Property Managers for Airbnb

If you’ve found your way into this article, you’re likely starting to see the hassles of hosting your Airbnb listings. Either you have too many units or listings to manage or have too much business on the side.

Whether you’re the former or latter, you’re an awesome hustler! Today, we’ll be helping you hustle some more by having other people help you out.

 

Let’s review SOME of the things you have to do as a host of a short-term rental:

• Keeping listings updated (so the platform favors you)
• Coordinate bookings across multiple platforms – making sure that you’re not double-booking between Airbnb and HomeAway. (If you’re not listing your property on other platforms, you might want to look into it.)
• Answering messages and inquiries from guests. The faster the response, the better.
• Getting cleaners, maintenance personnel, or other service providers to “refresh” your units after a guest checks out.

 

While these sound relatively doable, having too many things to handle may make these tasks impossible. Or, even if you can somehow squeeze these tasks into your overloaded schedule, an unexpected circumstance will become a huge wrench thrown at your busy timetable. Imagine having to deal with an unreasonable guest calling you at 2 AM in the morning!

We’ve already tackled two different ways of addressing these issues. You could read some of our articles and compare doing the short-term rental game DIY versus finding a property management company specializing in short-term rentals. A DIY approach gives you more control of the business but at the cost of more time and effort. On the other hand, signing up with a property management company can eliminate heavy tasks (essentially turning your rental into a passive income generator), but you’ll lose the personal touch you might want in your business (NOTE: it’s also expensive).

Now, we’re taking a look at the middle ground, finding individual property managers – there’s still a degree of control, it’s more affordable, and you don’t have to do as much work!

 

Here are some questions in your mind that we’ll talk about:

1. Why should you hire a property manager for your short-term rental?
2. Where can I find these property managers?
3. What do I need to know before hiring them?

 

Why should you hire a property manager for your short-term rental?

Time and Effort

Let’s start with the first obvious reason. It saves you a lot of time AND effort. Imagine all the hours you’d have to spend coordinating information between platforms, messaging guests, contacting maintenance personnel, etc. Even with the use of applications and services to make hosting more accessible, the mere idea of monitoring several apps can be stressful in itself! Isn’t it better to just watch over a single person or team doing everything for you?

 

Practicality and Efficiency

Yes, you can save more by hiring a property manager than going for a full-blown property management company, but how can you justify these savings versus just doing it yourself? Is the middle ground really worth it? If you only have one or two properties, then this is likely not an option for you. You might want to learn the ropes first. Going for a property manager only becomes practical and efficient if you’re already starting to do things that are no longer worth your time.

What does that mean? If you make a list of the things you do as a DIY host for several properties, you will notice that some of the tasks are more significant to the business than others. Activities that pertain to acquiring more properties or units may be more important to you than answering a guest’s inquiries. While you’re talking to a guest on the phone, you could be losing out on a deal elsewhere! If that’s the case, then messaging guests isn’t worth your time. And it’s not just if you’re trying to buy more properties – it’s the same if you have other businesses to keep up with. So, why not have someone else do the small things for you?

 

Where can I find property managers?

Quick answer. ANYWHERE – you just have to be smart and know what to look out for. You can find property managers in many places on the internet – from Facebook, various online forums, and even places like Craigslist! If you know other people in the game, why not hit them and see who’s doing it for them?

Speaking of online forums, you can even post on the Airbnb Community Center. Alternatively, you can talk to some of the people on BiggerPockets. Some Superhosts are willing to lend their skills at a price, and some kind investors are eager to refer you to someone they know!

Just make sure that the listings they claim to own are really theirs! The same goes for everyone else you’ll be hitting up with. Ask questions. Request for proof of their claims, ask for IDs, verify and corroborate with online (or even local) sources, whatever’s legal to do to make sure you’ve got the right person, do it.

 

What do I need to know before hiring property managers?

This goes without saying, but this is exactly like hiring someone to do a job. Actually, it IS hiring a person to do a job. So, you have to do your research when hiring a property manager. Even if somebody you trust refers someone over, they’re still not a guaranteed fit for you.

Depending on what you need from them, you just need to ask how they’ll be doing it, the same way we suggest you do for property management companies.

• What services are they offering? You don’t want to assume things here.
• How quickly they respond to messages. Do they respond in a way that you like?
• How quickly you can get a hold of them when needed. What’s your relationship going to be like?
• How much are they going to charge? It’s not like all property managers charge the same rate.
• The process for dealing with damages.

 

These questions may also allow you to custom-fit your property manager based on your needs. If you want more control over a specific area of the rental, you can take charge there and leave everything else to your manager. This wouldn’t be the case for property management companies.

With these tips, we hope you can get started on finding someone that can bring your business to the next level!

 

If you’re on the Self-Management game and trying to get to the point of hiring a property manager/management company, you might want to invest in a few more properties. You can try things out with Shorefront Investments! We’re Florida-based real estate investors looking to buy and sell properties fast. You could be one of our buyers by joining our buyers’ list! Are you thinking of doing things the other way around? Trying to sell your property instead? You can also give us a call at (850) 713-4866, send us an email, or fill a form on our front page!