All Forum Posts by: Valerie Rogers

My company VRAssist charges 10% of the amount of rent only (we don't charge commission on the total which includes fees and taxes) plus a $10/month admin fee. My clients also pay for their Vrbo subscriptions or PPB fees and credit card processing fees. I know that the larger "V A", "Co-Host", "Booking Management" companies pay for their clients' Vrbo subscriptions or PPB fees, but my boutique business cannot support that expense. My clients value the attention to their properties and guests I am able to provide precisely because of our small client base so they are willing to pay for it.

My husband & I live in Colorado and we purchased a home in Rustburg, VA (Campbell County) in 2017. We did apply for a Special Use Permit with the purpose of renting the home on the short term rental market.

We did have to write a letter explaining why we were applying for a special use permit (SUP). 

Our letter explained:

"Who We Are":  Introduction of ourselves, our occupations and the reason for our application for SUP in Campbell County.

"What We Do": We are experienced STR property owners, owning STR properties in CO and FL before purchasing the VA property; my experience as a former employee of Vrbo/Homeaway and how that experience has helped me understand the STR industry and contributed to the creation of my current business VRAssist (booking management company for owners of STRs).

"Why This Home": Explanation about why we wanted to purchase a home in VA, our connection to Liberty University as alumni and our intention to use the home ourselves with our family & friends when we are visiting Lynchburg.

"Our Guests": Our target audience is adults or families coming to Lynchburg to visit LU, either parents/grandparents of current students or adults attending an event or intensive course at LU. We explained how managing the property ourselves allowed us to be very particular about choosing to whom we would rent the house, screening guests to make sure they understand our pretty strict house rules and that they would be required to sign a rental agreement & provide a copy of their ID. We included a copy of our rental agreement for review. 

Finally, we were able to report that in the years since purchasing our STR properties we've never had any complaints filed against us, our properties or our guests by any officials, neighbors or other guests staying at the properties.

We had to travel from CO to VA twice during the application process to attend Planning Commission meetings.

This was back in 2017, when STRs in Campbell County were few and far between, and our application was approved. Since then, I understand that the county has had a lot more discussion about how to handle STRs but as far as I know the process is still the same.

I'm a little bit surprised that you were told you needed to apply for a SUP...it is certainly possible that the rules have changed since our application, but it was my understanding that If the property is located in any business, industrial or Residential Multi-Family (R-MF) zoning district a SUP is not required, However, if the property is located in an Agricultural, Residential Single-Family (R-SF) or Residential Manufactured Housing district, a SUP is required. I would imagine your townhome falls within the "Residential Multi-Family" category, and if so, would not require a special use permit. You might want to double-check that just to make sure whoever told you that you needed a SUP wasn't assuming your home was in an R-SF zone.

Check this out: 

Existing Definitions and Zoning Districts for Short-Term Rentals

This document found on the Campbell County, VA website is dated Mar 18, 2020, so it could be that things have changed since then, but I was not able to find anything since then to contradict this information.

You should be sure to check with your townhome community, especially if there is an HOA. They may have placed restrictions on short term rentals in the community, which would prevent you from offering your town home to STR guests.

I hope this helps! Best wishes for your application, I hope that you are successful!

We own a lakefront STR condo in Dillon (Summit County) that is within 15-20 minutes of 5 ski resorts. Summit County and most of the towns within allow STRs but are all tightening up their STR restrictions (there were none when we first started renting in 2012). But, it is still possible. Just be sure to do your research so that you have a clear picture of what you are getting into if you should decide to proceed.

As you can see from all of these helpful & informative responses, there are options out there for STR owners. You should be able to find the one that best fits your situation and lifestyle goals. If you are interested click here to read a blog post that I wrote a while back that outlines these options for booking/property management for STR owners.

Reading the post by @Mark Cruse, I'm glad to see how much he appreciates his PM, but I'm surprised by the number of "issues" he describes that his PM has had to handle. It has been my experience that if a property is well-maintained, the guests are screened properly and the communication with guests sets proper expectations it is rare to have a problem that needs the PM's involvement. Most of the time, at a well-run STR, any issues the guest experiences are usually "operator error" or caused because the guest did not avail himself of the information he was provided (such as not knowing how to access the property when they get there, etc.)

My husband & I own STR properties in 4 different states, self-manage, and we've never had to "drop our life and jump on a plane" to respond to an issue. The key to success is having good local contacts for all of the various trades who can handle any issue that should arise.

One of my favorite quotes is:

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
― Henry David Thoreau

So your goals will help decide your path. If your goal is to build wealth then you'll want to choose the option to help you do that, which in most cases would be to self-manage. If your goal is "peace of mind" then hire a local full service PM. Or, choose the niche in between those two options and hire a booking management service (or a "co-host" service as some people call it). They'll take care of most of the time-consuming tasks and you'll handle the occasional maintenance issue at the property.

Whatever you choose, best of luck! 

I am not an Affiliate, but I use OwnerRez as well and I love it! Their team is great and the software is well worth the price in my opinion.

There are other smaller booking management companies other than Evolve.

@Julie Chai, my pleasure!

We use wifi-enabled locks from RemoteLock.

We can generate codes via app or online; codes are effective only during the dates/time you specify; we can view any event that occurs on the lock (helpful if a guest reports their code isn't working only to find out that they are entering the numbers in the wrong order), and my booking management software integrates with the lock so I don't need to do anything.  :-)

@Julie Chai & @Dan Francis, best wishes to you as you begin your adventure with your short term rental properties!

In 2021 I wrote an article that answers the question of how to manage your property and bookings that you might find helpful. The information in that article is still applicable today.

You can read it at:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

A service like Evolve or mine (VRAssist) falls into category #2 in the article.

I hope this helps!

I use Wave which is free. I've never used Quickbooks or Quicken but I believe Wave is very similar. 

Some features include:

• Unlimited bank connections
• Income & expense tracking
• Invoicing & payroll capabilities
• Exportable accounting reports such as profit/loss, sales tax, cash flow, customisable expense/income categories, etc.