All Forum Posts by: Pam Smith

Hi all-

I was reading one of the blog posts on the Short Term Shop blog about Schedule E vs C, passive vs non-passive. In the blog, they reference, "According to Treasury regulations, vacation rental owners who rent their property out for seven days or less on average do not fall under standard rental regulations, meaning that they'll be able to file their income as non-passive instead, without worrying about qualifying for professional status." 

Does anybody know the exact Treasury regulation that I can reference to my CPA. He's not bought into this. I know I can switch my CPA but we've been with him for a long time and he's been good thus far. Does a ton of commercial real estate, very few short-term rentals.

Thanks!

Hi all-

I'm exploring some new tools to help us as we grow our portfolio. I'd love to know if anybody has used Rankbreeze and get your thoughts on whether or not it helped bring your listing to the top of Airbnb's listing? 

Also, I noticed that a property manager in my area is now using SuperHog to verify guests and for extra insurance? Has anybody used this company? It's not too expensive so just wondering if it's legit? Will guests like to go through this extra step?

Thanks!

@Rebecca E. we have a place in Ephraim and it was very successful our first summer without any reviews and without it getting listed until mid-May. Our CoC was about 20%. That being said, some of the municipalities are talking about regulating STRs but so far they've been very reasonable (outside of Sevastopol) and don't seem willing to hurt STR owners. Of course that can change, but right now, it's okay. I was very worried earlier this week, but received the meeting notes from this week's meeting and was pleased coming out of it. Very reasonable and definitely willing to partner. The biggest hurdle here is finding a great team (cleaners, handyman, plumber) and ensuring that your neighbors are fine with it. Also, inventory is extremely low. Feel free to PM me with any other questions about this area.

Thanks all! The Village had a very productive conversation yesterday and it sounds like they are not interested in putting in too many restrictions but it's going to be open for public comment next month. We had a very successful first year last year, and already have half of the summer booked, so hoping they don't restrict any further! 

@Michael Baum thankfully VRBO and Airbnb automatically updated the tax amounts in January. VRBO even is going to pay the difference in taxes for bookings made in 2021 for 2022.

@Wes M.Thanks so much for that language! If the they do restrict any further, I'm going to most certainly advocate for this language. I've already been in touch with several village board members.

@Michael 

@Michael Baum we're in Ephraim

@Karen Margrave our place is in Door County, WI. It's a home with no HOA. The state of WI does not allow STR regulations for 7-28 nights so communities can only regulate under 7 nights. I have a license through the county, but now each individual community is pursuing their own regulations, including implementing a separate license for each community. Just curious if a lawyer has any ground to stand on to help get us grandfathered if that's not an option the community presents.

Thanks @Bruce Woodruff! Yes, we do have a license, so that'll be a question to ask. Not sure that we can make it work as an LTR. 

Hi everybody-

We have our first STR in a tourist destination and had a very successful first season. This area has perhaps 1000 permanent residents and the primary economy is tourism and always has been. However, we just heard that the area, and specifically our town, is considering new regulations and wanted to see if anybody has any advice. This is completely new as when we bought our place, we checked with the village and nobody was even considering any regulations. I just found out about this on Friday, so haven't had a chance to call the village board to get any additional information.

The regulations being considered that will affect us the most:

1. -Talking about requiring a minimum rental night of 7 nights. We rarely rent for 7 nights and obviously make more money with more turnovers
2. -Cannot rent for more than 180 consecutive days. Not sure why this is being implemented and how they define it. This year we rented from May-October but we only got it up and running in May and need to put in central heat to rent it year round.
3. -Property manager or owner must live within 25 miles of property and must be available 24/7. Currently we self-manage and have a great cleaning team. My guess is we'll have to figure out an agreement with the cleaning team, but we'll obviously have to pay more to them.
4. -Limit maximum number of renters to two/bedroom plus two additional occupants, whichever is less. We have 4 bedrooms but can sleep 10 with a sleeper sofa
5. -Our parking area is gravel and they're saying parking has to be on asphalt!
6. -No outdoor fire pit - people love to have a fire and roast s'mores. Could be a deterrent if other villages decide not to enact this same ban.

Questions:

1. -Do we consider selling at this point if these regulations become law and if the numbers don't net us as much as we're doing now or do you think people will raise prices since everybody will be in the same boat?
2. -Do we have any legal considerations?
3. -What other questions should we bring up at the meeting or to the village board?

Thanks!

@Kenneth Rolfe pretty much all of the little towns are discussing putting in new restrictions such as how far an owner/property manager can live from the property, parking restrictions, minimum night restrictions, etc. Our places are in Ephraim and Bailey's Harbor. Feel free to message me and I'd be happy to connect with you via phone if you have additional questions.

We have a couple of STRs in Door county that are doing very well but we're starting to see more and more regulations coming down here as well. Please let me know if you have any questions! I'm happy to help!