[Ep 15] Management company or go it alone?

Superhost Unveiled

If you are new to the vacation rental business you may be wondering do I need a management company or should I manage it myself? Before growing our business to manage other vacation rentals, we self-hosted our two properties. There are a lot of decisions that go into this subject.

Pros of Managing it Yourself

1. You have total control over your business - Which means you can control all of the messaging, cleaning, overseeing the entire process. By being more hands-on you can ensure high-quality and make sure the home is taken care of.
   
2. Save money- By managing it by yourself, you may save money but you might also leave money on the table if you do not have an established pricing software. However, by hiring a property management company you typically pay 10-30% of your revenue plus cleaning fees, maintenance fees, and linen fees.
   
3. Build relationships with your guests - Talking directly with guests allows you to form connections with them. You control the communication so you can get to know your guests more than a property manager might.
   
4. You have total ownership over your listing - Some property management companies require your home to be listed under their account. Many of these companies will charge for access to the listing photos as well. This means if you ever decide to leave the management company you will lose all of the reviews and will need to start over.

Cons of Managing it Yourself

1. Managing your own property takes a TON of time - When you manage your own property you get no days off, you are on 24/7, and you may never know when you will need to deal with an issue. Many people do not know just how much work goes into it. You need to respond to guests in a timely manner, answer calls, go to the home when issues arise, oversee the maintenance, and of course cleaning the property.
   
2. Managing the turnovers - You will need to ensure that the home is completely cleaned between each guest. Whether you are doing that yourself or you hire a professional cleaner this still can bring headaches. What will you do if your cleaner backs out at the last minute and the home needs to be cleaned before the guests come at 4? How will you clean the linens? How will you ensure that it's a 5-star clean every time?
   
3. Not using dynamic pricing - By managing the property yourself you likely do not have a pricing software that will automatically adapt your listing's nightly rate based on the demand. Having a flat rate causes you to miss out on TONS of income because you do not take in popular travel times, school vacations, special events, etc. You also do not appear active on the Airbnb platform which will push your listing off of the top page of search and will likely be close to the last page.
   
4. Treating your property like a hobby rather than a business - Many vacation rental investors assume that it will run itself. That the hardest part of the business is the actual investment of the property. However, managing a vacation rental is a full-time job. You need to be willing to invest both your time and your money.
   READ MORE