All Forum Posts by: Valerie Rogers

Amen to that word of caution! This is an ever-changing landscape with so many cities & municipalities seeking to address STRs if they haven't already. 

We are considering purchasing a property in the San Diego area, where, last year the city council voted to OUTLAW ALL STRs! This ruling seemed outrageous to me (and many others) in a location where STRs/tourism is so prevalent. The outcry was so great that the city withdrew the ruling, but who knows what they may end up coming back with in the future?

We called Avalara MyLodgeTax (whose services we use to file/pay the appropriate taxes in the different locations of our STRs) to ask if it is even possible to obtain a STR license in San Diego right now. They needed a specific address before they could look it up for me, but after checking the address of one of the properties that we are considering they said yes, at the current time it is possible to obtain a STR license for that property but of course there was no guarantee that the city would not change its regulations in the future.

Even if the city allows it, make sure if you are buying in a location that has an HOA that the HOA allows it also. Many (if not most) do not allow rentals for shorter than at least 6 months. We learned the hard way....and are staying clear of any properties with HOAs unless it is in an area where STRs is common and the HOA allows

Hi Mike, and congratulations on your first STR! All of the advice given here is spot-on and absolutely correct.

I used to work for VRBO, which was begun in the early 1990s to help owners of vacation rental properties manage their STRs themselves instead of having to hire a property manager to do it. One of my first responsibilities at VRBO was to manage the founders' STR in Maui (from CO). So yes, it can be done especially with some of the technology, tools & systems in place that the other BP members have suggested.

There are sevaral ways one can go about handling the management of a vacation rental property.

1. You can hire a full-service property manager
2. You can hire a service that assists in the management of the bookings & communications with travelers
3. You can handle all aspects of your vacation rental property themselves ("by owner".)

A full-service property management company (#1 option) is just that: they handle every detail and aspect of offering a property for rent on the vacation rental market, from advertising the property on their own Property Management Company website, to handling inquiries and reservations, key-handling, cleaning and maintenance. Rates for a full-service property manager range on average from 25% - 60% (depending on your area.)

The #2 option handles everything except the actual cleaning & maintenance of the property. This kind of service  helps owners with the advertisement(s) of their vacation rental property as well as handling all communications with travelers before, during & after their stay, handles payment schedules, send rental agreements, communicate with the housekeeping/maintenance staff and follow up with the guests to request that they submit a review of their stay at your property. The professional and comprehensive handling of your reservations is critical if you want to maximize your investment in your vacation rental business. Typically the fee for this type of service is not as expensive as a full-service property manager and well worth the benefit of the extra time you'll have for the things that are more important to you. Evolve is one such company, but there are other smaller, more "personal" services also. 

The #3 option is the most profitable, as you've heard from other BP'ers here. It is the biggest time investment of the three options but also the biggest payoff. I would not recommend you attempt to self manage unless you have the time to quickly respond to inquiries & guests and make sure you are professionally & comprehensively handling all of the things I mentioned in the #2 option AS WELL as have a very good dependable local team in place to help with the property maintenance.

Good luck in your new venture!

My husband & I bought a home in the small town in VA where our Alma Mater is located because he got tired of not being able to find a hotel room in town during the weekends he wanted to attend a sporting event (most often a football game). There are several other small colleges in town besides our Alma Mater, which has about 15,000 students on campus.

The home we bought has 4 BRs/2 BAs and is larger than most of the VRBOs/Airbnbs that were advertising (most of them were 2 BR/1 BA bungalows). 

Prior to this purchase our other vacation rentals were located in "vacation destinations" (beach in FL or ski country in Summit County, CO) so we were not quite sure how successful this venture would be since the town is not really a "vacation destination". 

We were happy to discover that the house rented well; mostly weekend bookings. But to our surprise the "niche" that our house seems to fill is housing for out-of-town family & friends for weddings being held in the area. Who knew that Lynchburg was a true wedding destination? We didn't! Most of our larger groups/longer stays were related to a wedding being held in the area. 

After the first full year we found that not only  had the rental revenue covered all of the operating expenses but there was some left over to fund some improvements that we wanted to make. 

