All Forum Posts by: Scott K.

I would say you missed the most important aspect. Explaining to guests that 4 stars is a below average review, and will get you kicked off their platform (literally, if your review score drops close to a 4.2 or so, Airbnb may remove you) 

The rating system is non intuitive and people assume 3 is average. You must educate them before they leave a review unfortunately. 

The other important aspect is that you must pay guests who are pissed off so they don't leave a bad review. It's unfortunate but extortion works on Airbnb. Unless they explicitly state 'I will leave you a bad review unless you pay up' they can easily get away with 'I had a bad experience because of X, please send me a partial refund' and you will pay them or suffer a 1 or 2 star review tanking your rating. 

 Airbnb will never help you in a legal situation. They won't even give you identifying information of someone who trashes your place or commits illegal acts. You should require drivers license photo, and address, and information from this person before they rent, treat it as if Airbnb does not exist.

Since no one has mentioned it - larger houses you pretty much 'have' to have a washer/dryer because you'll be hosting large groups, and with those groups you have kids. Kids almost mandate washer/dryer due to accidents and crazy things happening. I exclusively have large homes and almost every group asks. (3k sqft+)

The situation in the catskills that saw you selling your house instead of renting it further, is going to be roughly the same everywhere else you're looking. Especially in hotspots for airbnbs like the Poconos, etc. I'd recommend waiting it out. I think airbnb right now is exploding, competition is at an all-time high, and the housing market couldn't be worse. IF you weren't willing to rent out your house in the catskills, you probably won't find another good opportunity, because you'd do the calculations, and still prefer to sell it.

anything over 30 days in most markets is considered a month to month lease, and therefore has to abide by rental laws and all that comes with that territory. I would never allow a 30 day+ rental in my airbnb, because people can take advantage of you and squat, and that forces an eviction process which in a lot of cities can take 6 months+ with no payment to you ever.

What you're doing has nothing to do with airbnb or this forum. You're entering a rental contract with this person.

Personally I wouldn't risk it with my belongings and everything unless its a personal friend, and then i'd do it off the books. You'll probably be fine. But if **** hits the fan and this person decides to squat, you are screwed legally and you just lost your house for 6+ months.

I have 4 LTR and 4 STR. I self manage everything, the LTR's generate about 17-20% ROI, the STR's generate about 45% ROI. So yes, if you took 30% out of that, you'd come under the LTR. However, as posters above stated, if you take the average which is more like 15-20%, you should come out ahead. There are even agencies who only take 10% now, though your reviews will suffer.

Those properties that are skyrocketing in value are not the norm. ALso the one from 2015 is over a 7 year period, not a 2-3 year. They may have been tear downs at that point when purchased, so they only paid for the land value. The properties I own, have increased in about 33% value. They may be listed for 50-60% more, but the reality is more like 33% when they're sold. I've been checking every month for about 3 years now, I'm not an expert, but I have some knowledge.

If you find a house on airbnb with poor ratings, I've often found its listed by evolve. People who use evolve are not super involved in their property (why they use evolve) AKA They don't realize their rating is low (4.7 or so). Good properties are 4.8+.

I would strongly recommend you manage it yourself. It's hard, but you'll make more money.
My properties are in the top 5% of listings in the area, the best ones get about 80% In the summer. But they're also huge. You won't find similar statistics with a 2-3 bedroom property, you might find your numbers are better. The dynamics are very different. Fall/spring, just about everyone is getting 30% occupancy.

I also am a little concerned you haven't mentioned the ordinance issues. There has been a lot going on recently - tobyhanna basically just outlawed large houses, and imposed extremely strict fines and requirements on everyone. If you have a noise complaint from a neighbor, you're fined $3000. With a 2 bedroom house you can only host 4 people. It's pretty absurd. Unsure what realtor you have but it makes a huge difference with what they can tell you about which neighborhoods are OK with rentals, and which arent.

As someone with a few airbnbs in the Poconos I don't think you're ready. I say this for a few reasons. 

1. You aren't anticipating how much rehab is typically needed when you buy an str. Even nice places need work. 

2. Decor and furniture add up. For a 3 bedroom expect to spend at least 10k

3. The biggest hurdles are labor related. Finding a good cleaner and Handyman, etc. I haven't heard you mention that. 

4. Don't trust evolve. They are not going to give you accurate numbers, it's inflated most likely since they want to get you to use them. They also consistently give awful experiences to guests, just check their average review rating on properties. 

5. 60 percent occupancy is very, very difficult. Poconos are a weekend mostly destination (except summer for very successful listings) 

6. Your estimate of housing prices is off. Houses that used to cost 300k in 2019 now cost 400k. It's roughly a 33 percent increase right now. 

I use statefarm. It's got loss of income and is very cheap compared to proper - I don't know why people above talking about personal property - if a renter damages something, you can file a claim with airbnb and always get your money back. I've gotten thousands of dollars in claims that way. VRBO is awful and won't do anything if your security deposit isn't high enough however.

I'm familiar with wordpress and shopify, but I imagine there's maybe a 'direct' booking site platform out there we can host on our own domain? Right now I just want to direct link to my listing on Airbnb, but some features that would be helpful:

1. connecting a calendar and showing availability, then when someone clicks on it, they're directed to my airbnb listing

2. auto-importing all my airbnb photos/description over to the website without me doing much work

3. Basic instagram feed connection