The Best Tip For Short-Term Rental Owners
Over the past 30 years, I’ve owned and managed several short-term rental properties with my sister. In that time, we’ve learned some tips and tricks that can make your life so much easier. Today, I want to share with you my absolute number one, best tip for short-term rental owners.
The #1 Tip
If a prospective short-term tenant asks ANY questions prior to booking, decline the booking.
Caveat
This assumes that you have a full listing that answers all prospective short-term tenants’ obvious questions. If your listing isn’t complete and there isn’t a photo of every single part of the house and property, you can’t blame someone for asking questions.
Why?
Because these are the short-term tenants who will call and text you 100 times while they are staying at your investment property and every second that passes that you have not responded or answered the way they want you to makes it more likely that your receive a 4-star review or less. Trust me.
It’s not that all questions are bad ones, but if you are playing the percentages, these are smart ones to play because reviews are everything in the short-term rental game. If someone asks you how to get to town from the house when they can use Google Maps, you can be sure they are going to ask you how to turn on the grill even though there is a house booklet telling them how to do everything. This is a fact.
Some people show up and enjoy it because it was exactly as they expected. Others complain because there weren’t three colanders in the house. The latter is the same person who contacted you via a couple of emails before the trip asking if you had a bottle warmer and more than five oven mitts. Decline.
Part of the allure of owning a short-term rental, whether you are self-managing or paying for it, is the passivity of the asset. Sure, the changeovers are hard and you need to have a tight cleaning crew that follows your checklist every time, but the goal is to have everything a short-term tenant wants in the description, the photos, and the property so it is a plug and play experience for them and for you.
So, in conclusion, don’t overthink it. Hedge your bets toward those who have used the platform before and know what to expect. And make sure you have made your listing and property question-proof.
If you are looking for more tips for investors, we host four real estate investor meetups a month. Every Wednesday at 7 PM EST, there is a different one, except the 5th Wednesdays of a month. You can find our events (with links) at the bottom of this page.
