All Forum Posts by: Logan Fast

Thanks Mike! I'll get that set up asap

I own a triplex in Omaha and I am listing each apartment across multiple platforms as short-term rentals. Right now they are on Air Bnb and Homeaway, which I find to sync up nicely, but it doesn't look like this is the case when listing on Booking or Flip Key. I want to have as much exposure as possible by having it on more platforms, but I'm a little worried about double bookings. Is there a way to Sync up all the calendars to a master Google calendar or something similar? Or do I have to use a property management software like Guesty or Host Away if I want to list on all these platforms without manually updating for every booking?

@Angelo C. I see where you're coming from with the opportunity cost, but I don't necessarily agree that it is my concern if it is their fault. You can say the same think about the opportunity cost of my $225 that I could have used for marketing, maintenance, etc. Overall, I think the issue is that I was thought the appraisal process was research, trip to property, and then write the report...but it seems like I had steps 1 and 2 backwards. Since they did put in the trip and the research I am just going to send over the payment and put this one behind me.

@Marian Smith thank you for the suggestion. I totally agree that they should have seen it sooner, but at the same time I should have mentioned it to the lender when I found it was zoned commercial. I thought calling the zoning department and getting the okay from them was enough, but I think if I would have mentioned it to my lender he probably would have told me that he can't do the loan. Lesson learned... on to the next one!

Russell Brazil my thought is that they if they spent an hour on research and found it was zoned commercial then why visit the property at all knowing we can't move forward? I'm not trying to say they don't deserve any compensation, just that I think $225 is high for a little bit of research.

I have my first property under contract right now and I'm set to close in mid-January. I ran into some issues with my financing a couple weeks ago. The issue came during the appraisal process when they found out the property was zoned general commercial. The loan was residential, so they halted the appraisal right there until I could get a conditional use permit for residential. I called the city weeks prior and they said the property was "grandfathered in" to allow for residential living, but the appraiser needed an official permit which would mean city inspections and improvements to get everything up to code (which would take way too long). The seller is motivated and wants to get out quickly, so I ended up switching to commercial financing to keep everything moving forward.

Everything is fine with my financing now, but the appraiser is still charging me $225 for the research and trip they took to the property. The full price of the appraisal is $650. This cancellation fee seems high to me, as they could have found out it was zoned commercial without a whole lot of research and not taken a trip to the property at all. They said this is the standard cancellation fee, although they won't send any documentation that states this. I don't have a good understanding of the appraisal process, so maybe they put in a lot of work upfront that I'm unaware of?

The $225 is not a large amount of money and it seems like it's probably in my best interest to just pay it and move on, but I wanted to get the opinions of more experienced investors. Thanks!!

March 7th, 3:59 pm