All Forum Posts by: Joseph Bafia

agree with @Nancy Bachety

Some like Venmo, PayPal, Zelle and even Google Pay.  Regardless, i have all these tied to my business account so its all tracked and comes from same place.  In our market, it's very "rural" and still very old school.  Good help hard to find, so when we land one, we do what we can to keep them happy ....and paid!

Excited to hear you're taking the plunge into STR world!

A few other items to possibly consider is HOA/POA and if there are any special STR rules or procedures. Also determine if you will self manage (which can be done) or use property manager (those fees may change your numbers significantly)

We’ve got a few STRs in the mountains of NC.  We learned what our average monthly expenses will be and then just determine if your average rate and expected occupancy exceeds that.

Don’t let this forum thread get you back into analysis paralysis, just get one picked out and pull the trigger!

We book through VRBO, but we review all guests.  We are honest and as others mentioned, they can't our review and we can't see their review.  We've had a few "bad" guests and reviewed accordingly.  Also remember that if you get a review you think is unfair, you have an opportunity to post an owners response.  

Early on we learned alot from our reviews.  If someone said "We didn't realize there were 24 steps heading down to your property, but we were able to manage it...", I'd respond with "thank you for the great review and your comments have guided us to post a picture of the staird for future guests, so we appreciate the feedback".  

Future potential guests will see your response and see that you are reasonable and accomodating.

I'm also in Raleigh and have STRs in Western NC, but ours are closer to Asheville area. Although I can't speak to the Banner Elk market, I'd be happy to share any insight on just STR investing in general as it related to our experience in Western NC.

Good luck!

Being new to the STR game, I'm learning as I go. When we converted our first property to a STR, I thought I needed a property management company and actually looked forward to hiring one so it could be a more passive investment. The issue was that after I was told the fees and did the math, I'd be making very little in terms of cashflow. This led me down the path of BP forums to piece together self-management, and through the experiences, tips and suggestions of others, we've had much success with little efforts self-managing.

Personally, I'd love to outsource the STR management, but I realize that PMs need to make money and to me the tradeoff off has not been worth it. If I'm making $1200-1500 in monthly cashflow on my STR and with PM fees, I'd be at $200-300, then I should just invest in LTRs and make it truly passive.

The other part which will lead me to the questions I would ask a prospective STR Manager is related to how a STR Manager will treat my property & guests with the same care as I would? I ask this because in our market, there is a large STR Property Management company that manages many properties. As I look at those listings, its puzzling to me how poor thier occupancy is, the significant numbers of bad reviews and then the responses to those reviews are not very good. This company in a national firm so the local understanding of the market seems to not be their strength.

That being said, if I considered a STR Property Manager, I would need to ask:

1) How would they manage and monitor pricing/occupancy ?  What methods would they use to determine best strategies?

2) Who does the communication with the guest?  A Property management employee?  A virtual assistant?  Outsourced overseas?  

3) How does this company secure local cleaners, maintenance people, etc.?  What type of business relationship does the PM have with these individuals and what loyalty do they have to the PM?

4) What is my recourse for poor reviews?  Is my fee structure tied to positive vs negative reviews?

5) Can you show me income projections for my market, expected cashflow and justify your fees to the returns I'll receive?

I know of a specific situation where a new property in our area was recently purchased by an investor. The PM company they hired handles everything. Their first 2 stays (reviewed) were both 2 Star reviews. Looking at their calendar, the rates are not inline with our market. This home is larger and much nicer than ours, yet they already are not making the income and having the "review" success we've had and I worry that this "investor" will be out of the STR game in no time once they see no profits from their investment.

Hope this helps!

Not trying to speak for @Luke Carl but i think whats being said is if you NORMALLY book guests through Airbnb, just keep the same process and direct the guest to book there.  Have them lock in all the dates they want and all the payments are scheduled and protected.

We were recently contacted by what ended up being a scam.  A guest was inquiring about a booking and said their company was paying for his rental as an "award" for his performance and wanted to get my address to send a check.  Granted this is not the same scenario as yours, but just sharing that there are scams, people  who don't pay, etc.  Why not keep it simple and just have them book through a legit platform and make it easier.

https://help.vrbo.com/articles/What-are-the-most-common-booking-request-scams#:~:text=In%20a%20classic%20overpay%20scam,send%20the%20%22overpayment%22%20back.&text=Some%20scammers%20send%20the%20correct,before%20the%20check%20has%20cleared.

Otherwise, if they really want it and you want it boked offline, collect 100% up front for any weekends they want to book and say that if you're tying up those dates that far out, you want commitment.

I'd personally not prefer an offline method.

I like the arrangement.  Currently, I am in the middle of a closing on a deal with a partner and our scenario is very similar.  

I'm securing the financing and the partner is providing the down payment.  I already have some STRs so I'm familiar with how to manage it, but I'll be showing my partner how to do it.  We have an agreement in place to allow him to purchase the property outright from me 1 year from closing at a predetermined price.  If he chooses to not purchase it, the down payment becomes a promissory note for me.  During year 1, we will split monthly profits 50/50 but agree to not take any money out monthly and hold as reserves.

Its all about a win/win for both partners.  It took us a few weeks and several discussions to come to an agreement that we both felt good about.  I think that's what you and your brother need to do is get it down in writing and how its handled.  There should be some exit strategies in place in case one of you wants to leave the deal.  You'd hate to ruin a family relationship over a real estate deal gone bad.

Feel free to reach out and I can give more details if you'd like.

@Mike Wall

So I'm lingering in the middle of Fuquay & Chapel Hill (live in Raleigh).  My son graduated UNC last year, so also a big fan of visiting the campus when I can.  I have not tackled investing in or near Triangle as my properties are in Western NC and now a duplex in High Point.  Happy to connect!

Joe

I could go both ways on this, but currently with @John Underwood.  We do allow pets at our remote cabin.  We've son about 50% of our bookings have a pet with them and we also charge a pet fee tp cover for some of the extra cleaning.  We've yet to have damage from pets but have had young kids damage items and adults put charcoal in our gas grill.

I will say that we got a 2 Star review on VRBO by a guest who titled it "Definitely Pet Friendly" ...sarcastic review going on to explain how "pet hair everywhere", and during some internal discussions we had, she explained how she was allergic to pet hair.  Our response to review was polite but also instructed future guests to seriously consider our place if allergies were an issue.

Make sure you disclose you are or are not pet friendly and pursue either way.  We feel our place brings in top rate and for that we allow pets and their responsible owners.

I'm looking to get something within a 2 hour drive of LA. Checking out areas like Bakersfield, Joshua Tree area, Escondido, etc. Doing my research as to best areas to do STR. Let me know if I can help answer anything about NC!