All Forum Posts by: Scott K.

Just get a 2nd account.

@John Underwood tcl roku's are what I put into my STR's. I just let guests input their own.

As far as a cable box, it should be easy just change the input when you turn it on. Press power, then use arrow keys to find the hdmi port the cable box is plugged into. Press 'ok'. Then you can switch to your cable remote .

There's also an advanced setting somewhere that allows the tv to turn on automatically when it detects an input. That way, once enabled, you can just pick up your cable remote, press 'on', and it will turn on the tv once the tv detects your cable input, and automatically turn to that cable hdmi input.

There are many types of lenders out there. Traditional banks offer the lowest APR (3-5% right now depending on factors, but usually over 4% for investment properties) but require the most (income qualifications, W2, steady income, etc.). If someone can't qualify, the borrower simply moves to the next tier of lenders who require less, but have higher APR's, maybe 2-4% higher (currently 6-8%). If they can't qualify for those, then they move onto people like you who require the least amount of effort/qualification, but charge up to 10% or more APR. So yes, there will be a few, desperate people who want to take a loan from you at a rate of 10% perhaps, but usually they only do it for a year or so until they can secure a lower rate from a more secure institution.

But keep in mind these people are being rejected from other sources of lower rate's for good reasons. It's incredibly easy to get a 6-8% loan these days for an STR. You just minimally qualify with showing a little data on market rates.

There are 2 ways I determine this.

1st is sign up for airdna.co but it's a bit inaccurate. However it has good data on past bookings and trends. It can give you a rent number for your property, it can tell you what nearby properties are generating, and it can tell you averages of the market over time. But keep in mind it can be 25 percent above or below whatever it tells you. 

2nd is look at similar listings for those dates. Since those dates have passed you're out of luck and have to rely on airdna.co but you can look at November for an accurate idea of how much they are generating. To do this check december or Jan pricing for weekdays and weekends for that property, then backtrack and see how much of November is booked and assume similar pricing. It's tough because you'll notice some people use automated pricing strategies and some use set pricing. Find a house that uses set pricing so it's more accurate to back calculate. 

If you're new to renting out airbnbs, you should probably find a contractor and work with him on a consistent basis. Should be cheaper than professionals, more expensive than taskrabbit, but you need a good handyman relationship to deal with problems.

As for painting - it could help you stand out, or it could make people gag. Usually you want to offend as few people as possible with an airbnb. Bright colors and looking strange won't make you earn more money. Perhaps your location could see it as a benefit, maybe some coastal, beach area, but in most areas it won't do you any favors to stand out.

If anyone isn't clearing their mortgage+expenses with a LONG TERM rental, they need their head checked. If they aren't clearing mortgage+expenses with their short term rental, they should be hospitalized... I own 3 STR's, they'll recoup their investment cost in 3 years or less. I own 4 LTR's, they'll recoup their investment cost in 5-6 years.

Call the township. Call the HOA. You're about to spend potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars and you aren't going to simply call them to inquire? The more information you can get the better. There are always upset community people who will fight and scream against any sort of change, but it's irrelevant to their bylaws as you stated. It's usually safer to find a community that already allows them, as it's unlikely they're going to backtrack on all the new income sources they're loving.

Just my brief financial overview so you can compare and contrast to yours.

We're booked roughly 50% of the time, house was $300k, 20% down, 30 year 4.5% APR. $30k in furniture, $40k in rehab. So that's roughly $140k investment. Our yearly revenue is $100k, costs are roughly $50k (not including management fee). Should recoup investment costs after 3 years or less, since this year we're on track to generate $120k or so due to covid. Maybe more next year.

I strongly believe I'm doing better than most STR's out there, based on data from airdna.co for my area (PA mountains), but there are people doing way better, like @Paul Sandhu, he's making an absolute killing(pun intended), it's just a matter of how much effort/pain you want to go through to get it. It's still a valid business model if it takes 5-6 years to recoup your investment, it's just a question of your risk tolerance, willingness to work each week, and how much capital you want to put into this. But if you calculate it's going to take 8-10 years... probably look elsewhere. That sort of duration is more akin to long term rentals.

Thanks for the input everyone, some really good ideas. I definitely don't have a contract with the cleaners but perhaps I should...

I'll see if I can manage to get a new cleaning company willing to take out trash. Maybe there's a few left in the area I haven't found. I'm already charging guests $385 (full cleaning fee) for the 4000 sqft house(includes linens) so to add another $100 for trash feels like a lot? But perhaps not. 

Ive been trying this guest takes trash idea for a month and it's just not working so I think I have to backtrack on that idea regardless. Perhaps I'll buy a metal bear bin this time. 

I wish I could have that attitude! The reason that isn't quite as easily done in my area is that the number of cleaning companies is far fewer than you'd hope (less than 10 who can handle my houses) - and after a few days of 20 people staying in a place, the garbage is 20-30 bags. Trust me I've done my best to make the cleaners take care of it but especially with back-to-backs they don't have enough time, or their car isn't big enough.

What do you guys do for garbage? My situation is this.

1. Large rural STRs with 12-20 person groups.

2. Community has compactors that guests can take garbage to for free essentially

3. Can't really leave outside since bears destroy any bear-proof bin I make (made 2 so far, perhaps I should use metal instead of wood?)

In the past I used to ask my cleaning crew to take out the garbage at the end of their stay, but my cleaning crews are pissed and are getting more and more upset. They are also charging $100 a pop now, and one threatened to quit over it. If a crew didn't take out garbage for whatever reason, the next set of guests would leave a bad review from the smell and overfilled bins.

So now I ask guests to take out their own garbage - but of course they don't. I'd say 25% do. The other 25% warn me they 'simply can't, our cars are too small!' and the other 50% never say a word. I have multiple message reminders, it's written on laminated sheets on the fridge, and all guests are notified when they check into the community about this issue.

Any thoughts about compliance? Or do you guys just hire a handyman to take care of it for a fee? I tried getting curbside pickup but 1 house doesn't allow it, and the other house the garbage bins get attacked by bears overnight, or the garbage men don't come at all, or there aren't enough bins.