All Forum Posts by: Maura Paler

 Hi Steve, actually I think a commercial loan is what the local bank is planning to offer us. I know I can research this - but what is the downside of a balloon payment? 

We have 3 mortgages, one is a second home, the other 2 are investment loans for vacation rental properties. All 3 are in both husband and wife's name. We are going for our 4th, and have our eyes on a 5th property. 

My understanding was we could only hold 4 conventional mortgages by law. 

Our local bank (with which we hold 1 mortgage) has said because we have only 1 with them we are eligible for 3 more with them. Is this correct? 

Or we also heard that maybe we are allowed 4 in joint names, 4 in my name, 4 in husbands name? 

Any help would be appreciated!  

CBIZ is insurance designed specifically for vacation rental owners, we have them on all 4 of our Vacation Rental properties. 

If you have a claim on a vacation rental that is only covered by homeowners you will most likely not be compensated...if it's a liability claim could then become a legal issue...so it is definitely something to be concerned about. 

Many homeowners policies allow you to rent 2-4 weeks or so only. Check your policy. 

Try Kigo, MyVR, LiveRez, CapTerra, VacationRentPro and many others

I've had a hard time figuring out which one is best, they offer many services I wouldn't make use of like yourself. MyVR I sampled, liked the people who run it but the calendar did not sync the same for Flipkey and HomeAway/VRBO, which was a deal killer for me, they might have fixed the bug since then. 

Am going to the Austin TX HomeAway conference in November to try to find some sort of consultation/suggestions on how to better track and manage my multiple vacation rentals. 

You can sync all your calendars so you update only one and the others update automatically, thus assuring all calendars are identical. This is easily done and available via HomeAway, VRBO,  Vacationrentals, Flipkey, AirBnB, Vacation Rental Mgt sites like MyVR and your personal websites 

We own 5 cabins in the ADK mountains, year round rentals, so far, so good. Just the regular mkting on VRBO, HomeAway, Flipkey (which is our best), Airbnb. We don't do the premium listings, just the regular, we are 95% occupied peak season, and 40-50% rest of year which is all we need to be profitable. 

Self managing is the way to go, but get reliable, trustworthy help, pay them well. 

Yes VRBO, HomeAway, Flipkey will accept credit cards for you. You need to sign up for that service, they need to approve you, and there is a fee for the service. They will then collect the payments from the guests, you need to upload your lease, your terms, your rates, your cancellation policy and keep them accurate at all times so the process will work properly. 

The other way to do it is to take charge of the reservation yourself and take payment through PayPal, you will have to open an account with PP, they will accept credit cards on your behalf, also for a fee. It's always good to have a PP account for instant payments to friends, etc 

Congratulations! It looks great, fab photos, best of luck. 

We have recently booked a VR in Austin for a trip in November, sorry we didn't see this first! 

Fun! Good for you! Heard that area is stunning. Welcome to the weekly world. 

Simple. Go on HomeAway, VRBO, Flipkey and Airbnb. Look at rates of similar type rentals in the area you are considering, and follow their calendars as the year goes on and see how booked they are. Make note of which ones seem to most successful and figure out why (good photos, good location, special amenities, etc).