All Forum Posts by: Joanne Tsai

@Chris Allen

Hi, I'm new to FF, do you use their service for background and credit check? Do you ask the guests for their assignment letters? How about leases? Do you find a template somewhere? I'm in VA and new to FF and would like to know how to screen and also protect myself since I'm renting out the whole place.

Thanks!

@Natalie Schanne

Do you have any tips of navigating furnished finder? I get several requests on booking almost immediately, but now I’m a little concerned given I have never rented it out on furnished finder. Do I do credit and background check or even the lease from their website? Do I ask to see their employment or assignment letters? Or what do people typically do to protect themselves? What terms do I need in the lease?

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

@Joanne Tsai I would look at medium-term rentals first (30+ days). My city has rules against short term rentals which they define as anything rented less than 30 days but nothing against things rented longer than 30 days. So in the eyes of the city, I offer a long-term furnished rental that is marketed on Airbnb and VRBO. My gross rent is double what it was as a LTR. Hope that helps!

I just mentioned you in my reply..  I do the same in Vegas.  brilliant model really is.

yeah, I just listed it on Furnished finder and it seems it's already getting some interests. Will be talking to a lawyer today, if I have no choice but to close STR, I will explore other opportunities. Thanks! 

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Even though my city is known as 'STR friendly', I still went down in person and asked to speak with the person in charge of STRs. Not some staffer who may or may not know the actual law.

So if I were you, I would go down to the city yourself and have a face-to-face with the person in charge of STRs.

@Bruce Woodruff, it's def lesson learned, though we are out of state and we probably couldn't have gone down to do this in person though. so on the violation note, it also suggests "we can meet in person on site to discuss", I just felt it was a little weird, what clarification cannot be discussed over a phone call? what additional value does F2F really bring? in all fairness, we bought the house remotely...... am I missing something? appreciate your input. 

We like HEB (Hurst, Euless, Bedford) area. 

thanks for everyone's input.... 

so I just learned more information on this "violation". I listed my STR on 4/16, and the violation was sent to the VA address on 4/22, and my first guest didn't come in till the second week of May.

It led me to think, not neighbors complaint led to this "investigation". someone reported the listing before I even opened for business. is this being done by other competitions?  

Quote from @Carter Fleck:

@Joanne Tsai That is so frustrating! I am sorry you have to go through that. As they say, there are winners and there are learners. Hopefully this won't hit you too hard. I think someone may have mentioned this already, but I would check out two options if you for sure cannot STR:

1) Corporate rentals (30+ day rentals that tend to gross more than LTR).  Since it is close to the beach, you would probably look at 1.5-2x the amount of income if you do corporate rentals where you lease it out for 1-3 months at a time.  Prices should peak in the summer time since it is close to the beach.

2) Rent out the house by room by using a master lease (check the Hampton laws on this).  This would most likely 2x your revenue rather than just renting out the whole house as one LTR lease.

I am over here in Virginia Beach, so let me know if I can help with anything!  Good luck!

@Carter Fleck do you mind sharing how one can find the leads of corporate rentals?

do you know any RE attorneys? would you please DM me if you know anyone. Still till now, we can't find ordinance where it states it requires primary residency to be the requirement to run STR in Hampton VA. Thanks!

Quote from @Scott Trench:

Can you lease it to someone who wants to live there during the offseason and have them run the AirBnB and split profits? 

Can you do mid-term rentals to offset losses? (30-Days) This might technically not be in violation of the short-term rental rules of the city - some homework to potentially do.

I am sorry to hear about this problem, and hope that others have more helpful advice or suggestions than I have!

is your suggestion considered as a loophole? now, I am thinking one of the neighbors must be very annoyed with STR concept, cuz I've only hosted 6 groups and they have been respectful and quiet. my guess is they will just keep complaining and the splitting profit scenario will get me in trouble eventually if that's considered as exploiting the loophole? (I have no idea....)

 yes, so you are correct in that I can list it for monthly rental or longer. I can try furnished finder or list it as monthly on Zillow.... 

Quote from @Dan Maciejewski:

Ooof, that's rough. 1st, I would try to find that actual ordinance just for my own peace of mind. It looks like Hampton, VA defines a short term rental as 80% of business receipts coming from less than 92 days rental period.  Also defined here.

A quick search doesn't show me the need to live in it as a primary but I've only looked for a few minutes.

Maybe see if you can find a Real Estate Lawyer that knows the business and can give you a consult.  If you do decide that you need to sell, I would sell sooner rather than later, so I would move quickly in trying to find out if code enforcement is "misinformed" and/or if you have to fight city hall.  Or if you even want to.  I say sooner because another quick look says the market has "only" seen 9% appreciation YOY, so the rising interest rates may hit the buyer market a bit in the next few months.  

If you can't use it as an STR, hopefully it still makes sense as a long term rental, so you can cash flow, though!

I hope it works out!  Let us know what you find out.

thanks for the tips! yes, I did research it before furnishing the house and most website told me "Hampton is the most STR friendly city"! I will need to find in that 200 page ordinance to see if the officer is correct, but I don't think she would provide me the wrong information, at least not intentionally. 
Well, yes, the rental market is in very high demand in the area given it's close to a few military bases. But I spent so much effort furnishing the house out of state, and it's decorated nicely... and yes, if all venues fail, it will cash flow in the long term rental market, I just have to go through the hassle of selling furniture that I hand picked and some "refinished". 

BPers, 

sigh... I thought I did my due diligence, but apparently not so. 

We bought a house in Hampon, VA, it is 15 min walk to the beach. Instead of putting it in the rental market, I wanted to try airbnb it. So I researched to see if there is regulation there, but it seems the city is pretty friendly with STR. and AirDNA shows more than 100 properties there in the same zip code! (I was aware some stricter regulation in Virginia Beach)

So, I got a note from the code officer today about the violation. Many neighbors complaint about the properties being used as STR, and it was even escalated to the mayor of the city. I was told I had to use the property as my primary residence (stay there more than 6 months a year), then I can run a STR as accessory and that applies to the entire city, not just residential zoning. and since I don't, I am in violation, and I have to cease the operation in a month. (and that's after I just got my super host status :(

what have I missed? there is no specific language on the city website detailing the information. I asked there are more than 100 airbnb in that zip code, and many have multiple listings, so they are not using them as primary homes, she told me they don't have enough people to investigate every property, but if they get complaints, they look into it one by one. 

So is it just my bad luck, or should I have bribed my neighbors? Not sure what else can be done at this point, I actually just started enjoying running the business and getting a hang of it.