All Forum Posts by: Shelby Pracht

In my area, property management for vacation rentals can be as much as 50% of gross income, so you've definitely gotten some solid advice to check around to see what others area charging. I also started managing other units in my area after successfully managing my own. I started with a pretty low percentage for our first management client (25% for full service, which is low in my area) because I wanted to build trust and learn the differences between managing my own units and managing others. As we grew and learned, got more feedback, it was easier to set fees and figure out what should be included and what shouldn't. Also, the first few clients we had were so thrilled about the good service they were getting at a lower price that they've given us rave reviews and brought us other clients by word of mouth.

All that to say I would start a little lower than what you think the market will bear to start off with some super stoked clients who will help you do all the advertising for you in the future :) Best of luck!

Ugh that's absolutely the worst!!

Though it won't change your rating, I always reach out to those guests privately and ask what we could have done to improve the stay and make it worth five stars to them. Sometimes they don't respond at all, but sometimes I'll get feedback such as "well, your mattress was too soft for my tastes" or "the neighbors two doors down were loud" 

Normally its nothing that can be helped but I always like to apologize and thank them for feedback....maybe in the future those people will realize the items they are complaining about are out of the hosts control and leave the 5 stars anyways.

@Nicholas Giannakopoulos You can check out my listings at

https://www.airbnb.com/users/20911050/listings

@Paul Sandhu I think our clientele is very different. My guests come to ski all winter and to hike/bike/fish etc in the summer. November is too cold to hike but there isn't enough snow yet to really ski, so it's always been our slowest month.

@Nicholas Giannakopoulos

Here is the last 12 months occupancy rates TOTAL for all 10 units that we're managing

Feb '19- 96%

Jan '19- 97%

Dec '18- 94%

Nov '18- 57%

Oct '18- 77%

Sept '18- 74%

Aug '18- 90%

July '18- 97%

June '18- 92%

May '18- 73%

April '18- 73%

March '18- 93%

Avg for last 12 months, 84% occupancy with 10 units.

 Hey Tracy, in my personal experience the return is not any higher for a two bedroom than a one bedroom, it's probably pretty comparable.  Although a 2 bedroom will rent for a little bit more, all of your expenses and your purchase price will also be higher. At that point it really depends on what works better for your family and how much initial cash you want to put down.

My original one bedroom was in the middle of town. I've actually since sold the unit and now am managing a handful of unit for other owners I've met. Our units with the highest returns are a two bedroom that's walking distance to Eagle Lodge (and more high end) and some studio units that are walking distance to the Village. I also manage a handful that a right in the center of town and they stay just as booked and don't gross that much less. Hope that helps

@Evan Gallagher yeah it all depends on how you do it. Like I said finding a unit where the HOA allows renters to have pets is huge, and then finding property management that is going to be active in their pricing to keep it rented will make all the difference in the world. Good luck!

Hey @Evan Gallagher, those numbers are totally reasonable. I had a one bedroom that was grossing 5-6k/month during the winter during 2018 and 4-5k/month during the summer, which was significantly drier than this year. (This particular unit is pet friendly, which are higher in demand so will help with revenue.) 

The snow definitely motivates more people to come up, but in my experience (not to say it won't change) but there are always people looking to come up for a ski vacation, even if there isn't "fresh pow". A lot of families with kids in school or couples with set work schedules will plan trips months in advance regardless of weather. You just need to make sure your unit has great photos, great reviews, and good pricing so that it becomes booked first.

Hi Luck, I manage vacation rentals here in Mammoth. My team does almost all the work ourselves because finding reliable help here in such a small town is really difficult. (And crazy expensive.) My agent here, Dennis Cox, has a list of local resources on his web page though. Hopefully those will be of assistance to you.

http://www.mammothrealtysearch.com/resources/local-service-providers/

Nice work!!

I have found that the demographic that uses airbnb tends to be younger or foreign. I would look into the vrbo or potentially even local real estate offices as I'm assuming you'll be targeting retired people. Good luck!