All Forum Posts by: Valerie Rogers

@Nancy Bachety

The first two condos we bought in the building in Fort Walton Beach were under our $350,000 budget. The third one (that we are under contract for) exceeds that budget though. Each one has been more expensive that the last, but that is probably to be expected as the market improved. We bought in 2014, 2016 & 2018 (if we are successful with the one under contract.)

I wrote the following post on another forum in 2016. Since then, I've begun using MyVR to handle communications for my own properties, but I still use the process described below for my clients' properties. 

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I use Gmail accounts to manage all emails for my vacation rental properties as well as those of my clients. I was using a Gmail app called "Boomerang" to schedule future emails, but was limited to 10 "credits" per month per Gmail account.

Searching for ways to streamline my process and become more efficient with my time, I wanted to find a way to combine all of the separate Gmail accounts into one (so that I didn't have to log into many different Gmail accounts.) But the limit of 10 Boomerang credits always created an obstacle because I would need to schedule many more than 10 future emails if I was to work from one Gmail account.

This is when I found the "Gmail Scheduler", a Chrome extension created by Amit Agarwal.

This handy tool allows me to schedule an unlimited number of emails to be sent in the future. Now I can handle all of my VR properties and those of my clients from one Gmail account and won't be constrained by limited credits to schedule future emails.

I simply create the email that I want to send in my Gmail account and then close the draft after it has been saved.

Then I use the Gmail Scheduler to "Fetch" the drafts onto the Scheduler spreadsheet. I add details about when the message should be sent ("Once" or repeat messages) and pick a date for the message to be sent. That is all there is to it!

The Gmail Scheduler Premium (unlimited messages) is not free, but costs a one-time fee of $39.99. I felt it was worth the price to gain the efficiency I was looking for, and I've been very pleased with it ever since I've started using it.

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The great part about this tool is that it only cost me a one-time fee of $39.99 for unlimited use.

The drawback is that I still have to create each email that I want to schedule manually. But per reservation it only takes a few minutes to do, and once the emails are scheduled I don't have to keep revisiting the reservation to take care of that task.

Gmail has the ability to create canned messages so that when you want to schedule an email all you need to do is create the email, insert and if necessary personalize your canned message, add the recipients' email address and then close the draft when it is constructed the way you want. 

But there is another tool that I've found that expedites the process even further. It is well worth the annual fee ($39.96). "TextExpander" allows me to create "snippets" (or canned messages) and quickly insert them into a text function by hitting a few keystrokes that have been assigned to the message. For instance, by typing 3 characters (vjr) my name instantly populates: Val Rogers. This tool helps by making the creation of the emails for the Gmail Scheduler very fast and easy.

These tools are great efficiency tools for someone with 1 - ? listings, but at some point more automation will be required and I think that is when some of these other options that have been mentioned might be good ones to investigate.

Hi Lindsay,

Nice to "meet" you!

I live in CO and our first STR is in the mountains about 1.5 hours from where we live. When we wanted to buy our 2nd STR we wanted to go south to warmer climates.

Never having been on the Gulf Coast of FL before, we took 2 trips. The first we flew into Tampa and drove all the way down the coast to Marco Island. There was a LOT that we saw that we loved. (My favorite was Sanibel Island.) However, we found that the housing prices were out of our budget and many of the cities had very strict rental restrictions for short term rentals (such as limit to one rental per year, at least 30 days in length.) Since our goal is to always have the property pay for itself those restrictions didn't work for us.

So our next trip was to Destin, FL, where the short term rental industry plays an important part in that region's economy. There were no restrictions there. We ended up purchasing a condo on Okaloosa Island, next door to Destin. Since then, we've purchased a 2nd unit in the same building and are currently under contract to purchase a 3rd. 

To answer your specific questions:

Alabama vs Florida.....what states/cities have more favorable regulations/taxes for short term rentals? (does that even exist, ha!) - I don't have any experience anywhere other than Destin/Fort Walton Beach area, and as I've mentioned there are no restrictions for STRs in that area.

