnb, and it does have a much broader audience. (Do I know this for a fact? No. But their valuations would suggest they're doing quite well.) Maybe this difference in visibility doesn't hold in Edmond, I don't know.

Also, if you use both, be sure to use the sync calendars option to ensure you're not getting booked for the same dates on both sites.

Good luck with everything!

Hey @Steve Siran. As @Blair Russell says, there are so many tips and tricks out there. But broadly speaking, here are some thoughts:

Staging and photography

Maybe the most important step. You've got to remember that potential guests are looking at 18 listings per page and making snap judgments based on a quick glance. Remove everything that's not necessary and use Airbnb's free photography to get some nicely lit photos. (You wouldn't believe the dimly-lit-sheets-askew photos some people throw up there and hope to get booked.

Pricing

Positive reviews are one only a few factors Airbnb has publicly said affect where your listing lands in the Airbnb search results. So getting a couple good reviews quickly is key. Start your prices 20-30 percent lower. That's the only way you'll differentiate yourself in a tight market with other listings that already have reviews. Treat those first few guests like royalty. Get some great reviews, then start bumping up your price.

Calendaring

If you're looking to fully book your place (and watch out what you wish for; it's a lot of work), then learn to manipulate the minimum-and-maximum-stay feature. When you start out, for instance, you might pick a 3-day minimum stay. So then you get a booking for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and another booking for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. You're left with 2 days floating in between these stays that, because of your 3-day minimum, will not even be seen by anyone searching. As soon as you see that two-day block, then you'd go into the calendar, click on "Availability Settings" then "Add another requirement" and change your minimum-stay requirement to only 2 days for those floaters.

Be nice!

I can't emphasize this enough. Be enthusiastic and nice. This is both an offensive and a defensive tactic. It's offensive because your kindness may spill into the good review they'll leave. That's a good thing! It's defensive because I've found that even if a guest has a bad time at your place, if they like you, they don't want to leave a bad review. I've hosted tens of people who I know had something go wrong during their stay, and they either don't leave a review or leave a review that simply says the host was super attentive and nice. So in every interaction -- via message, text, email, or in person -- be nice.

Surprisingly, @Nick Moser, I don't think the hotels were the main driving force behind Denver's Airbnb law. Everything I heard at the meetings indicated that hotels wanted Airbnb hosts to play by some of the same rules -- i.e. pay lodger's tax and provide basic safety measures. But they were not anti-Airbnb in general. Their tepid resistance is likely due to record high occupancy rates at Denver hotels and record high hotel tax receipts pouring into the city's coffers. 

Really, I think it was the neighborhood associations who drove this change. If the townhall meetings were any indication, they were a minority voice -- but a very vocal one. I get their desire to not have their neighborhood turned into a commercial hotel zone, but I disagree with the extent to which Denver's law goes.

I think you're right about how Airbnb collecting taxes could short-circuit any subsequent attempts to restrict STRs. And Airbnb seems to recognize this as they have shifted their early total opposition to a more collaborative approach in recent years.

Hey @Diane Kruse. Good questions. The new law allows for up to a $999 fine per violation. A violation could be any number of things: You are renting out a room in your home without a license or you're renting out a home with a license, but the city finds out that it's not your primary residence. Technically they can fine you that $999 for violating any of those provisions.

The license costs $25. Before applying for that, you need to obtain a lodger's tax ID. I don't believe that costs anything but don't quote me on that.

And yes, Portland is having a terrible time wrangling their short-term rentals. I find this whole thing fascinating because it's a class fight between market forces and governmental control. Right now, it seems the market is winning. (Though, New York City with its recent announcement of $7,500 fines is doing its best to squash the supply side of that equation.)

For those Denver Airbnb hosts (or VRBO hosts or short-term rental hosts of all stripes), I thought I'd leave a brief update here. I attended the Denver Short Term Rental Advisory Committee on Tuesday, and they had some more information about how compliance with and enforcement of the new Denver Airbnb law is going.

As background, the city council in June passed the new ordinance, which legalized certain short-term rentals but also prohibited anyone from using a second home or investment property to do STRs. The law goes into full effect Jan. 1, 2017. The advisory committee was set up to help implement the law.

Here are the highlights:

• 80 to 85 licenses have been issued so far, a mere fraction of what are likely thousands of listings
• 200 or so compliance letters have been sent to hosts
• 2 inspectors will be dedicated to Airbnb compliance (though what exactly "dedicated" means is unclear)
• a Short Term Rental Coordinator position has been created in the excise and licenses division

I am very interested to see how compliance with this law pans out. Portland passed a similar measure in early 2015, and as of August of this year, less than a quarter of hosts have complied.

Hey @Chris Frydenlund Awesome idea. Tiny homes, container homes, Airstreams ... they're all pretty cool and desirable, in my opinion. You were asking about minimum stay requirements. A strategy that I've used and tell students in my Airbnb class to consider is to set a minimum stay that you're comfortable with. And then fill in gaps by creating a special minimum stay requirement for floating dates.

For example, when I was running a couple Airbnbs here in Denver, I used a 3-day minimum stay. So, I might get someone who booked a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then a separate guest who booked Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That leaves Thursday and Friday dangling there and without the possibility of getting booked because your 3-day minimum will block those two days from coming up in anyone's search. So as soon as I saw those dangling dates on my calendar, I'd go to my calendar, click on "Availability Settings," scroll to the bottom and under the min/max stay boxes, click on "Add another requirement." Then you can set a 2-day minimum for those two floaters. I was able to stay booked around 25 days a month using this. It allows you to book most of your stays at a turnover rate you're comfortable with, but also allows you to plug in holes. Just two holes like that in your calendar that get filled could be $600 difference at the prices you're talking about. 

Good luck. 

@Giordano Rodriguez , sounds like a really nice property. Congrats on the deal. I love the idea of Airbnb-ing your container home. A quick glance at Airbnb.com shows there are a lot of people doing short-term rentals right there and doing well. Looks like prices range from $150 to $200 a night in Haverstraw. If you can manage your pricing and calendar correctly and create a nice space for guests, you could make a good penny doing that. Of course, your profits will diminish if you're not managing the rental yourself. And full management of STRs can run between 20-30% of rents. Something to consider.

Very cool concept though. I'd love to stay in a cool container home on the Hudson.

@Joan L. I include language that says the tenant shall not sublet, or attempt to sublet, on Craigslist, Airbnb, VRBO, Flipkey or any other short-term rental platform. I go a bit further and say that any finding that they have sublet or attempted to sublet (by listing the space on Airbnb or elsewhere) will result in forfeiture of a certain percent of their deposit.