All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

Hi @Jonathan Buehler,

We own 2 short-term rentals (one in the Outer Banks, and one in the White Mountains).  We remotely manage both properties. 

The critical part is to have a reliable team in place.  You need to have a good cleaner, and handyman, as well as reliable electrician and plumber.  We live about 7 hours from each one, so in a major emergency we can get to them, but knock on wood we haven't had to do that.  Anytime we ask our cleaner or handyman to do something that is above-and-beyond, we make sure that they bill us for it and we pay them immediately.

It can definitely be done with the right team in place.  Feel free to reach out to me for any other questions anytime.

Mike

@Angeline Rebottaro

We’ve been having guests bring their own linens since 2017. Most families, and couples and never had any issues.

We just added the bringing their own pillows and blankets part for 2020. We had one person who didn’t like it, but majority seem to favor it...they want to minimize their risk too!

Mike

Hi @Angeline Rebottaro,

We removed all of our pillows and blankets.  We have guests bringing everything (pillows, linens, towels, and bed sheets).  Our cleaner is also cleaning to the CDC standard as well.

Other than this, not doing anything different than pre-COVID.

Mike

HI @Blake Dailey,

We own 2 properties that we have on AirBnB and VRBO.  From where I am sitting I can say AirBnB is still very active as our properties are getting booking requests quite often.

We also self manage and do it with a good handyman, cleaner and reliable electrician and plumber.

The one new thing we did when we purchased the 2nd property was we added automation software for the bookings and this has been one of the best decisions we made.  It cuts down on a lot of the post-reservation "thank you" message, the pre-checkin message, the "how are you doing" message, and the pre-checkout message as well as sends messages to your cleaner every time you get a booking or cancellation.  Please feel free to connect with me and I can share more specifics if you are interested.

Thanks!

Mike

Hi @Jesse Cote

We just closed on a property we purchased in Intervale, NH (White Mountains area).  We closed on it in May, did some enhancements and changes to it, and now have it on the short-term rental/AirBnB/VRBO market.   We also own another property in the area that we do not rent out and is just for personal use.

Happy to answer any questions you have about the area!

Mike

@Dana Tenebruso

Hi Dana - we own a rental on Beach Rd in Kitty Hawk. We self-manage. One expense to watch out for us maintenance and repair as the salt air damages everything faster than a traditional environment. Also there are occupancy taxes and sales use taxes to factor in.

Mike

@James Peluso - Sure anytime! I'd be happy to answer questions you have. We're actually up here this week putting the final touches on the place before guests start coming at the end of July.

Hi James - glad to see some from from Jersey here too! We just purchased our property in May, and listed it last week so it's a little hard for me to say right now, but I can tell you what I researched and what I learned from talking to local PMs.

So far we have received 6 bookings I think, and declined a few because they didn't meet our requirements of having multiple positive reviews. 

Before purchasing the property I purchased the data from AirDNA to get a sense of what a house, similar to the one we were buying, would do in terms of income per year.  Most of the local realtors and PMs told a common story that April and November are the slow months, people usually book long weekends, and it's harder to sell the days mid-week so you have to lower your price.

We also own a cabin up there that we don't rent out....and have been going there for over 20 years.  Based on that the above seems pretty accurate to me as we've been there very month of the year.  Late Nov-Mar with skiing,  May-Sept hikers and bikers and paddlers, Oct is leaf peeping/hikers/bikers.

From what I know there are A LOT of short-term rentals...but that shouldn't necessarily be a road block as it's just a matter of asking a better question of "What kind of property should I look for if the market is saturated?"  For me we looked for a property that has an "unfair advantage" (term I heard on a podcast....maybe BP).  "Unfair advantage" meaning what is it has features that not every property is going to have? For us it has woods, acerage, picturesque cottage with stone fireplace.  So my suggestion would be to do the same thing and not just go for the ski chalet (unless you get a beautiful deal) since there are so many of those and go for a niche property instead.  This is our 2nd short-term rental, and from what I learned from the 1st is that people don't want to stay in a home that looks like their home.  They want a unique experience wrapped around the property as well and the more you can give them that unique experience, the better you'll do in a saturated market.

Hope that helps.  Please feel free to ask any other questions!

Mike

@Matthew Bradley I do - we just bought a STR. She is awesome. I'll PM you.

Hi Samantha,

We have an oceanside rental in Kitty Hawk and have rented it out year-round on the short-term rental market for the last 3 years.  In those 3 years it feels like demand has gone up.  The lightest months for us are early December, January, and early February but outside of that it's been pretty active.  This summer it seems like less people are flying and more people are looking to drive to their vacation as we have been getting requests almost every day for availability.

There is talk of a future bridge for the northern part of the island where Corolla is located.  I don't know what that will do as vacationers tend to like Corolla because of the quiet and more remote feeling.... so adding a bridge may change that...but then again it may also open up the market a bit to more people with easier access.

Mike