All Forum Posts by: Dominic A.

Are you already using a PMS? If not you may want to look at one, that will give you the most (and best) options for setting up your direct booking system. Most provide a website as well, which will do all the entry-level things you need it to do.

If you want to skip/bypass that, I would look at hosting a WordPress site and then searching for (buying) STR templates and building out from there. That will take time though, and I still think you'll end up wanting some sort of PMS that can handle coordinating the bookings/payments etc.

Or, you do what @Paul Sandhu does. 

The Airbnb and VRBO marketing sites aren't too bad though. Airbnb especially offers you a "unique" site of your own, and you can get a custom link (ex: "staysinpalmer.com") to redirect to it. You'll still be paying your fees and dealing with the booking site systems, but @John Underwood seems to have built his whole empire that way.

Chromecast will be a problem for a number of reasons, especially if you have more than one group of guests or tenants on the wifi at once (which is sometimes the case for STR).

Roku hands down would be my pick for what you're asking about. It has a guest mode that will reset all the accounts when the guest checks out. You'll need to set up check-in and check-out dates for each guest if you want to make it truly dummy proof (otherwise you're relying on the guest/cleaner to remember to do so) but either way, it's worth the investment of money and time.

We use Firestick and love it, but only because we also include a few streaming services as part of the stay (which is what our research told us would be the preferred option for our market). Guests occasionally use their own accounts in that case, but it's very rare, and they almost always tell us.

@Sean Ross is right, you need a signed document confirming the current rent roll. 

It's odd that the property manager/realtor doesn't have a rent roll document ready to go. You shouldn't have to ask multiple different ways to find out what the rent is, it should be clear.

At this stage though, you should (and need to) have a signed document from the owner/manager AND the tenant agreeing to what the current rent is.

@Bill B. is also correct; this seems like odd behaviour pretty minor increase. If you're happy with the numbers once you actually have them then keep going with the deal. I would shop around for a new PM though if you had previously been thinking you'd stick with the current one. 

Then again, we don't have all the details; if you are comfortable with the (actual) cash flow an annual increase isn't mandatory (just keep an eye on your costs/rates).

We briefly (24 hours) required guests to sign off on the house rules before accessing our virtual guidebook. We shut it down almost immediately because we realized the folks who were actually going to take the time to sign weren't going to be a problem.

You're headed in the right direction, but I wouldn't add the extra text. Just make the rest of the house rules clear, concise and common sense. That makes it easier to (and more likely to be) read; the rest should follow.

Now, you may want to have an actual rental contract that needs to get signed. That's a conversation for a different topic, but the consensus seems to be it's a good idea. If you're just looking to lay out house rules or set a reminder for guests..I'd stick with the above answer.

I'm late to the party here, it's a cool idea but I would say lean toward making it an "add-on"

Many folks won't read about the private chef, so they'll either: 

A.) think your rental is overpriced

B.) not plan to take advantage of the chef meal and then either waste it or move their plans around.

If you can offer it as an add-on/opt-in, it could be a really cool "luxury service" that makes the stay really special.

I totally understand wanting to arbitrage, it's a good option if you don't have the money to purchase. However, you need to be really sure you know what your doing (especially, as noted above, if you don't have money for mistakes).

However! I would never look at doing something out of state, not unless/until you have a portfolio under your belt. I know of one or two management companies that do this, but it's still structured as management/profit share with the owners. 

The answer to your question is to build a system close to home (where you have the advantage of knowing the market) and then expand it. But, that answer still involves you building something locally first for practice and experience/financial and legal structure.

If you truly want to be "hands-off," your PM should be offering you a proactive solution that would cut your need for this. 

If it's a different kind of setup (you tell the PM what to do, and they do it), then I would still suggest looking at a PMS (not the sites you mention here, at this stage at least)...that doesn't sound very hands off though, you may need to change the structure of your STR management.

You can check around the forms, but there are many "smaller" PMS (like Hostfully or Ownerrez) that you can dip your toe into and set up a more automated, multi (listing) channel strategy.

If I'm misunderstanding your situation, let me know, or send me a DM; I'd be happy to offer my advice on how you can stay hands-off.

Great answers so far; I really like how short and sweet @Avery Carl kept it.

Any real estate strategy is going to be based on you and the "strategy" part itself. STR's will always exist; the question is will YOU (or your PM/team) have the plan to make yours work?

Prior to 2019, the STR market was really heating up; in many cases, it almost seemed to be a race to the bottom though in terms of who could offer the lowest price. Covid showed up on the scene, and almost overnight, more than half of those rentals disappeared from the STR market. Some switched to LTR and some sold (both ok plans if you can manage to not lose money). 

We were fortunate that our ongoing  strategy allowed us to operate at lower occupancy (and do some renovations) during the slow down, and then we were able to work to the top of the market for the folks who still needed to travel or isolate. I hate not to credit a good amount of luck on these sorts of things, but the point is that even in a global pandemic with no travel, the STR market was still a good one.

So to your actual question; the market is saturated in many areas, so you can either shop for a different market, or you can do what it takes to stand out and weather the storm. 

Double "or" you could have a different type of investment strategy altogether.

Not knowing your current situation, I would say this: 

You have one rental on the west coast, and you are planning to expand on the east coast. If you feel confident about your why and how then go for it (with an appropriate amount of caution (because I'm very cautious)). However, could you also add a few units in your local market (is that the west)? Use that expansion and learning opportunity to inform your strategy in new markets? That might be the option I'd look at, especially if you're feeling uneasy.

Sorry, yes, I should have been clearer about "I would take the time to chat with Airbnb support and cancel this reservation"

Discuss this with him, and with Airbnb support to ensure you're not getting hit with a cancellation penalty (ideally).

I agree with @Sergey A. Petrov (and I think many of the others are also hinting at this). Now that I understand the issue better, I would take the time to chat with Airbnb support and cancel this reservation. You don't want a guest who is unhappy with your rental, especially if you're confident the rental and your terms are fine. It sounds like this guest didn't know the rules (which isn't entirely their fault), but you're bound to them so I'm not sure you have a choice but to cancel if they don't want a lease.

I know it can feel tough to give up a booking/sure thing like this, but my spider-sense says this reservation will not be worth the hassle and risk.

Here's the other part though. You probably should 

A.) add a note to your listing/house rules that any booking longer than 30 days requires a lease

B.) limit the length of stay to no more than 28 days if you want to avoid having this conversation (which is a bummer, but that's more or less what the lawmakers were hoping they'd force you to do)