All Forum Posts by: Jenessa NeSmith

My only caution for using an overseas VA would be that most Airbnb users want an experience where they feel connected to the host...some VA's do not have English as their first language, and some Airbnb users may be put off by that. As mentioned above it is very easy to automate messages, and set up a template - if you wanted to set up a template and have a VA use that, you might get better results.

Evolve charges 10% for answering messages and advertising.  I haven't used them, but I think I would only be willing to pay 5% for this service.  I would be willing to pay closer to 20% if they were going to be your boots on the ground -  coordinate cleanings/maintenance and deal with emergency situations, and be on call 24/7.

I am sure someone in the BP community in your area has experience with Airbnb and would want to work out a contract with you!  Good luck and keep us posted.  

@Lance Peterson Thanks for the colleague request! I think some of the other advice above is good advice, especially when it comes to getting it in writing that short term rentals are ok. I know of people who have had success with condos, but it just makes me nervous that a HOA could come in and pull the rug out anytime. With a SFH that has multiple bedrooms, if for whatever reason Airbnb doesn't work out you have more exit strategies. You can still find places in Omaha that will at least meet the 1% rule, or even more if you are willing to consider doing some remodeling on the property. There are a lot of great realtors out there that could help you find place, let me know if you want some recommendations!

Another thing I was thinking...would you be opposed to renting a house or 2 bedroom condo with a roommate or Airbnb? Then you wouldn't have the expenditure of major repairs or the commitment if things don't work out.  Again, just a thought! 

Again, thank you everyone for the advice! Our neighbor across the street just asked my wife about an hour ago if we would be interested in managing his 4 Airbnb properties. Talk about timing...maybe it’s the law of attraction? :) It was a really informal and quick conversation, but he said to draft something up and send it over to him. Thoughts? Should I wait until I’ve gathered more information and built systems or just jump on in? If I do decide to dive in what would you recommend for our first steps and/or due diligence?

Are you dead set on a condo? There are lots of SFH in the area that you can find for under $100,000, even close to downtown. If I were you, I would find a 2-3 bedroom house in my budget that is closer to work, and then put the single rooms up on Airbnb during the week while I am there (more income than roommates, and you can also block dates when you don't feel like having guests or if you have family coming into town), and then put the whole house up on Airbnb for the weekends. Just make sure in your listing specifically states that there are personal items in some parts of the house. You could even require a minimum stay for the weekend, so you wouldn't have to worry about cleaning or turnover when you are not there.

But that is just what I would do! :) 

@Tim Thornton good for you! What got you started? Why did you think this was the way to go as opposed to other more traditional forms of REI?

You make an excellent point.  Knowing what property owners would be looking for and how to meet their needs is pretty important, as that's pretty much the whole point!  I was focused on the numbers first to decide if it would be a worthwhile venture.  1. Is there a need?  2. Will filling the need be a good use of my time/resources? and then 3. How could I best fill this need?

Maybe I am going about it in the wrong order, but right now I am trying to see if the numbers make sense before I invest any more time into it.  How far along are you in your business? I would appreciate any advice you would want to share :)

@James Carlson That's a great idea...I have a couple of friends who are agents and word of mouth is maybe the greatest advertising!

@Tyler Work Thank you for sharing your rates.  I will send you a PM this afternoon with some more specific questions if that's ok?  

@Julie McCoy Your profile says that you have a duplex that you use as a vacation rental.  Do you use a turnover service or do you do most of the work yourself? What kinds of things would you/do you want from a turnover service? 

@Matt Morgan My current rental is in the heart of Dundee, and our new one is less than a mile north of TD Ameritrade park.  We haven't had any issues with keeping it booked (we are vacant 1 or 2 nights a month), but we do lower our prices when it is the low season.  There are a lot of events, concerts, etc, and perhaps our most common reason for visiting is people that are moving cross country and are stopping for a night or two in the middle.  

