All Forum Posts by: Lisa Graesser

Quote from @Ian Tyndall:

I recommend Houfy.com now while it is free to get your site up and running. It is really difficult to get traffic to a direct booking site. My recommendation would be to use Houfy while it is still free (they are planning on charging in the future) and use that to buy time while you build up a customer base. 

 I agree with Ian, I highly recommend HOUFY, free for hosts (for now) free for guests to book. It was worked great for directing guests from FB groups and repeat guests. You can download you rental agreement and guest needs to sign on the site prior to you receiving the booking. Can take credit card paymemts via Stripe or square(with credit card fee) or direct payments however you accept payment.

It is best to contact your State Dept of Revenue,  they will be very helpful with helping you set up your accoint and give you the information needed if you are accepting direct bookings. In Florida we are required to submit the taxes online every month whether we have revenue or not. The amount pd by airbnb and vrbo is added as tax exempt income and deducted from the total that determines the tax owed. Airbnb and Vrbo does submit the taxes for each stay in our area,  but we have to submit that amount monthly as tax exempt income.

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Ditto what@John Underwood said. I have it attached to all bookings and by booking you agree to said rental agreement.

 I rent with the golf cart included so I have a golf cart waiver included with th rental agreement. I want the extra acknowledgement of what they are agreeing to with a signature. Otherwise I would probably not send the separate agreement.

Quote from @Lisa Graesser:

I use Dochyb for my vrbo & airbnb bookings, $10/ mo. On the Direct booking site Houfy you can upload your agreement  and the guest e-signs on the site prior to you receiving the booking request.

DocHub

I use Dochyb for my vrbo & airbnb bookings, $10/ mo. On the Direct booking site Houfy you can upload your agreement  and the guest e-signs on the site prior to you receiving the booking request.

The host fees are a combination of cleaning fee and any administrative/resort fees that may be charged per stay and not per night. Depending on when you are booking the nightly rate may change based on demand, but the host fees stay the same.

You can do it remotely,  you just need the time to respond to guests at any time regarding questions. You need a reliable cleaner, you need a handyman and numbers for those you can contact for  issues like ac not working, appliances not working. If you follow FB groups in the area, you can get great recommendations from others on who you can call. If you are willing and able to be available for any issues, it will be well worth your time, if you have the time available, to do it yourself 

Your parents can gift you $17,000 each tax free. You can essentially borrow that money from them and pay them back with interest, that will give them a little more interest than they can get in savings and you don't have to worry about a partnership.

No drops on my properties, I have definitely seen an uptick in the last couple of weeks,  with shorter notification.

Have you tried Kin.com