Short Term Rental Riches

These days there are so many resources and experts for every industry….

After spending years in the STR industry I feel very fortunate to have access to some of the most seasoned experts in the space.

Avery is one of those people.

She is the host of the “Short Term Show” which is arguably one of the most recognized podcasts in our space.

She has been featured on almost every short-term rental industry resource.

She wears a lot of hats. From her position as CEO at the Short Term Shop where they’ve connected owners with profitable STRs generating over $1 billion in revenue to managing her own personal portfolio.

We dove deep on several subjects that you will find helpful!

Stay tuned as we unravel how to:

• As a STR sales agency - the current market outlook
• Benefit to being in an owners market
• Supply & Demand
• Growth Mode vs. Cruise Mode
• the “enemy method”
• Established vs. Emerging Vacation rental markets

You can find out more about Avery and The Short Term Shop by visiting her company website here. Don’t forget to check out her podcast, “The Short Term Show”

Let's face reality here… there’s no getting around your property tax.

You have to pay for it.

But, that doesn’t mean you have to pay all of it!

Many people have been caught off guard lately at their huge property tax increases.

This week we’ll break down why this is happening.

We’re going to go one step further too because unfortunately, your taxes don’t stop with just property tax.

Yes, those of us that have the luxury of being involved in the short-term rental world also have a special tax we have to pay; the TOT tax.

We’ll break that all down this week as well as:

• The upside to having extra short-term rental taxes
• Remitting your STR taxes
• Why property taxes are on the rise
• The highest and lowest states
• How to save on your property taxes

I’m excited to announce the dates are out for our upcoming virtual event! We’ll be meeting with a panel of industry experts where you can get your questions answered.

We’ll follow that up with a remote management workshop where we’ll unveil every system our company uses, how you can use the same ones, and EXACTLY how to actually set them up.

Grab your spot here

Your short-term rental expert,

Tim

This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Brooke Pfautz on the show. Brooke is an author and short-term rental industry expert. His experience ranges from building custom short-term rentals to growing a portfolio of 500 properties in just five years and now to providing software services.

The episode is jam-packed with insights and lessons learned from Brooke’s journey including:

• Top mistakes property managers make (and how any STR owner can learn from them)
• Tips on hiring
• Growing pains
• Changes in property management

You can find out more about everything Brooke and his company have to offer by visiting his website here. I also highly encourage you to check out his books which are packed full of expert advice.

Need help managing your short-term rental and you don’t want to go it alone? Shoot us a message here and we’ll see if we can help.

We have some many great examples of businesses that have shaped the way we live today.

From the invention of the first automobile to the smartphones we rely on so much each and every day.

We’ve seen some amazing progress in our lifetimes and I’m excited to see what is around the corner.

There is a darker side though.

Many businesses have failed.

In fact, most businesses have failed.

This is exactly what I love about real estate though.

We don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make it work; it just comes down to the numbers.

Ok… so maybe it’s not quite that simple.

We still have to have a good understanding of our market, regulations, and supply and demand.

If we get this right though we should be good to go for the long run.

While other businesses don’t have it so easy.

I’ve been revisiting a classic book this week, perhaps one of the most recognized and influential motivational books of all time, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.

Napoleon dedicated 25 years of his life to this timeless book, or what I would call, a handbook for living a successful life.

In this, he also talks about failure and how most failures can be summed up into thirty separate items.

For those of you that haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading this book, I want to sum up just seven of those 30 failures in what I can most closely relate to the short-term rental and real estate industry.

P.S. If you ever make it down to Brazil you might want to take a little trip here :) 

These days there are so many resources and experts for every industry. They seem to come from all directions. Some even seem to become experts overnight (be careful).

It’s no different in the short-term rental world. We’ve talked about some of those experts in the past, we’ve had some of them on the show, and we’re always discovering new ones and people to go-to.

But does any of that really matter?

It might…

If you’re using the advice and research wisely then absolutely.

We don’t want you to get into analysis paralysis but we do want you to get into the short-term rental world.

For me, it’s been life-changing.

I feel very fortunate to be doing what I love (from anywhere in the world).

At the end of the day though our success comes down to one thing; property performance.

