All Forum Posts by: Julie McCoy

@Roy N. - What @Shelby Pracht said.  Hence my use of "minor".  

If you don't want to take on this deal, you can follow @Thomas S.'s advice - doubling rent and/or taking 50% of income would almost certainly take every bit of their profitability in a Los Angeles market.  I'm in talks with an owner for a similar deal in LA, in a very hot part of town, and if I bring in double the rent I'll be THRILLED.  (don't forget the tenants are also taking on all the utilities, etc. as additional expenses - they won't make a dime until all those things are covered, plus they're furnishing it)

Asking for a (lesser) cut or a somewhat higher rent is certainly an option, and I believe a lot of landlords in your situation do exactly that.  But double is outrageous and the potential tenants would not be wise to accept such an offer.

@Shelby Pracht has an accurate take - these tenants are HIGHLY motivated to keep your property in its best possible shape, as doing so is necessary to their continuing to do business!  It will get cleaned regularly, minor repairs will be made promptly (and they should be handling most of that on their own, not bugging you about it), and in all likelihood the people who actually stay there will be out and about for the most part vs. living in the space.  @Myka Artis is absolutely correct that you should look at their current listings and read the reviews - that will give you a very good sense of how they will care for your property.  And as @Michael McKay and others have said, BE SURE that the tenants have commercial insurance designed for VRs - your landlord policy doesn't!  Proper and CBIZ are two companies that specialize in such insurance.

I'll be curious what you decide to do!

The owners in my market rave about VRBO, but 95% of my bookings come from AirBNB - and I love AirBNB!  I've found their fee structure to be simple and inexpensive (VRBO, on the other hand, had undisclosed fees that pissed me right off), and the interface is VASTLY simpler to use.  I have had no problems with controlling my listing.

I'm experimenting with Booking.com - they're a PITA and have a high level of control over your listing, AND you have to process the credit cards yourself, but I've already gotten two bookings as a brand new listing (in a very slow season), so I'm going to give them a shot for a couple of months - but a lot of people decide they're more trouble than they're worth.

As for being able to break even, that's really going to come down to your particular market, expenses, and skill as a manager.  The fees on the various platforms shouldn't be the difference in whether you make money or not.

Paul Sandhu Why would it be illegal to claim a new mattress as a deduction, if it’s being used for business purposes? (And why could you claim it after 2-3 years?) Genuinely curious, especially since my STR has four new mattresses in it (since I bought/furnished it this year)

I'm no expert, I'd recommend researching the local laws, but I can't imagine why you couldn't do that.  You may want to use caution in your verbiage (e.g. "private entrance" vs. referring to it as its own unit) but if you can legally rent a room in your home (to a roommate), I see no reason you couldn't rent the whole floor.  No law says you have to share space or interact.

As you noted, selling as a duplex would be a different matter entirely :) 

Hi Michael,

Good luck with the venture!  I'm always interested in new places to list my VRs.

#1 - How are you structuring your fees, if not per property?  Whether it's a flat fee up-front like VRBO, or a percentage of bookings like AirBNB?  (personally, I encourage the AirBNB model, I loathe VRBO's fee structure)  This seems to be the easiest thing to enforce from my POV, unless your model is people pay for their individual membership and are permitted to list as many VRs as they like.  

I'm curious about the vehement opposition to PMs listing - sure, I'd RATHER not have all that competition, but certainly many of us are scaling our portfolios to have many doors, so it becomes semantics after a certain point, IMO.  Unless they're suggesting that anyone who lists must be the actual owner of the property?  I believe that will limit your pool dramatically, as there are many VR owners who don't want the hassle of personally managing their property.

