Air BNB Host

[sleek98]

Does anyone here rent out a vacation place on air BnB or VRBO?

We are looking at a couple houses on the Lake of the Ozarks, since my wife has to work every third weekend I am tempted to try to rent it out on the weekends or week that we are not able to go down for a little extra cash.

Does anyone have any insights on doing it only a few days a month vs it being a sole rental? Can you weed renters that look like college kids just wanting to get drunk?

 

[me32]

Get with a property management company that directly deals with Air BNB and VRBO in that are. They will be able to answer your questions.

 

[sleek98]

Get with a property management company that directly deals with Air BNB and VRBO in that are. They will be able to answer your questions.

I didnt realize management companies dealt with them, I thought it was only owners. I will check into them.

 

[Tractorman]

Yup, we have a renter in our as we speak. It's on a fairly sizeable lake 15 minutes from our house.

My wife pretty much handles the whole thing. You can select which dates are open, and the rate for those dates. You can set automatic booking if you want, which people book it like a hotel room, but ours needs to approved by us first. We have turned down people looking to party, as we try to keep it more family oriented. This is to both help keep the house nice and keep the neighbors happy.

Speaking of neighbors, some did get upset that we offered this. We were approved and inspected thru the state. Locally, though, was some confusion. The county employee we talked to said we were good to go. However, our specific township required us to get approved, which we found out after a couple of neighbors called to complain.

Overall, its going very well now. Neighbors have calmed down. And everyone that booked last year loved the place. We have lots of interest for next summer already, and some thru the winter for ice fishing. I would keep neighbors in mind when selecting a property if this is what you would like to pursue, along with local town and county codes.

 

[ford fanatic]

I can't help other than renting out your vacation home sucks. If you don't have to, I wouldn't. Shit will get tore up fast, and who knows what people are doing when you're not there. Best move we made was remodeling ours after we cut off the renters. Good luck...

 

[sleek98]

I can't help other than renting out your vacation home sucks. If you don't have to, I wouldn't. Shit will get tore up fast, and who knows what people are doing when you're not there. Best move we made was remodeling ours after we cut off the renters. Good luck...

This is what worries my wife a lot and me a little. The mortgage would be 2,300 a month. It would make that in a long weekend rental but having to deal with a renter once a month also sucks. We wouldn’t have to rent it to afford it but would make it easier if we did it 3-4 times a year.

 

[MG0h3]

I’ve had residential rentals since I was 19/20 yrs old.

Just sold my first short term rental that I had for two yrs. Couldn’t resist the check I was going to get.

So different types of rentals will present different challenges. None are insurmountable.

My unit was a beach condo in a hot spring break area.

Year 1, I was either greedy or just hadn’t been bitten and let kids rent it. Oooops. Nothing major but they broke about $600 in misc small items and left it full of trash.

Never made that mistake again.

The second biggest hassle was winter Texans. Yep. Old white people. Holy shit. Thought it was great because they’d rent for a month. What a nightmare. Had the wife emailing me daily about how I should change the curtains and shit.

So I bought this place with a property management team in place from the previous owner. This worked well because there was housekeeping and maintenance teams lined up.

A few months in I opened my own AirBNB and VRBO. There were a few missteps as mentioned above, along with developing my own contact set for contractors for quick repairs.

I’m about 6 months, I totally overtook my property management company in reservations.

The whole process became an afterthought after awhile.

The pricing matrix on Airbnb and VRBO both suck bad. I used 3rd party pricing that overwrites them for a small fee.

Sounds like you haven’t even bought the place but if I were to get a vacation rental, I would absolutely rent it like I was.

The main thing to ensure success is having good communication with your guests. I would straight up ask people how old they were if I had a bad feeling. Never had a single issue with family groups or middle aged couples or groups. There will be times when they’ll message you about things you e included on the check in instruction sheet but it’s really no big deal. The app works similar to texting.


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[sleek98]

I’ve had residential rentals since I was 19/20 yrs old.

Just sold my first short term rental that I had for two yrs. Couldn’t resist the check I was going to get.

So different types of rentals will present different challenges. None are insurmountable.

My unit was a beach condo in a hot spring break area.

Year 1, I was either greedy or just hadn’t been bitten and let kids rent it. Oooops. Nothing major but they broke about $600 in misc small items and left it full of trash.

Never made that mistake again.

The second biggest hassle was winter Texans. Yep. Old white people. Holy shit. Thought it was great because they’d rent for a month. What a nightmare. Had the wife emailing me daily about how I should change the curtains and shit.

So I bought this place with a property management team in place from the previous owner. This worked well because there was housekeeping and maintenance teams lined up.

A few months in I opened my own AirBNB and VRBO. There were a few missteps as mentioned above, along with developing my own contact set for contractors for quick repairs.

I’m about 6 months, I totally overtook my property management company in reservations.

The whole process became an afterthought after awhile.

The pricing matrix on Airbnb and VRBO both suck bad. I used 3rd party pricing that overwrites them for a small fee.

Sounds like you haven’t even bought the place but if I were to get a vacation rental, I would absolutely rent it like I was.

The main thing to ensure success is having good communication with your guests. I would straight up ask people how old they were if I had a bad feeling. Never had a single issue with family groups or middle aged couples or groups. There will be times when they’ll message you about things you e included on the check in instruction sheet but it’s really no big deal. The app works similar to texting.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

Correct we have not purchased this particular house. We are sitting on the offer deciding if we really want to spend this much.

 

[MG0h3]

Correct we have not purchased this particular house. We are sitting on the offer deciding if we really want to spend this much.

Tough call.

While I did profit from my Airbnb, the profit on this sudden increase was too much to pass up.

Against the little voice in my head, I’ve been looking at properties in other regions that haven’t increased so wildly.

Yet still, the realtor will literally chuckle and tell me to wait.

Maybe look at the price history of the particular home you are considering.

For me, I’m in a hold on real estate but I will be looking at some foreclosures next week.


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[me32]

I didnt realize management companies dealt with them, I thought it was only owners. I will check into them.

Yup property management companies are in this business. They also tend to know the zoning were air bnb is legal or to get it legal if not currently. Some areas there are no issues. Some have issues.

 

[kirks5oh]

Either it’s a rental, or it’s not a rental. There’s no in between. We have a beach house in Hilton head that we rent full time. A property management company handles everything—marketing, cleaning, repairs, etc.

Bottom line—we don’t stay there. We’ve only done so once in 3 years of ownership. It’s an investment, a tax benefit, but it’s not a place I’d call “home”

The thought of just getting a handful of renters a year and covering the mortgage, while enjoying a pristine vacation property isn’t a reality