And while expert and guru advice can be a huge help it still doesn’t help us figure out how well our properties are actually doing!

No, that’s something we need to do for ourselves.

So how exactly do we do that? Determine if our short-term rental is doing better than our neighbors.

If it’s doing better than the average.

We need a scorecard and this week I’ll fill you in on exactly what your property scorecard should have.

Stay tuned as we unravel how to grade your properties success:

• Creating a comp set
• Comparing apples to apples
• Removing the “outliers”
• Insights you will gain

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live events, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!

Cheers,

Your Short-Term Rental Expert

Tim Hubbard

P.S. Looking for help managing your property? Click here to find out how we can partner up

If you’re building a short-term rental business or planning on adding another property or two in the future you might find yourself getting overwhelmed. The reality is, we can’t do it all ourselves! Not if we want to grow anyway. The first step for many of us is to hire someone to help with all the guest communications. We’ve talked about this before and how our company has been hiring lots of extremely talented help out of the Philipines and Mexico.

It’s a big world out there though and since we can now work with others virtually easier than we’ve broadened our horizons and began hiring out of Eastern Europe.

This week I want to share with you a new place you can look for virtual help and find extremely talented and capable team members at a fraction of what it might cost to hire in the USA. This week we’ll break down:

• Where to hire directly in Eastern Europe
• Why you should hire someone (even if you think you’re not ready)
• Benefits of hiring in Eastern Europe
• What to expect
• Some interview questions you’ll want to ask

Are you enjoying the podcast? Please subscribe, leave a rating and a review, and share it! This helps us reach others that may find the info helpful as well.

Get a copy of my 12 proven house rules to protect your property from almost every negative situation (highly recommended)

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live events, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!

As many of you know we recently starting managing other properties - we’re really excited to bring on our new partners but as Ive been meeting with owners from all over the place (around the world) I'm finding that the competitive options differ quite a bit.

Not just in services but in fees. Many fees that owners don’t even know are being charged. I looked up an example with Vacasa recently to illustrate the example and a $500 reservation had over $1100 in fees.

So as we evaluate our options I thought it would be good to do a recap to make sure you’re totally aware of any and all “common” fees in the industry.

Please note that not all property management companies charge all of these fees, and the specific fees and amounts can vary depending on the company's policies and the services provided. It's essential to carefully review and understand the fee structure of any property management agreement before entering into a contract.

Short-term rental fees:

• Flat monthly management fee
• Cleaning fee per guest stay
• Booking/Reservation Fee per booking
• Advertising and marketing fee
• Technology/software fee for using property management software
• Furnishing and decor setup fee
• The maintenance fee for coordinating repairs and maintenance
• Seasonal rate adjustment fee for adjusting rental rates based on seasons or demand
• Guest communication fee
• Key exchange fee
• Administration fee for managing paperwork and documentation
• Monthly statement fee for providing financial reports
• Credit card processing fee for handling guest payments
• Inventory and inspection fee for conducting property inspections
• Security deposit management fee
• Late payment fee for managing overdue rental payments
• Cancellation fee for cancellations made by guests
• The utility management fee for managing utilities on behalf of the owner
• Emergency after-hours service fee for handling guest emergencies outside of regular business hours. 

Remember:

1. Your management fee comes off your GROSS income
2. Who owns your reviews listings / whats your contract policy? Do you need to start over? That could be difficult in a down economy..

I’ve also worked with a lot of management companies more so on the Long term rental - sometimes it’s really hard to find the right one.. If you’re interested in help managing your properties and we’re a bit different in that we use my team to manage your properties

Are you enjoying the podcast? Please subscribe, leave a rating and a review, and share it! This helps us reach others that may find the info helpful as well.

Get a copy of my 12 proven house rules to protect your property from almost every negative situation (highly recommended)

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live event, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!

We would all love to have our properties 100% occupied but many times a 100% occupancy rate is a clear sign that we are not charging enough money per night. What if we increased our rates 20% per night and, even with a lower occupancy, were making more money?

And then we have to think about the opposite equation. What if we have a low vacancy, does it make sense to offer a long term discount to try and increase our revenues?

I know, it’s odd to hear the word discount and increased revenues in the same sentence but with the latest travel trends showing that guests are opting for longer stays this can be a reality.

