All Forum Posts by: Mary Pastoral

They've canceled it! But yes I still do not know where they got all those information. 

VRBO's response to me 

"

Definition

Offline booking happens during pre-booking communication: after a traveler finds a property listing on Vrbo, you intentionally tell the traveler (or the traveler intentionally asks) to book or pay through you directly instead of using Vrbo to avoid paying Vrbo compensation.

Offline booking behaviors

Vrbo does not allow offering, incentivizing, or directing travelers to accept bookings outside the Vrbo platform. These efforts to avoid paying Vrbo compensation are a marketplace violation and may result in penalties, including termination. If Vrbo determines an offline booking occurred, you may be required to pay compensation.

The following behaviors are not allowed:

• Contacting potential travelers before booking to encourage, request, or incentivize them to book or pay outside of Vrbo.
• Asking travelers to communicate via platforms or services outside of Vrbo before accepting a booking (such as through email or text).
  • Note: Post-booking communication is allowed until otherwise advised.
• Redirecting travelers off Vrbo through links or embedded buttons in communications.
• Cancelling an existing full or partial reservation to book outside of Vrbo.
• Changing or presenting the reservation, payment schedule, or pricing in bad faith to avoid mandatory Vrbo compensation.

Cancellations

If a traveler needs to cancel and rebook, they should cancel the reservation from within Vrbo and rebook through Vrbo. Rebooking directly with you outside of Vrbo is an offline booking and will not be eligible for Vrbo protections and benefits for either you or the traveler."

The problem is we NEVER EVEN talked to these guests on ANY platform.  VRBO just showed a document that a guest tried offline booking the same dates 18 times and that is why VRBO is charging us more than 1500 USD even if the booking NEVER happened. I sent  a screenshot of our IGMS calendar and sent bank account statements. I set up a meeting with a VRBO supervisor to challenge this. 

Yes, I refuted it. Since the booking did not go through. 

If the booking happened however they said that since the inquiry was made through their platform they said that they will charge 10% because they "advertise" it. 

I am now curious to wait on what will happen to a recent booking. Husband inquired via VRBO but his wife booked via Airbnb. I will have to check if VRBO would charge that too. 

 We have IGMS as our channel manager and I made the direct booking website via IGMS. When I asked IGMS if VRBO can see the bookings made on the direct booking website, IGMS said VRBO should not.

Is there a way to avoid this in the future?

On the VRBO statement, it registered as part of their pay per booking for an "offline" booking. The problem is that these bookings never happened. It was not a real reservation so we never received payments. When I asked VRBO's representative, they said it must be from our direct booking website and that they charge 10% for any offline booking. I checked those dates, and those dates were for a guest from AirBNB. 

So I was wondering if that is a new rule that I just never knew about. 

For this particular charge it is an erroneous booking so I am having VRBO reverse their charges. But, I do want to avoid this problem in the future. 

Hi, 

We had to call VRBO for a bill that they are charging us and this is how I found out that VRBO charges 10% commission for any booking that was made outside their platform. They said that they have access to external direct booking website and they charge higher commission rates if guests book direct vs VRBO platform. Is this your experience as well? Thank you. 

Thank you all for your replies. 

@Carlos Valencia Cleveland and Cincinnati. 

Hi BP community, which one would you advise to be the next move for financing of next investment property, given the following options: 

1. Get a business line of credit for a single family home owned under our LLC. Property is used as a short term rental. Fully paid. Current Zestimate of 209,000.

2. Refinance our first investment property. Owned under our names, bought in 4/2023 for 110,000 (placed 25% down; interest rate 6.625%)  ; current Zestimate of 123,000 (very low appreciation, but currently cash-flowing long-term rental). Currently rented until June 2025. ]

We have bought two more long-term rental properties in 2023/2024 but those were purchased February 2024 and July 2024 so plan on not touching those yet for refinance.

3. Refinance current primary home. Bought 9/2023 for 425,000 (VA loan with 0% down, interest rate 6.25%) ; current Zestimate 445,000.

Thank you. 

@Mitch Messer, thank you for your advice. Yes, inspection has been done. The 38K includes, plumbing, electrical, water heater, and cosmetics. To replace the roof would be an additional 7,500. The detached garage has a foundation problem that costs 9,100. That really does not add value to the house unfortunately. The original purchase price was 182,500 and the final settled price is 147,500. I do not think sellers would allow any more price reduction unfortunately. 

@Patricia Steiner, thank you for your insight. I really appreciate it. My cause of conflict is that I feel like I am getting a great deal because of the price reduction I got. It has just been so hard to find a good deal lately. 

Hi, so far the properties we have bought in the past only needed under 15k in repairs. This will be our first property that would need major repairs. 

Up (2 bed/ 1 bath)  and down (1 bed/1 bath) duplex located in a B-/C+ neighborhood in Cincinnati

Purchase price: 147,500

Estimated cost of rehab: 38,050

ARV 215,000

Rent-income: 2,045/month

COC ROI: 7.75%

My hesitations:

1.  It's a 2 car driveway but it will be very tight for two cars. So solution will be rent the garage to upstairs tenant and street parkin for downstairs tenant. It's along a relatively busy street that does not allow street parking, so tenant would need to park in a nearby side street.

2. It was built in 1910. So there may be more repairs needed in the coming years that are not covered by the initial 38,050 repair budget.

Does this sound like a good deal, or should we terminate the contract? Thank you all!