All Forum Posts by: Leigh Ann Smith

@Jeff Graves, I was initially put off by the yearly VRBO fee, but as I've thought about it, that 3% from AirBnB adds up.  How do your costs compare for the 2 platforms?  Also, I've heard that VRBO brings in lots more inquiries from potential guests with questions who don't end up booking.  As we all know, those kinds of inquiries suck up a lot of time.  Has this been your experience?

We use Proper Insurance on our 2 vacation rentals.  Since they are tiny houses on wheels (technically RV's), CBIZ wouldn't cover them.  Each house (valued at about $35K) runs me about $550/year including liability insurance ($1 MM, as I recall), insurance on the dwelling itself, and loss of income.

@Maggie Blackham, we put in RV hookups for the tiny houses.  It was about $23K for us to put in a gravel road, run electric & water, and put in a small septic system for 3 houses.  Even though the tiny houses are on wheels and are fully functional RV's, we have no plans to move them.  We even built porches onto them, so they aren't going anywhere unless we decide to sell them or to move them permanently.  Initially, we connected the houses to the septic with RV sewer hose.  After dealing with the hoses leaking, not draining properly, etc., we caved and spent $1,500 to have PVC waste pipe installed between the houses and the septic system. 

You can see more pictures of the houses here:  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/14282082  and https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13248492 .

One update from my last post - bookings have picked up significantly.  We haven't raised our rates much, but have learned some pricing tricks.  We set the "base price" low, then raise prices for weekends.  This seems to bring in more multi-day stays.  Also, we've built up a base of good reviews.  So, our numbers are definitely looking better this year.  

It hasn't been all sunshine and roses, though.  We've had lots of trouble with the plumbing backing up on one of the houses in addition to the previously mentioned sewer hose problems.  Listening to so many BP podcasts has been helpful in dealing with this.  I just shrug my shoulders and say, "tenants and toilets".

@Jason Kahle, we purchased our 2 from SD Tiny Homes (they have a Facebook page, but no website) in Alvin, TX.  They are currently building 2 more tiny houses.

We only use Airbnb for our 2 tiny house rentals.  We're booked about 50% of the time for both houses this month (which is a big increase for us), and it's all I can handle. January was slow, and I was considering the other platforms, but I've tabled the idea for now.  Airbnb's platform is amazing.  I really like the multi-calendar and wish I could see it on my phone app!  

@Kevin Lefeuvre I'm just doing it manually.  I turned off instant-book on the "package" of 2 houses.  That way I'm covered if I forget to block dates for the package when 1 house or the other is booked.

I'd like to get some input on cleaning fees.  We list 2 tiny homes with AirBnB, and we charge a $25 fee. One house is 144 sq. ft. and the other is 160 sq. ft. plus sleeping loft.  

I was very fortunate to find a house cleaner who lives just a few miles from us.  When I offered her $20 originally, it was because it should be about a 1 hour job.  I do the laundry.  This lady had surgery a year ago, and she told me up front that she moves kind of slowly.  That was fine with me since we are paying a flat fee for the cleaning.  She is very thorough, and she has shown up every single time when she said she would.  

We paid her as contract labor last year.  It was less than $600 total, so we didn't give her a 1099.  This year, I either need to put her on the payroll as a W-2 employee or let her know that she'll be receiving a 1099 for 2017.  Either way, it will essentially mean a pay cut for her since she wasn't having any taxes withheld before.  I feel bad about that, because I think $20 isn't much money to come over here and do the job.

Do you charge your customers a high enough cleaning fee to cover the cost of a cleaning service or does the cleaning fee just offset it?  

@Ryan Gady, there would most probably be issues with zoning.  After you decide on an area, the first questions you should ask are about mimimum dwelling size, lot size, etc.  Also find out about utilities.  What does it cost to tie in to the water, sewer, and electric.

Tiny houses will be much higher per square foot than a larger house.  I have 2 tiny houses on wheels, one that's 8' x 18' and the other that's 8' x 20'.  Those were both less than $35K.  I am fortunate that we live in an unincorporated area out in the country, so we don't have zoning restrictions.

Oh, and about house cleaners....  I put an ad on Craigslist that I would pay $20 per cleaning, and I got someone who is working out great.  HOWEVER, you need to think about the laundry.  Every time a guest checks out, I have to wash a set of sheets, a blanket, 2 towels, and a bath mat.  Who would be doing that laundry?  For the time being, I am doing the laundry (our tiny houses are on the same property that our house is on), so the $20 to the house cleaner does not include that.

For Internet at our 2 tiny houses, we've had to set up a wireless hotspot.  We use AT&T because they have a good signal at our location.  We limit our guests to 1 Gb of data per day - plenty for surfing the Internet, but not enough for streaming video.  

If you put in a black water storage tank, it's still regulated by the state.  I was planning to do this, and my eyes glazed over reading the regulations.  We ended up biting the bullet and installing a septic.  You can't make improvements like that on leased land, though. 

A/C is a necessity, and so you will need to figure out a way to provide that much power economically.

One caveat on seeing properties that appear to be occupied much of the time is that the owner may block certain dates because he's going out of town, letting family use it, etc.  It would look like the property is rented, but it might just be unavailable part of the time.