Short Term Rental Riches

Options are always good. Unlimited options? Even better!  That is what Airbnb is offering with its latest 2022 Summer Release . When you open it, you're presented with 56 categories that organize homes based on their style, location, or proximity to a travel activity . That is 5.3 million unique listings in 191 different countries around the globe!  Limitless possibilities are here to stay for the...

Keeping your STR updated and contemporary will help to increase your property value and get more bookings. These types of upgrades are essential in order for your property to stay competitive and relevant in the booming 21st-century short term rental market! But hold it just one minute! Before you start renovating, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons! Sometimes, we think pumping more m...

I'm sure we all have experienced this: a guest changing his/her plans and asking you to change the date of their stay to a time that is outside of the cancellation penalty period. You approve this request only to find out that, well your guest is, after all, planning to cancel!  Well quite sadly, this is an ongoing tactic. We understand that guests want flexibility but if you just give in to these...

Investment philosophies should always revolve around returns that's why we normally recommend areas of the US where the rent to value ratio (amount of rent we get back vs. purchase price) is higher. If you evaluate properties using this metric it's an easy way to rule out a lot of areas; typically the areas with the highest cost of living. But when can these SAME CITIES actually make sense? Let's...

It's exciting hosting so many guests from all over the world in our properties. We are helping to facilitate a new way people are deciding to travel that is more experiential. We are helping others to build lifelong memories. But it's not exactly easy. Things happen, and people have questions. Questions about our properties. Questions about the area our property is in. Questions about what we reco...

It's often said that "the devil is in the details." When it comes to short-term rentals, this could not be more true. One little hair could be the difference between your 3-star review and a perfect 5-star review that will keep guests coming back. So how do we ensure that we consistently get great reviews? We have to monitor the details! I know, that's easier said than done. My team and I have man...

We are currently doing hundreds of reservations a month, and something just dawned on me after looking at our cleaning fee and realizing it was likely too low...We may be losing thousands of dollars! And not just in lost potential revenue but because our cleaning expense is actually higher than our fee. So that brings up a good question, how much should you charge your guests? How do you calculate...

Do you know all the downsides to renting to long-term guests for stays over 30 days? If you haven't really thought it through before - there are quite a few. Everything from the legalities and taxes you will owe to the way you manage your property change. Long-term stays are NOT well suited for all short-term rentals and markets. But on the flip side, there are a lot of benefits! So before we deci...

What if you could travel for free? Without tax that is. Well, you likely can.   I stayed at the most remote Airbnb I've ever stayed at in my life. I literally could barely get to it. After putting the jeep in 4x4 and dredging up and down muddy roads with deep crater-like holes we finally made it. Not without, however, two gracious Colombian gentlemen helping to push us up a hill while I had the th...

I've been investing for over 12 years and have not been particularly biased to any one type of real estate to invest in. I started my career as a commercial real estate broker working exclusively with investors and different real estate investment options. The small team I worked with completed over 2 billion (with a B) in real estate transactions including everything from shopping centers, to war...

It's hard to tell at first. Something seems a little fishy but not enough to lead you to believe that someone is out to fool you. Not from the start anyway. These days there aren't many areas of life that haven't been infiltrated by someone or something trying to take advantage where they can and ultimately take things that don't belong to them. Scams happen with Airbnbs and short-term rentals as...

If you have had an STR for a while I'm sure you had some unexpected cleaning due to guests smoking in your listing or pets damaging your property. Not only is it frustrating when our properties aren't treated with care but having to deal with the process to get reimbursed can be equally frustrating! And sometimes we just don't have the time to file a complaint before our next guest checks in and w...

Compared to the hotel industry, the short-term rental industry is still just a small share of the pie. Although it is growing! And not just growing but merging with the hotel industry. The hotel industry is taking note of the STR industry and vice versa. But at the end of the day, the hotel industry is still a giant and the travel industry's leader. Some hotel chains have tens of thousands of room...

Whether you sold your house, decided not to rent your home any longer, are doing a major renovation, or dropped the ball and got some bad initial reviews with your short-term rental, you might want to consider deleting it. This week, we will talk about how to delete your Airbnb listing (not your entire account!) and what other different Airbnb alternatives are worth pursuing before making that fin...

There are times when a man's best friend gets promoted to its highest calling, as a crucial companion for members of the community. As a service animal. Today, a lot of people rely on them to help assist with disabilities. This higher calling however brings about a new set of rules you need to know in regards to your short-term rentals. By law, w e have to make reasonable adjustments to accommodat...

Have you considered putting out the welcome mat for the furry, four-legged travelers of the world? Well, there's a pretty substantial market for pet-friendly vacation rentals. Study shows that more than half of pet owners bring their furry friends along on vacations and this is becoming the trend. According to Airbnb, the most popular amenities right now include wifi, free parking, and..a pet-frie...

Why is it that we can have two identical properties right next to each other but one waaay outperforms the other? Just a small change in occupancy or our average daily rate has a big impact on our bottom line so we need to ensure our short-term rentals are advertised in the best way possible. Monitoring our properties against themselves or monitoring their performance, however, can be a bit confus...

I know the hesitation. You're staring at your Airbnb listing wondering… is this the right title? Is this the best title? Did I charge the right cleaning fee? Should I change my photos and descriptions? Am I missing something? Because we rely so heavily on listings sites like Airbnb and VRBO to advertise our properties for rent as short-term rentals, it's important that we do what they want when it...

Operating short-term rentals will give you a new appreciation for the spaces we live in. It gets us thinking more about interior design but it also has us thinking about how durable our interior design will be. Or at least you should be thinking that if you already have a rental property. How well will your rental hold up to guests coming in and out on a regular basis? It would be hard to argue th...

I feel super fortunate to have been able to meet and become friends with some really big-time real estate investors. A friend of mine owns and manages roughly $400 million between himself and his investors' portfolio so when he starts changing the way he does something my ears perk up. I'll get to what he says shortly into this week's episode but for now, I'd like to ask you if you can think of an...

The fewer questions we receive from our guests the easier it is to manage our short-term rentals and if it's easier it's likely that we will continue doing it and building our portfolios! At the same time, receiving fewer questions also indicates that our guests have everything they need! So we talk a lot about communication on this channel and how to best serve our guests. One of those ways that...

There is quite a lot that goes into furnishing a property and I'm not just talking about the money. It takes some thought. A good design takes work and since it is such a crucial element to the success of your short-term rental you want to make sure you do it right. You may think you have the interior design skills your guests will be seeking out but are you sure? The first place we like to start...

There is quite a lot that goes into furnishing a property and I'm not just talking about the money. It takes some thought. A good design takes work and since it is such a crucial element to the success of your short-term rental you want to make sure you do it right. The first place I always recommend starting is with a floor plan. It will save you time and money and also be an additional resource...

As our team continues to grow (we work with 10 people full-time and close to 20 on a regular basis) it's a lot to keep track of! So how do you stay organized and make the best, most efficient use of you and your team's time? I'm always playing around with different programs and ideas but think I may have finally figured out a fail-proof system.  If you have people that you work with then this epis...

I'm just getting back from my 3-week tour in the US and reflecting back on some of the simple mistakes I made. I have been loosely looking for property in San Antonio, TX for a couple of years. I think it's a fantastic market but  I found a property I liked in a city where I don't currently have a property and am not currently working with anyone a brand new market for me you could say. I emailed...