[00:00:02] This is Short Term Rental Management, the show that is all about short term rental property management with your host, yours truly, Luke Carl.
[00:00:15] Luke here. Short Term Rental Management. I love you. Great to be here.
[00:00:19] Want to talk about some systems and procedures, standard operating procedures, some system failures that I've had recently.
[00:00:28] Number one is the deadbolts. I had a deadbolt go out and the, the, you know, here's the old, old school system for deadbolts and keys. So you have a deadbolt on the front of the home, which is a digital deadbolt. It's usually going to be a Schlagen code.
[00:00:47] There's all sorts of different brands out there. My hair's still wet. Sorry about that. If you're on YouTube, we call it shower metal.
[00:00:54] Anyway, busy, busy. You know how it goes with the kids in the morning. But you put the Schlagen code on the dead, on the deadbolt.
[00:01:07] Then you have a lock box with a key in it. All right, now the lock box, here's an, here's an old school trick.
[00:01:16] Do not put the lock box near the front door. It needs to be somewhere that, when, that, when it, when a, an out of towner, a guest arrives at the home. Never been to the home before. If that lockbox with the key in it is in front of their face, they're going to try and put the code in that.
[00:01:33] So it would behoove you to have the lockbox, you know, elsewhere. Doesn't need to be inconvenient but somewhere not super visible as they approach the home.
[00:01:48] Okay, so I had a deadbolt fail and then the lockbox fail in the same day.
[00:01:56] This is not good. I feel like I'm at a point in my career where I should not be dealing with such things.
[00:02:03] And of course all I can do is hold myself accountable. I, I can, I can and complain and blame it on somebody in my organization or I can hold myself accountable and, and move on and get it done. So we sent my guy over, lucky enough to be big enough. I had a guy that was able to get over there in a timely manner, which is not always easy to do.
[00:02:27] And he found that the deadbolt wasn't broken. He was able to get in with the deadbolt, with the, with the, just putting the code in. So it was, seemed to be some sort of battery issue where the cleaner couldn't get in. It's the same cleaner I've had for years. So I don't think it was user error.
[00:02:44] So signs would tend to point in the direction of a deadbolt that is failing.
[00:02:51] Either way, I'm replacing it. If anything even close to funky starts to happen with a deadbolt, it's gone.
[00:02:58] New deadbolt time. I ain't playing around.
[00:03:01] I replace deadbolts often.
[00:03:06] It's nice to have a fresh deadbolt.
[00:03:13] Okay, so the lockbox also failed.
[00:03:20] It was a push button master lock box.
[00:03:29] And the two was sticking.
[00:03:36] So we couldn't get into the lockbox.
[00:03:39] Which means you got to take a drill to it.
[00:03:43] All right, I'm, I'm just, I'm very disappointed in this system. It was a catastrophic failure. Had this happened when I had a guest in there, it would have been so annoying and so unprofessional. Unprofessional.
[00:03:55] Okay, so we went ahead and replaced them both. Replaced the master with a spin the spinning wheel type of a code rather than the push button code. I'm done with those push button codes. I've had. I've had several of them fail over the years.
[00:04:11] Going with the spinning wheels. See how, see how they do. They may break too. I don't know.
[00:04:17] So that's. That's screwed right to the home somewhere. Hopefully not in plain sight. And then we did put a new Schle encode on which again, this is not a which deadbolt to choose podcast here, guys. So if you're thinking, well, which deadbolt should I buy? We're not talking about that today. I use sch encod. There are plenty of options out there. As a matter of fact, Schlage just came out with a new one called the Arrive that I already mentioned. I may have already mentioned that. Anyway, here's how this could have been fixed.
[00:04:48] We need a semi annual test of the lockbox.
[00:04:53] You. We also need a spreadsheet. Step one, spreadsheet with deadbolt install date. I wonder how old that deadbolt is.
[00:05:05] Lockbox code, lockbox location.
[00:05:08] And now we need to add another field to the spreadsheet. Semiannual lockbox form and function test every six months.
[00:05:23] Test the lockbox, make sure it works, make sure there's a key in there. And if you're not aware, Schlagen codes only come with one key. So when you buy it at the store, it'd be a good idea if you're at the store to go ahead and get a copy made while you're there.
[00:05:36] Because one key, it's. It's a little tough.
[00:05:39] Be honest with you. Not the end of the world if you only have the one key. Because that lock, you know it's only gonna last A year or two anyway. So if we're running through more than one key in a year, that's probably not super common.
[00:05:57] So I'm pretty cool with just the one key on the system, right? It's okay. I'd rather have two, but if you can't get around to it, that's okay.
[00:06:08] So had this happened when a guest was in there or trying to check in, it would have been very bad.
[00:06:14] But no guest.
[00:06:18] My guy was able to get over there very quickly.
[00:06:21] Problem solved. And normally I, I just, you know, I hate to even bother guys to run over there quickly to deal with deadbolts. It sucks.
