The 1st Rule of Short Term Rentals: Guests will break your Sh**
The 2nd Rule of Short Term Rentals: Guests will break your Sh**
The 3rd Rule of Short Term Rentals: Guests will break your Sh**
Ok, so short-term rentals are not on the same level as Fight Club but I wanted to drive home the point. If you rent Short Term Rentals accept the first three rules….
Guests will break your Sh**.
It took me over a year to finally accept this fact. I saw our first property as our home. We stay at our place regularly and take pride in our unit. It was so frustrating to come “home” to find all the plugs unhooked, beds broken and the Monopoly board ripped in four (see below). Who does that to Monopoly?
Over the years we have had all types of things broken. Things YOU would never, ever break. Things that you didn’t even know broke.
We had the top shelf of our dishwasher broken twice. The same dishwasher has been in our home for 10 years…. no problems.
One guest ripped the handle off our Microwave? Never seen that one.
We had the folding mechanism of our fold out couch damaged so badly that it couldn’t even open… The old medicine rule “don’t force it” didn’t apply to this guest.
Some guests are honest. A guest “borrowed” our Bluetooth speaker and left it out by the hot springs…. He sent us a new one via Amazon.
Another honest guest was having a snowball fight from our enclosed balcony and broke our window. He repaired it with beer boxes (see below) and notified us.
Sometimes, you don’t have honest guests and you will find the broken surprise…
For example, a broken bed or a destroyed board game.
The fact is…. Guests will break your sh**
After a year of frustration I changed my mindset….
Our short-term rental is not our home. It is an investment.
Property damage is the price of Short-term rentals. I factor that into the financial and emotional expense of renting. We get to vacation for “free” because of this “sacrifice”.
I don’t get mad or frustrated by the small things anymore.
All of the above examples of damage were easily repaired and the guests incurred most of the expenses.
We had to cover the cost of some of the damaged items. The culprit of the pull-out-bed damage and the Monopoly vandal could not be determined. Therefore, we replaced these items and deducted them as expenses.
The “cost” of these episodes of damage is small in comparison to the financial benefits of renting our property as a short-term rental.
Mindset is the key is to handling the frustration of property damage.
You will be an unhappy Short Term Rental owner if the small things pull you down. Things will happen, plan for it emotionally and financially.
I no longer ask:
“How does someone do that?”
“Why would you rip up a monopoly board?”
“Do people watch their children?”
“What type of person can do that and say nothing?”
These questions have no good answer and will only frustrate you.
I assume that people are on vacation, drinking, and often not paying attention. They are not “bad” people. Sure there are some bad apples but that is not the majority of guests. I prefer to see the events as accidents that happen while people are having a great time. Maybe I was that person in my twenties… I forgive that person.
Remember… Guests will break your sh**… it is part of Short Term Rentals and in the end it is financially worth it.
Enjoy Your Journey to Financial Freedom
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