All Forum Posts by: Timothy Church

I work as a realtor and investor down on Galveston Island. I enjoy the market though the price increases have limited profitability to flips and STR. It can be a fun area to work as long as you do it right!

Good afternoon,

I'm the property manager for Save 1900 Realty. We focus primarily on the island but I would be willing to discuss all the properties you have. I'd love to talk with you. Feel free to PM me.

Have a great day!

Exactly what she said! There should be a button on both calendars with the option. Simply copy and paste the code to the other site and you're good to go!

I find the best answer is use both! AirBnB 3% commission Collects and remits State HOT tax for most areas (does not collect local HOT tax Good advertising Good integrations VRBO 8% or $399/year subscription Collects tax rate that you set and you pay taxes Good advertising Okay integrations If you export both calendars to the other portal, you can use both sites without having double bookings.

The beauty of using booking portals (AirBnB, VRBO, Flipkey, etc.) is that no matter how much money a management company has, they have more!! As long as you keep all the calendars synced up with each other you can use all of them to advertise your property. With three major corporations advertising your property you are in a great spot! 

Plus more and more people are turning to these sites for bookings than to management companies. If you have any questions about setting it up, PM me but you're on the right track.

A great cleaning company is critical. Treat them right and they will make your property a priority. I just booked a week of one of my rentals during the off season (most likely to be vacant time) for my cleaners to have a company get away. It was my personal property so no cost to me other than potential income for that week but anytime I call they are at my properties in no time!

AirDNA is a great tool! I personal use it and it really helps you to get a feel for the market. They have two separate tools depending on what you are looking for.

Investment Explorer is more of an overview. It analyzes by states and overview of cities. It is more for finding where in the country you want to invest.

Market minder is their new tool. I have it for Galveston and it gives me up to date data on the performance in the area. I'm able to compare my properties with others to see how I stack up. It is great for finding rental comps and running projections.

They also have reports that you can order that are a snapshot of an area but without the need for a subscription.

I'd say start big and work your way down. 

When using a booking portal, they vary in fees. AirBnB and Flipkey charge 3% of gross rent for advertising, bookings, and charging cards. This is the same you'd pay for most card processing companies. VRBO charges 8% or $399/year. If you have a full time rental $399 turns into a rather low percentage and they still process payments for you. The only site that charges high fees is Booking.com at 15%. 

I do account for the time I spend but I automate so many things in my management that I don't honest have to spend much time. Heck, I even have check in texts during a guest stay automated! Using these booking portals automated most of my marketing as well and cost me less than marketing them independently. 

There will be the occasional call to deal with an issue but overall it's very little of my time. In fact the most time I spend is increasing the efficiency of my system through online guestbooks and new features. 

Work on your systems not in your systems!

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

@Brad Larsen, I owned a branch company that managed about 70 vacation rentals and it's a different world from managing long-term.

The amount of work required is astronomically higher. I'm surprised to hear some are managing vacation rentals for under 20% because we charged around 25% and I know other companies around the country that charge as high as 50%. Imagine the sheer number of turnovers. You have to get them cleaned, inventoried, and ready for the next guest. Maintenance calls are significantly higher than what you'll get from a long-term rental. You have to maintain lawns, pay utility bills, handle complaints about how to operate the TV remote control or track down a wedding ring that was lost in the house. Noise and parking complaints increase dramatically. Municipalities are increasingly sticking their nose into the short-term rental game with regulation and taxation. You also have to deal with the increased competition of mom-and-pop users of AirBnB that are renting out everything from walk-in closets to entire homes, making the market increasingly difficult to remain competitive. Pricing is very fluid and you have to constantly study the market and adjust prices to maximize occupancy and return for your clients.

If anyone can figure out a way to make it work, I think you can. But it's a different animal and would require a lot of time and energy to establish yourself. Putting that same time and energy into growing sales or developing an investment group would probably produce better results in a shorter amount of time without nearly the risk.

 I have to ask. At that commission point, what all is included in your services?? I know through VRBO, AirBnB, etc. the cleaning fee is charged to the guest so that fee is gone. Utilities and services such as lawn care, while occasionally managed by myself, are taken care of by the owner. I don't see where the costs are that would warrant the fee.

I have my cleaners do basic issues such as light bulbs, batteries in smoke detectors & smart locks, and any minor things. They are more than happy to do this. I also go by my properties on a monthly basis so I honest don't get many maintenance calls. Most of the issues are treated proactively instead of reactively. 

When it comes to market study, between AirDNA and pricing tools all I have to do is make a weekly adjustment to the price based on occupancy and we are good to go.

I'm just curious what all your services entails.

@Richard White

I completely agree about fees. I'd love to get 20% but as an investor myself I just cannot justify that. Personally I charge 10% for both LTR and STR. I have a few contingencies such as smart locks and automatic booking but I offer full around service. investors buy STR for the returns they can get. As a property manager it is my job to maximize those returns, not to take a larger cut of their pie!

Good morning,

I'm glad to hear about your success in managing properties so far. Doing STR can actually be about as passive as LTR if you set up everything properly.

Fees can vary depending on the manager. I know many here on the island charge between 15%-18% of gross rent and I know of one that even charges 20%. 

As for finding market estimates, most people troll through VRBO and AirBnB data and compile a spreadsheet. Personally I prefer to let someone else do it form me. I use AirDNA for this. They collect data from AirBnB and help to provide reports to give you an idea of performance in the area. If you are planning on doing quite a bit of activity in one area, I suggest signing up for their Market Minder. It give up to date info on a target market. I have it for Galveston and it is pretty spot on.

Also for pricing, I recommend using a dynamic pricing tool. Both BeyondPricing and Wheelhouse do a great job. They will adjust prices based on seasonality and events. This goes a long way in getting the best returns from a  property. Obviously keeping occupancy up is important so adjust the base price weekly based on the performance.

As for the overhead for turnover, automate everything you can. I have an auto-emailer that updates the cleaners and myself every time there is a new booking. I also send out a weekly overview of all upcoming bookings. Set a wide window for cleaning (11-3 is what I use) and have the cleaners contact you to confirm cleaning has been completed. That way if you don't hear from them come 2 PM you know there is an issue and you can address it before guest arrival. I'd alway rather ask a guest to delay check in than to have them check into a dirty home!!

While the cleaners should update you on any apparent damages, I suggest a monthly inspection of the property. Use this time to perform and basic maintenance such as air filters and document the state of the home. This gives you an opportunity to see what furniture might have excessive wear or notice the small issues that guest won't mention.

You can continue this automation with self check in, smart locks, automatic contact emails to guest before, during, and after stay, and if you use a service like RingCentral even automatic touching base texts!! The key to it is automation. If you do things the old ways with call in bookings, in person key exchange, and physical keys you will create so much work you will pull your hair out. It is the reason older management companies have DOZENS of employees. 

There is a smarter way to do things that will make your life easier.