All Forum Posts by: Steve Fitzgerald

I’m getting a bunch of interest in an apartment that I rent out, but 50%+ don’t meet my screening criteria. Do you include your screening criteria in your ad to cut down on potential renters who don’t meet the screening crit

Just curious if landlords in NC always charge first, last, and security deposit? For security deposits, do you always charge a full months rent? 

I have two busy STRs. I don’t currently have external cameras on the properties, but I’m considering adding them. I haven’t really had issues, but I want to be prudent. Do you have external cameras on your properties?

Got a call from the neighbor next to our STR indicating 8+ cars in the cul-de-sac with people coming and going from our rental. We've rarely had any issues at this property.

The renter was there for just one night and had indicated it would be just them staying the night. That happens sometimes for us.

We contacted the renter and relayed what our neighbor had said. The renter replied that they weren’t having a party, but rather a dinner gathering. The door indicated it was opened and closed 50 times over a period of a couple of hours. We stopped by and sure enough there were 9 in cars in and around our drive way.

The renter reiterated their side of the story saying they were having a business gathering with private chefs and videographers. It seemed like a good group so I don’t doubt that was all it was. We reminded them, again, that we don’t allow parties. They argued that it’s not a party. It’s a gathering. Parties require music. It was definitely a party minus the music. It wasn’t loud but it was still bothering our neighbors with all of the cars and the coming and going.

All this to ask, how do you define a party in your rules?

Anyone using noise monitoring outside? Looks like Minut would be great inside but would get destroyed outside. Is that correct? Noiseaware has a sensor designed for outside.

I'm looking for a noise monitoring device for my STR. I'm aware of NoiseAware, Room Monitor, and Minut. Any other devices I should be looking at? I probably want one that works indoors and outdoors which seems to only be NoiseAware. Which one do you use and why did you choose it?

@Julia Bykhovskaia Thank you. I’ve looked at noiseaware before, but it seems like it’s time to buy it. Since I use airbnb I don’t think I can set a minimum age limit, but I will look at adding some sort of fine for being too loud.

Thanks everyone. We’re using AirBnb so we do t have a way of setting minimum age. We can increase our rates though.

This is a duplicate post. Please ignore. I couldn’t figure out how to delete it.

We have a cabin in the North Carolina mountains that is renting well. Its somewhat of a secluded area but we do have neighbors. Sound carries and our neighbor is growing increasingly frustrated by the loud music, profane language, and general disruption of the mountain nights by our renters.

How would you handle this? We do prescreen our guests and have strict rules on no loud music, parties, etc. What else could we do?

We’ve thought about increasing our night rate, increasing our minimum night stay, and slightly decreasing our max occupancy to make it less attractive for party renters. I understand this would increase our vacancies but I’m ok with that.