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Post by lambada on Oct 22, 2015 9:23:50 GMT
I did this before, hiring a property manager, however it didn't work as great. She was a great person, very honest and very easy to work with, however the way she marketed the property is completely different than me and I ended up losing money for those few months. Not her fault as she didn't have as much flexibility that I have (tweaking rates, changing description, adding house rules, etc.). Anyway, the only reason why I hired her was because I was traveling, but also I was planning to sell the property next year. I wouldn't run STR just for the sake of getting more rent, because there is no guarantee that you'd make more vs. long term rent. Plus the wear and tear cost is much higher, furthermore, the risk is still yours since it is still your property which is under your name, your neighbors, so you are still responsible for it. It would better imho if you rent the property to the Property Manager and let them run it they way they want.
If I were in your situation, I'd let them list under their profile, so that any reviews good or bad go under them. You really don't want someone else running the STR under your profile. What if it was run poorly and the guests give bad reviews? That would be on you instead of them. And I'd ask them to only accept reservation for 3 months in advance (Airbnb calendar setting allows this). So at least you can review the agreement on the second month or so. Under no circumstances I'd sign a contract for a year, for example, as that would put me in difficult situation if they don't perform, especially financially, since I still have to pay all the expenses being the homeowner.
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Post by lambada on Oct 22, 2015 10:58:23 GMT
And with regard to payment, my property setup the payout in a way both of us got paid the same time directly thru Airbnb, according to the percentage we both already agreed upon. What she did was give me access to her profile/account to set up my payment account.
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Post by Serafina on Oct 23, 2015 16:33:38 GMT
This is a really helpful discussion. I'm going to Germany for nine months, and struggled about what to do with my Airbnb rentals during this period. I eventually opted to go a more traditional route and rented my carriage house to a visiting professor for six months--traditional lease, and he does the shoveling and yard work in return for a reduced rent. I'll still have a local property manager in case of emergencies, but managing the place from afar didn't seem workable. In our main house, I explored renting it via Airbnb but only found people interested in shorter terms because the fees were too high on the long-term rental. Again, we went a more traditional route through a sabbatical homes rental company.
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