Many people give out discounts because of the fear of not getting booked but, oftentimes, caving into that fear ends up earning less profit at the end of the day. Whether you are using your pricing tools or not, you might want to stop first and think if offering discounts works out to your advantage.

I know, I know… You hear a lot of opposite opinions about whether to send special offers or not for longer stays. Luckily we have access to a lot of data that can help us figure this out to determine whether a long term rental discount is truly going to help us or not.

It’s not a guessing game. The data shows us what to do, as it almost always does in real estate. This week let’s discuss whether a long term discount makes since for your property:

• Pro & Con recap of long term reservations
• Do you know your numbers?
• Do you know your averages?
• Expenses to cover and consider
• Duplicating discounts & custom pricing
• Things to consider when calculating or giving discounts

Are you enjoying the podcast? Please subscribe, leave a rating and a review, and share it! This helps us reach others that may find the info helpful as well.

Get a copy of my 12 proven house rules to protect your property from almost every negative situation (highly recommended)

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live events, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!

One of the biggest components of a short-term rental is the turnover between guests and all that dirty laundry.
Sometimes you can hardly tell your guests even used the linens and others, well…

I’ll let your imagination run with that one

Either way it’s something we have to deal with and the bigger the property the more laundry we have. For some of us it’s pretty easy; your housekeeper shows up, throws it in the washer, cleans the property and has fresh linens to replace before they’re done cleaning. But for others properties this isn’t so easy…

What happens if you have 3+ bedrooms?

There is too much laundry for one load, so what happens then? Well maybe you’re housekeeper thinks they can fit it all in one… so they try anyway. Or maybe it’s obvious they’re going to do multiple loads so they end up waiting around for the second load to finish even after they’ve finished cleaning the property. Whether you’re working with a professional housekeeping company or paying someone on your team directly the more laundry you have the more it’s going to cost you. That’s a no brainer right. So what do we do?

I’ve learned a ton about laundry over the days managing tens out thousands of guests with my team. Even to the point where I purchased a commercial building and brought in industrial sized laundry machines on forklifts.

Those babies can handle whatever we throw at em’

They’re bolted to the concrete to make sure they don’t spin out of control and run through the wall.

While this is a natural progression for many growing larger portfolios, for others just getting started, we also need other alternatives. This week we talk about those alternatives. Stay tuned as we break down your laundry options for your short term rental:

• Challenges doing laundry in your property
• Wear and tear and the life of your machines
• Housekeeping costs
• Off-site options, worth it?

Get a copy of my 12 proven house rules to protect your property from almost every negative situation (highly recommended)

Are you managing your property yourself? If so, make sure to get a copy of our management handbook to make sure you’re not missing any crucial steps - get your copy here

If you are looking for help managing your property, we’d be happy to see if we can help. Lets chat

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live events, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!

“I’m going to turn the thermostat as cold as it will go.”

Your guest thinks to themself stepping in from the hot summer sun.

Regardless whether or not your property is at a cool temperature - some guests will still turn down the thermostat…all the way. This ins’t just a challenge for your equipment, it can also be a challenge for you pocket book. Air conditioning and heat are usually one of the largest utility expenses for most properties. And those bills get even worse if your property is not properly equipped.

Whoa that’s a tongue twister–say that one 3x fast. “Property is not properly equipped”

Ok down to the point.

The easier the thermostat is to use the easier it is for you guests.

And they are not all created equally. In my personal portfolio we use multiple different brands.

But, I now have a favorite.

I purchased a dozen or so of them and we’ve tested them…

All is looking good so I figured it’s time to pass the tips on to you all.

This week as we dive into everything from:

• Potential HVAC issues
• Essential thermostat settings
• Several Industry Options
• The thermostats we now use

Looking for the closest possible thing to a turn-key short term rental you can find. Check out the episode I did with my friends Dave and Leon who are building them :)

Are you enjoying the podcast? Please subscribe, leave a rating and a review, and share it! This helps us reach others that may find the info helpful as well.

Get a copy of my 12 proven house rules to protect your property from almost every negative situation (highly recommended)

You can find all of our links here including our website, recommended resources, upcoming live events, short-term rental playbook, Instagram, and more!