It's been a great experience so far and my husband is happy as a lark that he can go spend time there whenever rh wishes and does not have to stay in a hotel room 40 minutes from town.

Best wishes to you!

Congratulations on your first guests! May they be the first of many happy guests making wonderful memories in your property!

My husband & I own 5 vacation rentals in various cities. We manage the properties & bookings ourselves.

I also manage the bookings for some other vacation rental owners and charge a 10% commission, based up on the amount of the RENT of the booking, not including fees & taxes. My clients are responsible for the actual maintenance of the property and the cleaning which is why they can save having to pay the much higher commission for a full service property manager. We fill the niche between doing everything yourself or paying someone else to do everything.

Our vacation rental properties are in Dillon, CO, Fort Walton Beach, FL (next door to Destin) and Lynchburg, VA.

I received the same email from Airbnb.

This link https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits?q=security%20deposit says (addressing the traveler):

"Two days before your stay begins, an authorization hold for the security deposit amount will be placed on your payment method. You won’t be charged, but the hold means that you won’t be able to access these funds until the hold is released. For example, if you’re paying with a credit card with a total credit limit of $5,000, and there's a security deposit of $500, your credit card limit would then be $4,500 until the hold is released.

If everything goes as planned, we’ll release the hold 14 days after you check out.

Your reservation will be subject to cancellation—up to 36 hours before check-in—if we’re unable to place the authorization hold. It’s a good idea to make sure your payment method has enough money available to cover the security deposit. (If you’re not able to do that, Airbnb is not responsible for any associated fees, including overdraft fees.)

If it turns out we can’t authorize the hold for the security deposit amount, you’ll be notified by email and will have 12 hours to try another payment method. If that doesn’t work out, we’ll cancel your reservation and you’ll be refunded."

Sounds like if the guest forgets to make sure they have enough money in their account to cover the security deposit (in the case of a debit card) it could lead to Airbnb canceling the booking if the guest can't come up with the funds on short notice. That's a bummer; I wonder if they will refund the guest for the booking or not, if our cancellation policy says no refunds so close to check in.

@Jonathan Cox, All 3 of our condos are in Dune Pointe, a small beachfront building. It’s been a great experience! We love sharing our properties with guests who are making lifelong memories while visiting. 

My condos are in Fort Walton Beach, which is right next door to Destin...so not the exact location but close enough to be considered the same, I think. 

And the fact that we have 3 condos in the same building on Okaloosa Island speaks to our opinion of the market.  <smile>

Best of luck!

Congratulations @Jon Hilfiger on your new purchase! Destin is a great vacation destination. My husband & I have a couple of condos on Okaloosa Island just next door to Destin.

If you are going to rent the house out on the short term market there are three options:

1. Manage the house and the bookings yourself ("by owner"). This is the most profitable route since you won't have to pay anyone else to help you with it...but it is also the most time consuming and perhaps stressful option. You'll have to build a great, reliable team in Destin to manage things like housekeeping and any maintenance issues that might (and will!) come up.
2. Hire a booking service (like mine!) to handle the very time consuming tasks like responding to every inquiry, communicating with interested travelers and guests, communicating with housekeeping, making sure rental agreements are sent & signed, providing check-in information to the guests, making sure everything is going well during their stay, following up after their visit and solicit reviews, handling payments, keeping good records for the homeowner, and more. You take care of the property and let the booking service take care of the rest. You'd have to pay for this service of course, but not near as much as you would a full-service property manager.
3. Hire a full-service property manager who will take care of everything. The only thing you'll need to do is pay the bill and collect the revenue from the PM each month. This is the most expensive option and oftentimes is what turns what could be a revenue-generating venture into a wash (or less).

If you decide to go with option 3 I can highly recommend Sugar Palm Vacation Rentals PM company in Destin. They are a small company owned by business partners Jeff & Christine (VR owners themselves) and they take care of their clients' properties the same way they take care of their own. The principal partners used to work with me at VRBO & Homeaway "back in the good old days" (before Expedia) so they know their stuff. Christine actually wrote the book on how to rent your home "by owner" back when the industry was just beginning to take off. You can't get any more expert than that!

Best of luck!