All Forum Posts by: Andy O'Neal

I think you wanna have one in the living room.  I have zero evidence for this, but I imagine people will just expect that there is at least one TV wherever they stay in the USA in 2018.  You could get some random guests who are disappointed because there isn’t one... even though there wasn’t one listed.

Well, you are right. I haven't even officially automated my messages (I use saved drafts and slightly customize each one) and it still only takes me a couple of minutes per booking unless there are random questions. 30 minutes is probably only the case if there's a maintenance issue during the booking. 

I'm also guessing that no one here uses rented.com, since it's offering runs counter to the DIY ethos of BP. 

@Luke Carl - that, kind sir, is definitely one of the options I'll explore. Actually guest communication is the easiest part for me. I mean, I have one home that books for ~70 a night and another that is more like ~300. Both require maybe 30 minutes of computer time per booking... max. I haven't yet systematized cleaning and turnover, but I'm looking into it. 

This thread - and others I might fire up in coming days - are more about trying to see what other options are out there. Even if they are much less lucrative (and maybe just plain worse) than my current hustle. I kinda want to better understand the full panoply (10 cent word!) of the offerings out there. 

Does anyone have any experience with rented.com? They seem to primarily exist to help expanding hosting businesses make competitive offers to landlords. I wonder if anyone here has ever listed with them to actually find a manager/renter to take over an STR.

Background: I'm exploring the opportunity costs and various alternatives to traditional DIY hosting that most of us are doing. I just want to understand all the options out there for folks with STRs. I'll probably start multiple threads over the next few days to keep things organized. 

I use Schlage Z-Wave Connect deadbolts in conjunction with a Wink 2 smart hub. If I had it to do over again I may go the route @Julie McCoy suggests as the up front cost for my two-piece system is (~$175 per lock and $100 for each hub) is substantial and you do have to do a little setup. So far they've been fine. But there is a bit more to manage and the Wink app is not my favorite. 

@Kathy Hansen - I lie awake in bed worried about The Dreaded Human Hair. I’ve been lucky (and I know it is luck) to avoid TDHH so far, but I know it’s coming. This thread reminds me that I’m not paranoid, but that they really are out to get us... with “they” being individual human hair follicles. 

I've been lucky for my first 35 or so reviews. I did get a 4-star overall rating from a guest who gave the place 5 stars on every one of the subcategories and left a nice message. 

The math here would be something like "the average of six 5's is somehow 4." I guess it's not a math problem.

Oh man, the nightmares. I don't know whether to follow this thread and read every post or close my Bigger Pockets account and never come back. But it seems like the right answer is one of those two things.

It baffles me / trips my spidey senses that they have a budget, but no real time frame.  

I'd have my guard up (and be thinking like a lawyer, not a comforter-fluffing superhost).

@Michael Greenberg - nightmare. 

@Luke Carl - Your mantra is my bible... and if they pay so much that I occasionally get 4 stars for value, well then I'm getting my pricing right.