Condo fees......Some seem to be over the top, what is reasonable to expect? - Our building's HOA fee is $540/month. That sounds like a lot, but when I compare it to the HOA fee we pay for the condo in CO ($390/month) it doesn't sound out of line, considering that the FL building has a pool, grounds and an elevator and the CO building has none of those.

Price......Is it realistic to think we could find a 3 bed 2 bath condo or home within a few blocks from the beach under $200K?

I cannot answer that question, I don't know enough about the market to make a guess. I suspect you can find properties for under $200K but not sure if they would have everything you are looking for. Best bet is to contact a realtor in the different areas you are interested in and pick their brains.

When we bought our 1st condo in FL, our budget was $350,000 and we wanted at least 2 BR, 2 BA, the building must be ON the beach and the condo must have an awesome view of the beach. (This was in 2014.) We found in Destin we could buy a 2 BR/2 BA condo within that budget, but we had to compromise on something (usually the great view). You could have a little bit of a view (or none) for that amount of money. That is why when we found the condo on Okaloosa Island (which is next door to Destin, but not IN Destin) we knew right away it was the one. It had everything we were looking for and was under our budget.

What areas do you think are great investments? Anyone doing well or terrible that way? I'm open to all advice and opinions :) - Our market is great. The FL condos are our best ROIs, followed closely by our condo in Summit County, CO.

My best advice is to decide what are your absolute "must-haves" and set a budget that will allow you to get as much of the must-haves as possible. For us, the non-negotiable items were the location (must be ON the beach) and the view (must be an awesome view of the beach.) We knew that was what guests are looking for and were willing to pay a higher rate for those amenities.

Best wishes to you!

I am a former employee of VRBO/Homeaway. I worked for VRBO when the original founders owned it, and stayed with the company after it was sold to Homeaway. So I've been immersed in the vacation rental business for a long time. In fact, one of the first responsibilities I had at VRBO was to manage the STR owned by the founders. I learned how to manage a vacation rental property from the leaders of the industry; I was very fortunate to learn from the best.

When my husband & I decided we wanted to buy an investment property we only considered STR. Our first property (2 BR/2 BA condo) is located in the quaint mountain town of Dillon, CO. Two years later we bought a 2 BR/2 BA condo on the beach in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Two years later we bought another condo in the same building in FL as the first one. One year later we bought a home in Lynchburg, VA where our Alma Mater (Liberty University) is located.

We are currently under contract to purchase a third condo in the same building on the beach in FL as the first two.

The FL condos are the best ROIs, but the CO condo is just a tad behind those. The VA home is pretty new so we'll have to wait and see how it pans out, but after not even 3 months of renting we are only $200 short of half of our annual goal for the property to at least pay for itself.

Our goal is to get the mortgages paid off as soon as possible (within 5-7 years) so that my husband can retire. We'll live off the income from the properties until we start collecting social security at 70 (if it is still in existence by then!)

I love this industry! I enjoy hosting others in our properties and I also enjoy sharing my expertise with the clients who hire me to help manage their STR marketing and bookings. I am thankful every day for the opportunity that I received when I was hired at VRBO; it has changed our lives!

 Hi Ben,

I've signed up to act as a "Co-Host" on Airbnb but so far I've had no one contact me to help host their property.

But I do have my own "Marketing/Booking Management" service which manages the listings, inquiries & bookings for my clients' properties. I do not manage the property itself, though.

@Chris Armstrong asks if a license is needed to manage other people's properties. In CO where I live a full-service property manager does need a license to manage other people's properties. But since I am not a full-service property manager and most importantly, since the travelers' payments go straight to the client and not to them through me a license is not required.

All of my clients have come to me via word of mouth or by referrals. I am pretty particular about who I accept as a client so I don't advertise or market my service on a broad scale; I am sorry I don't have any recommendations for you for that. But if you are doing a good job managing your own properties there may be other owners with properties in your area that might be willing to allow you to help them manage their reservations. I would start by talking to other VR owners in your area, especially if it is the norm for people to hire full-service property managers. They might be interested in keeping more of the revenue by letting you manage the advertisements & bookings for their properties while they take care of the housekeeping & maintenance of the property themselves.

You might also contact some local real estate agents and let them know about your service and ask if they'd keep you in mind if they sell a property to someone in your area who plans on using it as a short term rental.

