All Forum Posts by: Julie Groth

Does anyone offer trip insurance to guests? I think it is a way to earn a small commission if they do buy it. Plus, gives me peace of mind if someone cancels and I have to be firm about not refunding their money.

Which company do you use?

Does anyone offer trip insurance to guests? I think it is a way to earn a small commission if they do buy it. Plus, gives me peace of mind if someone cancels and I have to be firm about not refunding their money.

Which company do you use?

The other way of looking at this (as my buddy does), is that you are the first point of contact in a city being visited by your guests (each will spend $1000+ while here). If I have 6 guests, that's $6000 x 4 weekends per month. They trust you, you have a relationship with them. Once you set up the business with some kind of affiliate links/coupons/however...then it is a system that you can set and forget, right?

Does anyone upsell to guests as a systemized business model? You know, travel insurance, art work, local restaurants, special cake delivery, laundry service (for their kids at college), car service, special events, etc...etc.

I know someone who is hiring a full time person to manage just this aspect (so, it will cover their salary plus make money). 

Is it worth it? How much upside is there?

Someone in SFH investing told me that the law regarding the licensing of mobile home parks had changed (I think sort of recently) so that no new licenses could be issued. Not sure if this is a state level thing or federal or even a 'thing'.

Does anyone know about this?

The person who told me doesn't know anymore than what I wrote here.

As many beds as possible, while having one king, 2 queens (if possible). Doubles are good. Bunks are ok too if they have a tilted ladder (go try climbing into a bunk bed as a adult!). Sleeper sofas-good.Have some roll aways that you keep in a closet plus some queen air beds. 

 A 3 bedroom house might very well attract groups. Like me and my friends get together every year. There are 8 of us and all of us want our own bed! 

It's going to be very hard for you to control WHO exactly rents your place. I have lots of groups of young people who are there to party in my city. They are perfectly fine in my house. I have a Noise Aware monitor and strict rules about no parties or loud noise. 

Hard to know who is loud too. My friends (all women and all up there in age) are ridiculously LOUD. So, we book places that are not up close to other houses...we are considerate, after all. :)

One of the loudest guests I've had was a young couple with a toddler-the child screamed constantly and banged pots/pans!

I see several comments about the 'style fitting the market'. I don't really get that. Personally, I'm not so fond of nautical if I rent a beach house (although I'm a sailor and love nautical) or woodsy if I rent a cabin. Most of the time, the 'upscale' aspect of that kind of design is simply not there, it becomes sort of kitschy/cheapish.                                                                                                                            If one rents an upscale hotel, there is a certain look to that. Obviously, that varies somewhat but not by a lot. Even European upscale and U.S. are sort of the same overall look. People know it when they see it. You walk into a lobby of a hotel like that and words like "wow, upscale, modern, very cool, really really nice, well designed, professional, hip, etc" would apply. And doesn't that have a sort of universal appeal, regardless of where you rent? 

Why wouldn't you go for an upscale look to maximize the price potential regardless of your market?  (throw out the outliers to answer this question)

Your biggest (and only real viable) stick that you have is the $3,000 that you owe him. Who wants to go to court!? He is a liar-I've had that same scenario/attempts at your scenario happen many times. It's a weird vortex of con men that all tell the exact same story...

 If I were in your shoes, I would: (1) call and talk with him. Tell him that HE has to pull permit and pass final inspection. For electrical, it is usually a separate permit from the general building permit. The building permit can be pulled by a homeowner (in our city) but not the electrical permit, which has to be under a licensed electrician. (2) give him x number of days to get the final passed by the electrical dept or he is fired. Put the notice in writing via email or text. HOW he gets that final passed is up to him (he might do it under a buddy of his), but you don't want him paying off the city inspector (it happens) and you end up with faulty wiring, so (3) hire a licensed electrician to inspect the work for you. Should be a couple hundred bucks. They might be able to  finish and file the job and get it passed if you have to fire your first electrician. Joe probably did not wire the house to code and there will be changes that need to be made to pass electrical.

Also know that you may have to pull a building permit. You may be fined. If you have already closed any walls, you also may have to open them back up. 

Good luck!

Once you've input your data (income/expenses), is filing the required quarterly forms for state and federal something that is a push of the button, so to speak?

I use QB desktop now and filing forms is not much of an option. I use Paychex now but will add 3 more S-corps in 2020.

Trying to decide whether to go with a bookkeeper or QB Online?

Anyone use QB Online for the quarterly filings? 

#1-DON'T BE AFRAID. Yes, horrible things may happen but in all likelihood, they won't. I've been doing this for 20+ yrs and most of the actual problems never showed up.  #2-don't pay another penny and hold firm-you definitely want the right inspections/passed. Communicate reasonably with him-tell him your expectation.  There are many potential solutions to this problem.He  could probably get a buddy with a license, you can bring in another electrician, meet with another contractor-ask for their suggestion...etc.