Help managing 1st property

[qrento 0]

Hello all apologize in advance for the rookie questions and length of this post. I am 29 years old and have a cool opportunity to start a little side hustle. I have a family friend who lives in a different state but is purchasing a home specifically for STR in my hometown. He is very green to air bnb as am I (except for as a renter) but he wants me to manage the property for him. From my short amount of research this basically means I’d be responsible for bookings, cleaning, maintenance of the property and customer service. He would be responsible for the costs associated with home/ running the rental (repairs, TP, towels furniture etc) but he would like me to essentially serve as the property manager and he’d cut me a % of the profit. My newbie questions are below.

1. What are the main responsibilities that I should have as his property manager?

2. What are the most difficult tasks I should expect to encounter?

3. What are the roadblocks to this relationship?

4. How can I be the best property manager and provide perfect customer service to him as if he were a professional client?

Thank you so much in advance.

[karin_brenig 708]

if you are really in Hamburg, fulltime air-bnb won't work at all.

read here: https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article216715731/Wohnraumschutz-So-funktioniert-das-neue-Airbnb-Gesetz.html

 

many other big cities in Germany have similar regulation
https://www.alloggia.de/airbnb-legal

 

Maybe you and your friend should check into serviced apartments - and the regulations around that.

Being a property manager is not an actual profession, but heavily regulated - you should get some training (outside of asking random strangers on a forum)

https://www.promeda.de/blog/hausverwalter-ausbildung/

[LeonG 14,810]

1. Main responsibilities would be taking care of bookings, communicating with guests, meeting guests to hand over the keys, going over to clean when guests have left, check that everything is in working order and maybe less common, react if guests have a problem or are acting up or finding handymen to fix something that is broken.  You may want to give the neighbours your number in case your guests are driving them crazy with loud partying or something.  You need to be reachable and flexible.

 

2. Probably guests who are out of order.

 

3. Agreeing with your friend about the payment.

 

4. Keep him informed of all the work you are doing via weekly or monthly report so that he can see that you are earning your keep.  You should also look at other listings to see what you find appealing.  The right amount of photos.  The description you give.  The list of amenities to be filled out.  Professional and correct descriptions in German and English.  Also check the trade show calendars.  Look at other sites pricing during those trade shows.  You can easily get away with a good price hike during a popular trade show time because everything will be booked up.  When you hand over the keys, you can also give people ideas about what there is to see or do around there.  You can get flyers and leave them at the house.  Also from restaurants.  Make sure you post the wifi password where it's easily visible.

 

I have experience with a couple of these aspects, one helping someone with their booking websites (they had many).  If you rent out through air bnb only, it's not a big deal.  If you are also renting out via booking or more sites, you have to make sure to block availability immediately on all other sites as soon as you have a booking on one of them so you don't end up getting double booked.

 

I also did key hand overs for someone I knew who was renting out a house.  She had other people that did the cleaning and she took care of bookings herself.  She once called me out to help guests who were having a problem with the jacuzzi.  Other than that, she mentioned a couple of times that somebody broke something and one time there was some wild party.  She had a security camera in front and once saw 11 people arrive for the 3 bedroom house.  She phoned the guests and they told her that  only half the ppl are sleeping over, then promptly unplugged the camera so she couldn't check.  It was a nice house and she included complementary drinks, coffee, water, soft drinks, a bottle of sekt, waiting for the guests when they arrived.  Cost a few € but guests are happy.  More likely to give you a good review which again will help you get more bookings.

 

Eventually though, the next door neighbours complained to the ordnungsamt that she shouldn't be running a business in a residential neighbourood because it was bothering them.  She checked with a lawyer who said that the town could indeed forbid her from running an air bnb so she sold it.

 

Hence your friend should check before buying that the town / city will not have a problem with him running an air bnb at the property he wants to buy.

 

[fraufruit 42,165]

What will your friend do besides purchase the home and take the money? I hope he's offering you a big percentage.

[Gambatte 925]

I know nothing abut this tuff, but...

 

For the record: for our residential rental (not short rental like airbnb), in England, we pay the agent 12% (= 10% + VAT), plus various extra fees whenever anything to be done, like finding new tenants etc. The agent is excellent. The value of the agent is that they know everything, the market, the obligations and rights of each side, the tradesman, the legal, etc. Of course in theory I could study this stuff myself but hey, in reality that's a full time job, I rather pay them their fee and move on with my own job.

 

I would imagine that like everything else, especially here in Germany, doing this side hustle is necessary for you to be familiar with tons of stuff, legal and not. 

 

Congrats for the enthusiasm and good luck.

[emkay 10,192]

My friend recently changed his UK long term let into an Airbnb property. He’s finding it difficult to manage himself even as an experienced landlord. Have a look at this link ‘Airbnb Responsible hosting in Germany’. Click on the appropriate location towards the end of the page for specific area regulations. The Facebook groups could also be useful.

 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1391

 

Also just Google other German Airbnb hosting management companies. Various Google results show average fees for management. 

 

All the best.