[quote=FlyerInHi]ER, I got my condo and following your advice. It’s keeping me busy.
The condo HOA does not allow short term rentals but I’ll try to work around it.[/quote]
Oh yeah, that was one thing I was going to strongly advice that you check BEFORE you buy your properties. I always look at the HOA bylaws before buying to see what restrictions are in place.
Even if I’m not buying to do “short term rentals” I always am mindful what it is in case I want to convert it to a short-term rental in the future. Some places (like where I live now) have at least a 1 week minimum.
However, the thing is, unless your guests are being totally loud and not respecting the other neighbors, you typically won’t have any problems. What I’d recommend doing is saying they are “friends or family” when you authorize them to enter. And it’s a good idea under that situation to just be honest with the guests and tell them the building doesn’t like the idea of short-term rentals so tell them it’s best if anyone asks to say they are friends, etc.
Just because a building didn’t restrict the short term rentals before you bought doesn’t mean they could in the future. Rules can always be changed. I’ve bought in buildings that didn’t forbid it until a few years later and I had to deal with it after that. I had to shift from doing shorter term rentals to longer term rentals.
As long as the guests are very respectful, not throwing loud parties, etc. then most likely you won’t have any problems. Also, if you have pain in the ass neighbors that see the listing and want to make trouble they can. So in that case, it’s best not to be too specific in the listing with the actual building/location and just be more general in nature about it. And especially avoid photos of the outside of the building, etc.
What I’ve found is it’s typically just one pain in the ass neighbor that is envious of the money being made. The vast majority of other neighbors don’t mind it at all. I’ve even had to hire lawyers before to continue to be able to do them in some buildings.
If you have a doorman in the building a good tip is to tip! Generally in many of the condos/apartments that I own, I’ve found that the doorman really control everything. You keep them happy and they keep you happy. I typically tell my tenants it’s a good idea to tip the doorman after their stay. And I also do as well as buying them a birthday present and Christmas present. They LOVE the guests because they are always getting tipped so naturally when someone asks them, they tell them that the owner and his guests are VERY respectful people. LOL.
Also, another idea especially if you won’t live there is it’s a good idea to buy your immediate neighbors a nice bottle of wine with an introductory letter introducing yourself and telling them why you chose to buy in that area. You can mention your love of your area and “second home” and also a chance for “extended family and friends” to use it.
Basically it sets an immediate expectation that there will be people using it. I’ve found a letter and wine helps VERY MUCH. You can also tell a bit about yourself and your family. It personalizes you and turns you into a human instead of just Joe Q. Landlord.
In a high-rise building with multiple tenants on the same floor I’ll typically send the letter/gift to everyone on the floor. If it’s an older building with only a few apartments per floor, I’ll send it to everyone in the building.
Also, make sure you check with your city to see if there is any short-term rental taxes or registration that you need to apply for. Some cities like Santa Fe have short-term rental permits that you have to apply for as well as applicable taxes. (Example shown here: http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=1229 ) The wisest thing if you are running this like a serious business is to make sure you are up to date on everything and in compliance with the city.
Just my 2 cents of things that I’ve found REALLY helped over the past decade renting out short-term.
They are GREAT if you own a short-term rental property. It’s always a great idea to label everything. You can create sharp and professional looking labels and put them on everything. For example, although you have a detailed welcome guide explaining everything, you can put the network name and password label on top of the wi-fi router.
On ALL the telephones (cellphone, local line, etc) I label and have the phone number on each phone. This makes it VERY easy for people. With all the technology out there I often times have remote controls for the TV, DirecTV, DVD player, Apple TV, etc. I label all of these remote controls and on the back you can put which input to select on the TV so they understand everything quickly.
People wouldn’t think things like this are a big deal but you’d be surprised how much guests appreciate it. It’s things like this that separates a good short-term rental from a GREAT short-term rental.