Another thing you might consider is joining your town's Chamber of Commerce. Your business might receive some perks like advertisement opportunities in the area publications or media.

I hope this helps, and good luck to you!

Valerie

 Hi Reid,

The ResortLock RL2000 & RL4000 are not wifi enabled. Will they work for you?

The first remote lock that we used was the ResortLock RL2000. It's pretty simple. You can generate temporary codes from your computer but permanent codes must be programmed directly on the lock.

Needing a more robust housing in the salt air climate for our next rental we went with the ResortLock RL4000. Same functionality as the RL2000 just more hardy in beach climates.

By the time we bought our 2nd unit at the beach I wanted to try the wifi enabled lock so we used the RemoteLock 6i Wifi Enabled lock. You can generate permanent codes as well as temporary codes from the computer. You can also receive notifications when codes are used, so you always know when someone is entering the property. Pretty handy to keep track of when the cleaning crew arrives, as well as vendors. Guest notifications can be set to just the first time the code is used if you just want to know when they've arrived. You can also look at recorded "Events" (each time a code is attempted on the lock, either successfully or not.) This came in handy recently when a guest called to say that the code "was not working". I logged onto the lock dashboard and discovered he was entering the code incorrectly (transposing some numbers.) 

The latest lock we've used was the LockState 5i Deadbolt because the other model handles would not work on this particular property's door. It works just like the wifi enabled 6i lock. 

All of these locks are products by LockState, so I can manage them all with one website logon/dashboard.

 Hi Lucas,

I have a website that advertises my VRs as well as Facebook pages for each. I use my website to accept bookings from repeat guests, referrals and any other booking that comes my way outside of my listings on VRBO or Airbnb. I created the Facebook pages back when I started trying to build & promote my "brand" and it has helped some savvy travelers find my properties after first spotting them on VRBO.

I do need to learn more about using Facebook ads for more targeted marketing...sounds like I could learn a thing or two from @JaredHigginbotham.

 Hi Lynn,

See the post I just made (above) that gives a little more information about my service. I just sent a contact request to you.

Regards,

Valerie

 Hi Nancy,

I had been retired from my career at VRBO/Homeaway for 6 months when I started VRAssist. I had too much time on my hands so I decided to leverage my knowledge and experience in the short term rental industry to help other owners manage their properties' bookings. When I started my business in 2014 I had never heard of Evolve. It is ironic that their business and mine are both located in Denver. But yes, the services I offer are similar to those offered by Evolve.

The biggest difference between my service and Evolve is the size of our businesses. Evolve has thousands of clients and VRAssist does not. VRAssist has a small, select clientele and is therefore able to provide very personalized, detailed and attentive service to our clients. VRAssist clients’ properties are not just one of thousands…a small fish in a big pond. Each one of our clients’ properties is a large part of our business and therefore each receives the care and attention they deserve. (I am not saying anything negative about the level of service that Evolve provides since I have no experience with them. I'm stating the obvious, that their business is much larger than mine.)

At a quick glance here are the main differences between our services:

• Evolve provides a listing advertisement for their clients including professional photographs. VRAssist can provide a listing advertisement if the owner does not already have one, but we use the photos provided to us by the owner of the property. (We DO encourage our owners to hire a professional photographer to take photos of their properties.) If the owner of the property already has their own listing on sites like VRBO, Airbnb, etc, we can use their current advertising if the owner prefers instead of creating a new listing for the property (while at Evolve you do not have the option of using your current advertisements.)
• Evolve offers local service providers to their clients, such as housekeeping services, maintenance services, etc. VRAssist clients have the opportunity to personally interview and contract their own local service providers, making sure that their property will be cared for at the level and manner that is important to the client. Your property will be handled by professionals that you choose and not by an anonymous service unknown to you.

My career experience at VRBO/Homeaway is what I can offer that others (including Evolve) cannot. I am also an owner of vacation rental properties myself so I understand how important it is to protect that investment with best practices I’ve learned over the years of my experience in this industry. In short, we use the same best practices to manage our clients' properties that we use to manage my own.

I hope this helps! Feel free to send me a private message if you'd like more information.

Valerie