@Sam Amir Thank you for sharing your rate.  I will definitely think about your advice as far as defining exactly what type of business I want.  Realistically, a two person team would only have enough time in the day to fully manage about 10 different properties without needing to outsource.  I don't want to over extend myself by offering too many different services, but I also like the idea of a "full service model".  It might benefit me to have control over the entire process, and be able to set up and furnish the rental and write the listing in a way that I already know is efficient, because I've done it before and learned form my own mistakes.  Whereas if the investor sets it up, I might be spending more time fixing their mistakes.  The biggest obstacle to scaling is the cleaning and physical turnover, and if I did want to scale beyond 10 or so properties that would be the first thing to be outsourced.  

I agree, systems have been a game changer in my personal life, so I can imagine it would be the same for my business.  Would you mind sharing some of the systems you have found most helpful, or some of the systems you implemented right away? I notice on your profile that you are an agent.  Do you find being an agent helpful in this business, as far as networking, leads, etc?

Oh my goodness - so much useful information from you guys! Thank you so much!

This for sure is not a passive income stream - managing our own Airbnbs has been very active, but I love doing it. The business does seem like it would be difficult to scale, so the goal would be to get enough clients so that it could support a partnership and trade off duties. For example, we would manage everything for 6 months and then another partner could manage everything for the other 6 months, and we split the 20% commission. So I hope to get to the point where we can replace our full time income with half time hours. Then we can have the freedom to travel, or build up our own RE portfolio, or learn scuba diving, or whatever. 

Hi there! Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post and thank you for your input. 16-30% is about what I have seen other larger companies advertising. Is there a way you could narrow that down for me? Obviously your market is different, but how much would you personally pay for a full turn-key service? My service would include cleaning, linen and towel restocking, lawn mowing/snow removal, organizing minor and last minute repairs, messaging guests, and being available 24/7 to deal with guest issues. I also have a separate website for our STRs that link to Airbnb, so was thinking about adding that service as well - including the properties I manage on this additional website as well.

For the start up section, the investors that I know have the ability and basic knowledge to convert their conventional rentals to a STR. However, most don't have the nuanced knowledge/experience that I can offer, and also just don't want to spend the time investment in doing the conversion - writing the listing, shopping, unpacking, and setting up household things, and thinking of all the small items required for a house. If they are on a budget, I am really great at finding free things and deals, so my time could translate into savings for them. I also have an in-depth local guidebook that I wrote for our Airbnb. I was thinking just having a flat start up fee for a unit depending on the size, and then working with the investor to set up a budget for household goods. Obviously it would be in both of our interests for me to maximize the budget to attract future guests.

I do have a question for you, though...you said that STRs don't have as good of a ROI as conventional rentals. Can you go into more detail on that? From my numbers, even an area like Omaha (not as popular as some other cities for some reason!) offers more of a return on a STR. Just wondering how you came to that conclusion!

Thanks again :)

So I have been an Airbnb host for about a year and a half with my primary residence (in-law suite in the basement as well as private rooms) and just got our second property up on the Airbnb market.  My wife and I do all of the work (cleaning, messaging, turnover, middle of the night phone calls, restocking essentials, etc) and we love it.  Our goal is for Airbnb to replace our 9-5 jobs until we can acquire enough properties to live fully on passive income. 

I would love to start a local company that manages listings and cleans for the Omaha area. I have spoken with several investors at local meetups that have talked about wanting to turn their rentals into STR but either don't know how and/or don't want to put the work in. I was thinking we could do all of the set up for them, as well as then managing everything afterward.

1. Has anyone started something like this? If so, how much did you charge, how did you set everything up, etc?

2. How much would you want to pay for a service like this? I was thinking 20% plus the cleaning fees?

You don't have to be in the Omaha market to answer, either, just curious if this business model has worked for other people before (either you use a business like this or started one)

Thanks!

RSVPing yes! Looking forward to it

Recommendations for a CPA in Omaha? Preferably one who knows about both real estate investing and using airbnb. Want to make sure everything is good to go before tax season comes up, and look into starting a LLC or S Corp. Thank you!