Shampoo & Booze 33: Interview w/ Tricia, Fallbrook CA (and we talk Weddings)

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In the past we have been hesitant to rent little trailers on people's land on Airbnb. But take a look at Tricia's super cute and comfy retro style camper named Trixie. Situated on 4 acres in southern California outside of San Diego, complete with working farm and animals you can hang out with. Tricia and her husband both have full time jobs- she's a professional wedding photographer, and was looking for some supplemental income and eventual more passive retirement career. So far so good, she's been booked with visitors from all over. We also delve into a conversation about potentially making our farmhouse into a small wedding venue, with the help of Tricia's wedding experience of course. Thanks for talking to us, Tricia!

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 32: Slow and Steady Wins The Airbnb Race

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Right? Not that renovations are a race, but you have to be patient to do this kind of work.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 31: The Driveway Journey Beginsat our Airbnb

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We've been filling in our summer nights with more bookings, which we're thrilled about. Our quest to find cleaning help has begun with minimal results so far, but we're still searching. Our excavator neighbor showed up to the river house to drop off equipment and assess the job, hopefully starting this week. All good things!

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 30: What If My Property Gets Trashed??!!!

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Our friend, Caty, has a beautiful rental in Seattle. Her design and care make it look like the home is  straight out of a magazine. As a smart single mom, she timed the property market right, worked extremely hard and bought this rental house to make extra income.

We know Caty from our other life as Scavengers (listen to our other interview with her here) where we all find cool items in the wild and sell them online for great profit. Check out her store!

So it was a huge surprise when she messaged us several months ago about experiencing the nightmare we all hope will never happen. Some teenagers sneakily rented her house, threw a huge party and trashed the place. A couple hundred drinking kids ruined the carpets and furniture, angered the neighbors and set in motion weeks of expensive cleaning and renovation.

Caty told us the entire story of how these kids were able to get around the rules and rent her house. We hear about her dealings with the police, the parents, the property management company. The good news is that she was quick enough to minimize the damage, figure out who was responsible for paying the bills and got her house back on the market as quick as possible.

Running any kind of business that deals with the public has risks. There's no guarantee life will be problem free. All we can do is have a plan in place for when a problem arises. Caty shares with us what she will do differently from now on and gave some advice for what to look out for.

See her beautiful house (all cleaned up) below, wow!

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 29: What Is It Like Running an Airbnb Business?

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This week you can listen to Ryanne and I argue over how much work it takes to run a rental. From my point of view, 90% of the work is done up front:

• Research to make sure a place you already own is worth renting, or choosing the right place to buy.
• Compare what other people are getting in nightly rates to make sure the 1% rule works for that property.
• Renovations. This is often the biggest job. We can't stress how important it is to invest in a property up front to make sure it's appealing to renters AND that everything works so you don't lose business fixing leaky rooks, broken pipes, and HVAC.
• Take nice photos and write a clear, inviting description for your Airbnb page. Having invested in a property, why would you not spend a good deal of time making sure the page people see is thorough?
• Think through the check-in and check-out process when a guest comes. Know what to expect. Have a list of people to call if anything goes wrong (Plumber, internet, HVAC person). 

As Ryanne reminds me, it's not all passive income once the place is rented. There's cleaning and maintenance which can be an incredible amount of work if you do it yourself (like we do now!)  But if you've done your work up front, the renting part is the easier portion. And if you hire someone to clean for you, it's even less work.

Question: If you currently run an Airbnb, was it more work than you thought? Better or worse?

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 28: To Hire A Cleaner? That Is The Airbnb Question.

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This is an age old debate that's been happening in our house since we started thinking about doing an Airbnb. Would we clean it every time, or would we hire someone? How would that work? How much would they charge? Would they clean as obsessively as we would? These are questions we keep asking ourselves still.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 27: How to Hire Someone to Run Your Airbnb When You Travel

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After being on the road (and staying in Airbnbs) for about a month, we're finally home. Today we talk about what it's like handing off our rental to a hired friend. Sometimes it's cake, sometimes it's not- for all parties. But for the most part, it's been wonderful. Airbnb announced the ability for third parties, ie travel agents or managers, to book on behalf of clients. Check out their Business Travel Program. We also recently got an email about Smart Pricing, which might not work for us, but it could very well work for you.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!