All Forum Posts by: Jamie Banks

For insurance relocation reservations I still get a full application (with background and credit check) for each person over 18. I waive the income requirements since the insurance relocation company will be paying the monthly rent. 

 The fee for tenants to pay through ACH to the landlords Baselane bank account is $0. The 2.99% fee is when tenants choose to pay through debit or credit cards. I've used other property management softwares before I switched over to Baselane and the debit/credit card fee is actually a little cheaper than other softwares. 

I would recommend using a real estate bookkeeping software that will help you with a lot of these questions. Baselane is the software I use because it's created for real estate investors. When you categorize each transaction using the software you can then create statements to understand your monthly or even yearly cash flow. 

I personally reserve 15% of my rent per month for maintenance, capex, and vacancy. The cash flow left over after reserves, my mortgage, and other expenses is the cash flow that I "pay" myself / my business. 

I've rented properties ranging from 1 bedroom (by the room) to 4 bedrooms as MTRs. Take a look at the properties in your area that are listed on Furnished Finder and Airbnb to understand which property size is best for your market. 

I recommend you list on Furnished Finder, Airbnb, and other sites. It's best to get your home as much visibility as possible. 

For my MTRs I have traditional landlord insurance because my policy defines rentals over 1 month as long term rentals. We then have an umbrella policy for additional coverage and I add damage protection to all of my reservations for additional coverage. 

Don't sell yourself short on pricing. We've all been there where a property is vacant and we start lowering the price but I don't recommend this. I would do some research on comparable properties to figure out the best pricing. 

Are you actively updating your listing? On Furnished Finder and Airbnb I recommend tinkering part of your listing whether its the listing description, updating the availability date or swapping out the first and second photo to help the algorithm. 

I don't operate in California but in the markets I currently operate in on the east coast we're coming off of slow season. Being vacant may be from seasonality.

For MTRs you should include all utilities. Travel medical professionals, and other MTR travelers, are only stating for a few months and will likely pass on your home if they have to set up utilities. 

I've cohosted in several markets all as medium term or hybrid (STR/MTR) and here's what I've done:

- Made the lease between the owner and the tenant

- Owner collects the rent and the cohost charges their fee to the owner monthly

- Small maintenance items under $300 were instantly approved per my cohosting agreement but larger items had to be coordinated with the owner because in some markets you have to be a licensed real estate agent or broker to facilitate property improvements on behalf of the owner 

If you're not able to find a PM or cohost you could always build the team yourself while still living in the area and set up the operations to be fairly automated. A virtual assistant could easily help with the day to day listing management, guest communication, and other virtual tasks. I manage MTRs in 4 different markets and my VA is doing almost all of the day to day management

You can look on Zillow for furnished comparable properties to see the pricing. I always use a few sources like Zillow, Furnished Finder, and Airbnb to find the range of MTR rents I can expect