All Forum Posts by: Shelby Pracht

@Tyann Marcink I wish I had a group here!! I bet 80% of the STRs in my market are managed by a handful of large companies though.

@Jonathan Depa sounds like you've really done your research, nice work.

I'm not in that area, but a few hours north in a resort town with pretty year round occupancy. I just wanted to weigh in on HOAs- obviously check in to the regulations of any HOA before purchasing in it, but all of our properties are in HOAs and I really love it that way. Especially if you are not local to your property, not having to deal with exterior maintenance, lawn care, upkeep, etc, is huge. Having extra eyes on your property can be a good thing too. I'll have HOA managers contact me if one of my guests brought an animal they weren't supposed to have or are causing any other problems, so I can deal with it immediately instead of waiting for the cleaner to show up to a trashed property.

I recently had a guest request to be moved to another unit because there was dust on top of the ceiling fan. They had to climb up on the furniture to figure this out. It was for a 2 night stay.

@Jake DeAtley yes, legally a guest does not have to disclose a service animal, but if they do, or if you see a guest with an animal, you can ask them what service the animal provides for them. If it's "emotional support" that's not covered by the ADA and legally I *believe* you are allowed to ask for documentation for that. All my units have HOAs, so I will tell guests that I need to have such paperwork on file for the HOA in case they fine me for animals being in non-fat friendly units. If they answer and say the dog alerts for seizures provides grounding techniques for autism or helps with mobility, etc, they should be allowed anywhere without any further "proof"

@Bob Mueller Jr. I actually just wrote a blog post about this last week.

shelbypracht.com/pet-friendly-vacation-rentals

We do allow pets when the HOA allows it, and find it to be significantly more profitable (Higher occupancy and higher gross income) than our other properties, and we dont charge any kind of additional pet fee or deposit. The cleaning fees are slightly higher, but nothing substantial. I know this will sound terrible, but I've had children cause way more damage to our units than pets ever have.

 How did you prove breaking and entering? Did you already own the property when the squatters moved in, and called the police right away? 

Thanks so much for the info.

Hey there y'all, I'm considering putting in an offer on a property that I know has squatters in it. Ideally, I'm planning on using the cash for keys strategy to get them out quickly and painlessly. However, if that doesn't work, I'm trying to figure out what the process would look like to have them removed. 

I know they have not been there long enough to gain "adverse possession" or squatter's rights, but all the research I've done hasn't led me to a consensus on whether or not this would require an eviction process as if there was a landlord/tenant relationship, or if I can just call the sheriff to have them removed. Anyone dealt with squatters in Alabama before? Thanks in advance.

November is always our slowest month. I think our occupancy dropped to about 60% for that month. September and October are leaf-peeping season, and normally stay pretty full. Spring is pretty iffy, it depends on the snowpack and when Tioga Pass (into Yosemite National Park) opens. April we are normally still pretty booked with skiers, but May can be a bit slower before Tioga opens.

We charge 25% for full service management, but the norm in my area is 38-50% (!!). There are a couple newer companies charging something like 18% but they make the owners purchase their own supplies (TP, paper towels, toiletries, etc) and have all kinds of "additional fees" that seem to put them in about the same range when you take everything in to account.

 Sounds like you need to start investing in a different town, Paul. hahaha