All Forum Posts by: Justin Knighten

I looked at several other places in the area for future bookings.  They are very sparse everywhere for next year, maybe a weekend or two booked here or there.  These places seem to be more of a few day getaway than places that people book for a week for their yearly family vacations.  We could "afford" to keep it with low bookings, but I don't really want to have to come out of pocked with a significant amount of money every month.  We would use it ourselves some.  It's by a river, about a half mile or so walk, about a 1/4 mile from an outfitter that does boat/tube rentals.  I think that's a big draw for people.  My biggest concern would be whether the higher numbers this year are purely Covid related and whether I can expect those same numbers year over year...

Thanks for all the replies.  The place is listed at 189, fully furnished. It's by a river, so the bulk of listings come in the spring, summer, and fall, with not much at all during the winter.  

Is there a way to look back and see what kind of rates/occupancy similar places had over the summer?  Looking forward on AirBnB there aren't a lot of bookings in this area for the next few months making that somewhat hard to gauge. 

I'm looking at a vacation rental cabin.  The seller has owned it for 2 years and has given the following numbers.  Year 1, gross of about $12,000.  Year 2, gross of about $24,000.  This was over 2019/2020.  He says that in year 1 he had lower rates in an attempt to get more bookings and set himself up for Superhost status on AirBnB.  Year 2 he was able to raise the rates due to the Superhost status and I would assume more bookings along with the increased visibility. I wonder how much of the increase is due to Covid (it's 1.5 hours from the DC area) and what I can expect going forward.   

I've never done short term rentals before; does this sound legitimate?  The difference between year 1 and year 2 is significant and would obviously be the difference between losing money and turning a decent profit.  How hard is it to become a Superhost, is that the end-all be-all of this business, and how long could one expect to take to get to that point?  

Thanks for any help.

I'm looking into building a detached ADU on my property like the garage pictured (apartment for rental/AirBnB upstairs, garage for me on the main level). I've talked with the planning department and it looks like I'd be in the clear as far as zoning and such. Where do I go from here? I need to get a rough estimate on the cost in order to figure out if it's something we can afford/that makes sense for us. I don't want to waste a bunch of contractors time if I'm just a tire kicker. How should I go about getting a good ballpark estimate on a project like this?

I’ve never used them but Matchbox seems to do a pretty good job.  The guy that owns that company owns a lot of property here and they are well kept and appear to be well managed.

I've gone through 3-4 Canon printers in the last year.  They are a massive PITA to set up, the one we have now powers off after a bit of not being used, usually requires sending the print request multiple times, and they typically just stop working after a few months, giving an error code that says "I'm not going to work anymore".  These were admittedly the cheapest I could find, but I expected at least a year or two.  I don't mind spending a little bit more on one (would like to stay in the $100 range), to get something reliable.  I don't do a huge amount of printing, maybe 20-30 pages a month average.  I'd like something that is easy to set up/operate as well, I'm not an IT guy by any stretch.  Anyone have any suggestions?  

I'm considering having a 2 story detached garage built on my property with an apartment above it that we could rent out long term or, ideally, AirBnB out.  I've found a company called Sheds Unlimited that sells what I think I'm looking for and it'd be about $40,000 delivered and installed.  It'd be bare wood on the inside and I'd have to have it finished out.  I know it varies from place to place, but what is a rough number on what the concrete foundation (24x30) and finishing out ~700 feet of apartment would cost?  I can do a some of the work myself but would sub some out.  

Anyone have any experience with this company or concept?

My home is served by a shared well, it's on my property and two other homes have rights to it.  I'd like to build a detached garage with an apartment above it.  Ideally, I'd run a water line from my basement out to the new building to supply it.  I've pulled the legal agreement to see how things are set up.  It reads "Now therefore in consideration of these premises each party shall pay 1/3 of the regular utility costs of operating the well.  Each party shall also pay 1/3 of the cost for repairing and maintaining the well.  The first parties (this would be me) grant to the second and third parties (the neighbors) an easement for the use, operation, maintenance, and repair of the well and the lines running from the well to the respective parties residences."

The way I read this, is it's my well, and I can run another bathroom off of it without having to change anything regarding this agreement or seeking the neighbors blessing/permission.  Does that sound right or am I off base with this?  Thanks for any help.

I know the answer can vary, but what is the typical cost to completely outfit a roughly 6-700 square foot 1 bed apartment to be rented out on Airbnb?  I think I'd be able to find some things used to save on furniture and other bigger ticket items.  Things like linens and such would be new.  

What do you do to cheaply cover stairs?  I have a townhouse that is college housing.  I've put a durable laminate in the downstairs, and am planning on doing to same upstairs when the carpet is too worn to be reused.  My question is on the stairs.  The treads that match the flooring are very expensive, and it'd cost me $1000-$1500 to use those.  The laminate by contrast is well under $3/ft. I have considered just having carpet reinstalled on the stairs, the price on that would be in the $400 range.  I've also considered removing the carpet and putting a durable paint on them.  Again, this is college housing, so I won't have high-end expectations from tenants, but I also don't want it to look ridiculous.  What have you done to cheaply cover steps?