#2 - You're never going to filter out every scam artist in the world, if they're really determined.  How do the major players vet their listings?  Don't reinvent the wheel here.  Re: postcard method, it's not foolproof but it's pretty good... I have an awful time with it b/c I bill all my utilities to my residence, and there's no mailbox at my VR, so theoretically no way to verify my totally legitimate house.  (I've gotten around it by setting up mail forwarding from that address, which has so far successfully caught one out of three postcards)

#3 - Once again, how do the major players do it?  It's been awhile since I signed up with AirBNB, but I believe they make you submit government ID and a selfie (that you take that moment) so they can match it up.  I don't want to vet all that crap.  I want to know the person requesting a booking is who they say they are, and then I decide if I want to rent to them or not based on the merits of their request and their past booking history.

My overall recommendation is to rethink your approach to these problems a little bit - first, look to the established, successful companies and model yourself after their methods.  If you think there's a flaw in their method, examine what could be done to fix it.  But I think you're causing yourself unnecessary stress by looking at these (admittedly complex) issues as things you have to solve from the ground up.  Companies have already spent millions of dollars figuring out what's going to work - take advantage of that and just see what you can do to improve it!  :) 

Thanks @Richard White and @Account Closed!  

Richard, one of the reasons I think of targeting entertainment pros is because my landlord frequently rents out his unit to them - we've had actors/actresses and, recently, a director of photography stay in his unit for 1-3 month stays.  They've all been great tenants and I'm sure he gets a pretty penny for it.  So, there's a market, but how much of one is what I'm trying to pin down.  (That said, it doesn't surprise me at all that studios usually provide, I'm sure they have agreements with corporate rental companies, etc.)

Re: Oakwood, I remember looking at an apartment years and years ago and being so shocked by the rate I never looked again, LOL

I'm definitely not opposed to using AirBNB/VRBO as a marketing platform for any/all of this; in fact, I plan on it.  And I definitely want nightly rentals to "fill the holes" as it were - I'm just hoping to cut back on some turnover with the longer stays, for my own mental health :D 

Regardless, after some reflection and research I'm virtually certain I'm going to move forward, but I continue to welcome input!

I second @Eric A.'s advice - make him sign a lease, and you should do verifications just like you would for a long-term tenant.  Hopefully everything is on the up-and-up, but if it's not, you want to have as much forewarning and ammunition as possible in case this turns into an eviction or similar.

I️ have smart TVs with Roku interfaces that look great and are easy to operate - and they’re inexpensive! (Fewer devices = less confusing = better) If you’ve got good internet all you need is that and a Netflix subscription (I️ also include Amazon Prime and HBO Now because I️ have those services anyway for personal use). I️ don’t think there’s any need for cable in general. That said, internet is NOT very good at my rural rental and doesn’t support streaming very well, so I️ found a good cable bundle that’s getting installed soon, and I’m building a DVD collection.

Hey all! I'm looking for anyone who has experience in the STR/Corporate rental space in Los Angeles, specifically in the Hollywood area - would love to get your first-hand opinions on the following:

I have a lead on a great house in the Hollywood Hills where the owner is willing to do a master lease agreement with me.  It has three rentable units (1/2 + office, chef's kitchen, view;  MIL suite - no kitchen; and 2/1 unit on the ground floor) with three parking spaces.  There's one premium unit, the other two are fine but nothing fancy.  Fantastic location in an upper-middle-class neighborhood with great accessibility to Hollywood, Universal City, Burbank, Studio City, etc.

I want to focus on traveling professionals for mid-term stays (entertainment professionals, medical professionals, other corporate-style travelers), but am open to short-term stays as well, as Hollywood is obviously a tourist-centric area.  Do any of you have experience with occupancy rates etc. that would help me determine if this is a good investment?  I'm looking at AirDNA but I don't fully trust their data - I'd rather have first-hand accounts.  I'm also checking comparable properties on AirBNB and VRBO.

The amount I'd be leasing the property for is still under discussion, and obviously is a key factor, but I'm trying to assemble accurate numbers from my end.  It will be a sizable financial commitment (I may bring in a partner), so due diligence is of utmost importance. :)  Thank you!