All Forum Posts by: Lauren Kormylo

If you want to sleep on someone's sofa like it was when Airbnb started,  it's still cheaper than a hotel, LOL.  But renting an entire apartment or house is not cheaper than a hotel room, which is only a bedroom and bathroom.  So don't worry about what they think. 

Airbnb has never sent me an email like that.  My cleaner charges $330.  I charge the guests $230.  There is no way I can bundle the entire cleaning fee into the nightly rate, as my average stays are 3 or 4 days.  So know that Airbnb is doing what's in their best interest, which may or may not be in yours.  And carry on as you've been doing.

Vrbo charges hosts 8%.

I have heard of hosts getting this message.  Vrbo won't be happy to see that Sinistar is poaching their hosts.  Sinistar is an unfortunate name, for sure.  

I'm a member of a Facebook group called STR Homes for Sale. It has 99K members.

The 10% is probably for ordering items and being there when goods arrive, unboxing and removal of packing materials, assembling any furniture that needs it, placement and moving things around, putting up artwork, and washing new plates, silverware, cooking pans, coffee carafe, prewashing all sheets, towels, and linens etc. 

I completely outfitted my 4 bedroom house from scratch a few years ago, and it was a huge amount of time and work.  And money.  It cost about 30k to buy everything.  10% of that would have been cheap if I had paid someone to do it. 

Remember that if you later take over and manage it yourselves, you'll need to start a new account from scratch - your previous reviews with that property manager won't transfer. Bookings are lower in the beginning, when guests don't have reviews to read. So if that's your goal in the near future, you should start off by just managing it yourself.  

I agree with others, it's not a good idea because of liability.  There are too many people with alcohol problems, whether they're abstaining or they drink too much.   Giving them liquor when you don't know the situation is not good.  

I have a 4 bedroom and allow up to 9 people for the same base price.  But I do have an extra guest fee of $20 per person per night, just to be able to recoup money if guests decide to have a party and have a bunch of extra people over.  I haven't had to use it in the 3 years I've hosted, but it's there in case.

I stayed in an a place this summer with 2 bedrooms and 3 queen beds.  We had 4 people total, and I had to pay extra for more than 2 people at $30/night per person.  I didn't like that, the total price jumped way up when 2 more people were added in.  It feels like nickel and diming.  It sounds like your cleaner is charging more no matter how many people stay, so I would recommend upping your nightly rate a few dollars to make up the $50.  Otherwise, guests will try to sneak people in to save a few bucks. 
My cleaner is high too, $330 per stay.  I found that by dropping the cleaning fee to $230 and increasing the nightly rate by $30, I got more bookings.  Guests don't like to see high additional fees.  

Exactly. Don't forget the cost to furnish the house, including linens, kitchen stuff, etc. Some owners don't want to put out tens of thousands more to outfit a high quality STR. As you say, some don't have the time to manage it themselves. And hiring a property manager will cost you 20-40% of your gross. It's not as simple as everyone saying do it yourself. You have to want to, and have the time.

The fact that someone wants to arbitrage your property is a sign that it might be a good STR, but you have to investigate. Airdna, Mashvisor, Awning, Rabbu, and AllTheRooms have calculators to help you estimate what you could make from a particular property. The gross amounts usually include cleaning fees, which you then pay right out to your cleaner, so factor that in when you figure out your net. Remember your costs will be more for an STR, you'll be paying for a lot of things you wouldn't with an LTR - higher STR insurance, all utilities including internet, supplies like toilet paper, paper towels, dishwasher detergent etc, upkeep on furniture and linens if damaged, yard maintenance and grass cutting/snow removal, trash removal, etc.
The other way is called the Enemy Method, where you go to Airbnb and Vrbo, look at your direct competitors, and figure out how full their calendars are, at what prices, keep a tally of their income, and make a guess as to their yearly gross. In a seasonal area, that requires time to look at them over the year.

And yes, you can ask for more from an arbitager. And as I said before, you need to make sure they have and continue to have STR insurance, not just homeowner-type or renter's insurance.

You'd think STR would cause more wear and tear, but the host has to keep it up in great condition to get 5 star reviews. And with cleaners going in after stay, it gets cleaned way more than with LTRs. I have an LTR that was occupied for 8 years by one tenant, and it was sooo much work after they left. It cost us a lot of time and money to get it back in shape. With an STR, it would have been kept in much better shape.

Short term guests are frequently on vacation, and are outside of the house a lot of the time, sightseeing, eating out. Versus long term guests who are home most of the time, cooking most meals in, putting maximum wear and tear on a place. I would consider allowing someone to arbitrage a rental house of mine for STR it if it were empty and I was having a hard time finding a tenant. I would be a stickler about making sure they had the correct insurance. Unlike some people here, I don't think arbitrage is any riskier than having a bad tenant on your own.