For the experienced cohosts in the group, I’d love to get your thoughts on payment processing options for cohosting companies (LLCs) that position themselves as property management companies but operate without a broker’s license.As an investor and soon-to-be STR entrepreneur, my business will initially focus on managing a small portfolio of vacation rentals with plans to scale. 

Some grow too fast and discover they've built a full-time job for themselves.Growth can also include improving cash flow, increasing property value, or optimizing operations.

Your LLC name can be meaningless, but then you can operate under a commercial name.  

Hold the property in the LLC's name for liability shielding, and use it for rent collection, expense management, and centralized operations.

Their pursuit of cash flow normally leads them to the worst of the worst neighborhoods where the spreadsheets never capture the accurate operating expenses and no consideration for neighborhood fundamentals is part of their analysis.

If you operated a business, even without an LLC, you may potentially be able to write off certain expenses.

My first thoughts are what kind of property do you have and what kind of rental are you operating?

Of course, always check recent reviews.. they tell you more than a flashy website.Size Matters: I’d avoid both extremes... massive firms managing thousands of units and one-person operations juggling too much.

Great job on the due diligence or Operational process you have going.  

They literally went through each operating agreement and prepared an email listing out each member of each LLC and clarifying they each had to guarantee the loan despite the fact none of those entities were even being used for the purchase (which was previously explained to Dominion Financial).