Short Term Rental Riches

Purchasing property can be scary. Purchasing property in a new market you're not familiar with will undoubtedly be more scary. How do we know if a new market makes sense? What if we've never visited it before? What if we don't know anyone there? There's a lot of fear and anxiety that pops up. Each time Tim has invested in a new market he has experienced both of these! This week he'll discuss what...

They are never fun to get but YOU WILL get them; the dreaded "Negative Review." Our guests are not always right, but it's our job to make them feel that way. Seeing a negative comment about your beautiful property can be difficult. It's tempting to argue and act defensive but that will NOT help your case. Let's talk this week about:   What to do when you get a negative review Tips for how to best...

There are multiple house keeping options for your short-term rentals, but not all of them will be the best fit or make the most sense for you. Depending on what stage you are in with your business and how many rentals you have will most likely determine the best fit for you. There are pros and cons to each method and Tim has explored them all (and currently uses multiple methods in multiple cities...

There are multiple house keeping options for your short-term rentals but not all of them will be the best fit or make the most sense for you. Depending on what stage you are in with your business and how many rentals you have will most likely determine the best fit for you. There are pros and cons to each method and Tim has explored them all (and currently uses multiple methods in multiple cities)...

You may have heard of these little bugs. Little bugs that have the potential to wreak havoc on your short-term rental(s). Little bugs that only seem to come out at night like the boogie man! They're what you think of when a bed just doesn't look that inviting or when you get a random itch at night in an unfamiliar accommodation. Yes, this week Tim dives into his encounters with bed bugs! He'll bre...

Almost every real estate investor has been or will be involved with property improvements, repairs, or general maintenance at some point which means they've had to talk and deal with contractors. Tim is no exception. He has worked with almost 200 different contractors in different cities in the US and other countries! Tune in this week as we cover some basic rules you NEED to follow:   3 tips for...

Covid-19 has had tremendous effects on the whole world. Many of those effects have been obvious but there are few underlying changes that could potentially have a big impact on our housing supply and demand. When the supply and demand changes so does the price of each individual market. Tune in this week as Tim discusses a few Covid impacts you may not have considered such as:   What happens if ro...

There's no doubt about it, your properties will require maintenance. Broken glasses, scuffed walls, stains on rugs, etc. Let's take a deeper dive into your rentals and expected maintenance in the long run:     Top 3 things that will cause damage Luggage racks Airbnb prevents users from booking under the age of 25 (without 3 positive reviews) Blocking the calendar for routine maintenance The danger...

Is there anything anymore that doesn't require a password? Not really. From banking to your Kindle account and everything in between - you can't access it without a username and password. It's not different for the short term rental industry. We have countless subscriptions   to manage and have consistent access, too. So, let's discuss some best practices this week. You can literally save days of...

Often when we hear about real estate it's usually referring to housing and the places we live in. But real estate goes so much further than that! Changing the use of real estate (much like converting long term rentals into nightly rentals) is where value is created. Let's broaden our horizons a bit in this episode as we discuss some of the likely "less conventional" uses for real estate and why we...

We mentioned it before but now it's official! Some of the world's largest hotels are now using self check in. Tune in for a brief first hand encounter as Tim discusses his experience using keyless entry at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada compared with a more remote self check in at an Airbnb in the wine country of Northern California.   Self check in in northern California wine country VS....

Quite possibly the most intimidating piece of managing short-term rentals is the time involved. But how much time does it really take? Can you really make them passive? How much more involved is it than your traditional long term rental? Listen in this week as Tim breaks down the determining factors of how much time you can expect to spend managing your short-term rentals. He'll give you the time...

Perhaps one of the best tools ever for creating wealth for real estate investors is the section of the tax code 1031. This special little tax advantage lets us exchange property without paying the taxes on our capital gains! You have to be strategic with this one but it is a fabulous tool. Tune in this week as Tim breaks down some of the details and gives you his experience on past exchanges he ha...

As a real estate investor our goal is to acquire more properties leading to more cash flow and ultimately more wealth. But, as you continue to grow so does your bookkeeping! Even if you love math you may find yourself strongly disliking bookkeeping. It can be tedious and timely. QuickBooks offers a great solution to help streamline all of those expenses and keep you organized. How should you set i...

Let's face it, for those of us that live in the US we are living in one of the most litigious countries in the world. You've heard that you need to protect yourself and your properties, but what is the best way? Is it necessary to form an LLC in which to hold your property? There are multiple steps we can take to protect ourselves, but which ones are the right ones and when are they necessary?    ...

Hotels have recognized the trends in travel and know that a huge majority of the market that was once their customers have moved to short-term rentals. This is evident in the way they have been developing new hotels, but the world and our current environment has pushed them even further! COVID-19 has now forced them to be more like short-term rentals! This is leaving hotels with many unused areas...

We used to find them in paper formats, sometimes with the last guest's wine stains or food crumbles mixed into the pages but times have changed! Guests want information at their fingertips. Providing a digital guidebook will make a huge impact on your guest experience, your reviews and the amount of time you spend on your business!   It answers the basic questions (your guests will always ask) Eas...

There are many reasons why someone may attempt to book one of our properties for someone else (a 3rd party booking). Should we accept those reservations? We have to ask the guests (and ourselves) why would they be booking for someone else. Sometimes, these can be great reservations but sometimes they can be, well, not so great. Tune in with Tim this week as he gives you his experience and recommen...

How can we possibly handle so much information coming at us from every direction? The plans we have for our short term rentals, the markets we're researching, the contacts in those markets, pros and cons from one neighborhood to another? We have to have a place to put all of that data and if you try to keep it in your head you will fail! (Or at least forget most of it) Tim will discuss how to use...

There is more information available online than ever before and it's growing at an exponential rate but not all of it is credible. Not all of it is helpful. Not all of it is useful for your STR. This week Tim will give you his favorite learning resources and some points to consider:     Best podcasts Best YouTube channels Best Conferences Conferences   Mentorships   [3:07] Recommended YouTube chan...

With recent advances in technology we can build our "remote" team easier than ever (and there are more people in the remote working "pool" than ever before). The best time to higher a new team member is before you actually need them. There are numerous aspects to managing short-term rentals but almost all of them can be managed remotely! You can also take advantage of the differences in currencies...

The world has gone remote. More people are working from home than ever before. Will this uninvited "work from home" experiment debunk some employers' stigma that employees who work from home are not productive? I believe it will. A change in our normal work environment means a whole lot for commercial real estate and the short-term rental industry. In this episode Tim will discuss some of these po...

An easy way to gain more exposure for your short-term rental is to go on multiple channels or OTA's (Online Travel Agencies). However, this can create a challenge with your calendars. For example, if someone books on booking.com, how would you integrate that with Airbnb? We want to prevent double bookings at all costs! Let's talk about some easy ways to do that with channel managers: What is a cha...

We are in the business of renting to people that we do not know personally. We have reviews to go off of but do we really know who's staying in our properties? Well, not really. "House rules", as Airbnb refers to them, are the first step in protecting ourselves from loss of income and protecting our properties from damage. It's a section that every potential guest must read and agree to before the...

It's really difficult to outsource work or automate your business without a set of instructions, or operating procedures (SOP's). We'll talk about a really cool little tool that can help you do all of that and make the process easier than ever. Create a visual representation of all the systems in your business so you can step back and let someone else take over.   Tim uses this tool for so many th...