All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

Might work out fine for whatever your high season is for your market.

In the shoulder season and off seasons, shift the marketing to traveling nurses, corporate stays, and things like that.

Mike

Agree with @John Underwood. Right now it will be very easy to overpay for an STR.

There may be better opportunities now for finding a property that doesn't seem to fit the STR profile, but with some investment in amenities, remodeling, etc. turn it into an STR.

Mike

If the property doesn't have something that gives it an edge over its competitors in terms of location or amenities, then I think those properties are going to take a bit of a revenue hit this year.

Mike

There are many Facebook groups dedicated to answering questions for new and existing hosts and investors.  Join those groups.  Chances are any questions you have are already answered and you can easily find them as each group has the ability to search within it.

Also many times there will be a homeowners group for your market where you can have more specific questions for your market area answered as well.

Mike

I would pay an electrician to remove the switch entirely, and put a plate cover over it.

Mike

We don't provide linens or towels at our short-term rental at the beach, and are booked year round.

We put it in our house rules that guests must bring their own linens, pillows, and towels, and it's also in the rental agreement and check-in message.  In 5 years we've only had 1 person arrive that didn't read it, and they just went to Walmart and bought bedding.

Hope that helps.

Mike

If you self-manage the Airbnb yourself, you will not necessarily be busy if you have automation in place for guest communication, and find a good cleaner and handyman.  Right now we have guest communicaton, cleaner notifications on new/changed/cancelled stays, setting new lock codes for each guest, rental agreements, and letting guests know if they can checkin early all automated.  We have all the common questions setup as canned responses so its super easy to reply to most guest questions.  The only thing not automated for us is when there problem, or something breaks and needs fixing.

Hope that helps.

Mike

I would probably keep saving money.  Cut discrentionary spending and do 1 or 2 side hustles to increasing savings.  Use Excel or Google Sheets to do some what-if scenarios on how long it might take based on certain assumptions being met, and then make those assumptions part of your goals.

Hope that helps.

Mike

Last week I even used it to write a bad review for a guest.  

I typed "Write me a review of a guest who stayed with us, checked out late and was unapologetic about it, moved lots of things around without returning them back to their original position, and broke a couple of items."  It came out so much better than I could have written it.

Mike

We own and run two vacation rental cabins in Bartlett, specifically Intervale. At the moment, there are no STR regulations in Bartlett, but it was discussed at the Selectmans' meetings last year.

In the other towns such as Conway and Madison, there are legal battles occurring now related to short term rentals.

Mike