All Forum Posts by: Joel Oh

 yeah, those silo houses are cool. I wonder how they are pulling the permit for anything. I tried to convert a historical house and saw all the requirement the national historic house asked and gave up. I can’t imagine what kind of things the city ask for turning silo into a house haha

The government and HOA's favoritism toward big companies like Sonder.

People will keep say the issue is saturation. It is not the saturation from regular hosts. These numbers will never be big enough to change the whole picture. The problem is the saturation caused by gigantic companies like Marriott buying out 5k+ condo/apartments all over the USA. The worst part is somehow these big names companies are above the regulation (Well, I guess the regulation was there at the beginning because these companies lobbied the hack out the government) and they can run STR where other hosts can't run.

You think you found a good market? Just give an year or two, you will see big name companies with hundreds and thousands of listings flooding into the area. It is just laughable when places have regulations like a homeowner can only have a certain number of STR listings by the law but these big name companies suddenly start with 20 units in the first month. I saw these big companies killed so many industries before. They come in with a different name usually acquired by buying out a small/mid company, wipe the market with unlimited funds backed by fed and big banks, dry the pool and leave when there is nothing left.

I wonder if Airbnb will continuously let these big fish to swim or eventually do something.

I am expanding to more specialized Airbnb this year. I think one of my projects will get some local spotlights but wondering what the criteria for is getting OMG category. Has anyone here successfully received the category?

Be hands on and work with your guests every day. Treat it as your business and baby. You will never be behind the trend if you are the frontline of the battlefield.

More I do STR, I see this is the path. The amount of money you make is in a different digit. Of course, it comes with many different challenges. If you can pull it, do it. You should treat it as a luxury package rather than regular STR.

Oh yeah, the sales person told me i need to use a portable water softener ($30?) when i fill the water since the water is pretty hard here. Yeah the price is around 12k-15k for 7 people size. Thanks for your input! 

 Thank you! Yeah I thought it sounded too good. Do you have any rust issue? That is honestly my biggest concern.

 Wonder who "checks" that "requirements" XD. I mean you technically require a permit to replace an outlet or sink faucet hahaha

You will be surprised how often swimming pool changes its water then XD. I have an outdoor pool that easily have 1k+ people using it every season and I never had single complaint due to the water quality. (It costs 10k+ to drain, clean, refill the pool so I only do it once an year and this is pretty standard) I think it is matter of if it looks dirty or smells bad when guests use it.