[00:06:30] The system should be a little bit more bulletproof than that. And I'm embarrassed. It's embarrassing. My organization should be running a little bit more efficiently than what we're talking about here.
[00:06:43] Okay?
[00:06:44] Add a lockbox function test every six months to your systems.
[00:06:55] All right?
[00:06:58] The deadbolts are going to die.
[00:07:01] So get over that. Get over that. Deadbolts break.
[00:07:05] They're out in the weather, they get their buttons pushed. They're, you know, they're electronic, they're. They're mechanical.
[00:07:12] They have batteries. There's lots of things that can go wrong.
[00:07:17] I mean, hell, even an old conventional deadbolt's gonna have problems. You're gonna have to swap it out or the key gets lost and this and that and the other. I mean, I got deadbolts all over the place in my life. Matter of fact, I got one right here.
[00:07:28] Check this out.
[00:07:31] If you're on YouTube, there's a select. I don't think this is a deadbolt. I think this is the lever. It's a keypad lever, But you just got to have extra ones around. Good landlord.
[00:07:48] Probably gonna have some deadbolts in your truck. Just part of it, but I'm just. I'm so disappointed in myself and my team and my functions and my. My systems and policies and procedures. So test your lockbox every six months. Put it on the calendar. I like Trello. Put it on Trello Monday dot com.
[00:08:13] It's time to test the lock boxes.
[00:08:17] Fear not Saturation.
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[00:08:56] i had another problem with a dryer recently, and I felt like we didn't handle that right either. So I want to talk about it, and you can learn from my mistakes. And it's not mistakes. It's really just being busy. And my team didn't handle it the way I would have hoped it to be handled, honestly. So I had a dryer die, making a bunch of noise, blah, blah, blah. So we told the next guest, say, hey, we're going to get a dryer in there as soon as we can. And it was a situation where. And I'm kicking myself now I know I'm too busy to deal with this right now.
[00:09:25] And that's going to be the outcome of the story, too, is if you're too busy, come up with another plan.
[00:09:30] Because it's okay to be too busy.
[00:09:34] I mean, chances are if you're not super busy, you can't afford to buy real estate, right? So dryer died. Told the neck. And here's what happened. The dryer is in a closet with a barn, sliding barn door.
[00:09:51] And I don't like the way the washer and dryer fits in there. So I was thinking maybe it'd be better to switch it to a stackable. And when I say stackable, I don't mean one of those, like, built in, you know, the ones that are connected to each other. They're like eleven hundred dollars. Those things are garbage. I mean, like a nice modern front loader that you can stack on top of each other. And I figured that would be much more attractive in this current, you know, this actual situation in this particular home.
[00:10:17] But then time got the best of me. We warned the next guest. I warned the next guest, hey, you can have a full refund or you can go without a dryer. They didn't care. Then next thing I know, there's another guest in there. And they did not get the same warning. That's where I failed my team. I just trusted them to send the same message that I sent to the previous guest. They sent a different message saying, hey, can we get a dryer delivered to you? And then we didn't deliver on that, right? So now, basically, I'm gonna have to send a new version of the same dryer that's over there. By the way, it's only like three years old. These things break. Get over it.
[00:10:52] So now I'm gonna basically waste money on a temporary dryer if I do decide to upgrade to the stackable unit, which I'm not going to at this point, which kind of stinks because it would have looked better, but it's just not worth it at this point. So now I'm just gonna get the new version of the old dryer over there while the guest is in there. And the failure was that we didn't offer the next incoming guest the same deal as the first guest. That was a failure. And this is the way you want to handle a situation like this. Number one, we can give you a full refund because you're missing an amenity. Number two, can you live without the amenity, the dryer?
[00:11:27] Number three, we can do our best.
[00:11:30] Don't make any promises. We can do our best to get a new one over there during your stay, although this will be an inconvenience. So what. What. Which one do you choose? We're offering you a full refund, possibly a new dryer.
[00:11:46] The problem is we don't want them to pick that option because then what happens if you can't deliver? What happens if the. With the. With the appliance store does. Can't. Can't get it over there in time. And then they're sitting there waiting with stinky laundry, waiting for this new washer or dryer, and your appliance store can't get it over there. And now you're a bad guy. And that's kind of what happened with this one with the second guest. And now we're going to end up dealing with a third guest, possibly.
[00:12:13] So it just. Again, it makes you look. Makes me look bad. It's unprofessional.
[00:12:23] So let me recap the dryer thing. How can we make this better if the dryer breaks? So sorry. We will get a new one in there as soon as you leave. Now we're talking. Now we need to send a guest to message to the next guest, assuming you're very booked, which you should be.
[00:12:39] The dryer broke. Option one, full refund. Find somewhere else. Option two, we can replace it when you leave and you don't have a dryer. Option three, we can try. We don't want them to take this option. We can try to get another one over there during your stay.
[00:12:56] The problem with number three and why you don't want them to choose this one, and maybe you don't even offer it to them, is because you're relying on other people, and that is an unknown.
[00:13:08] Unless, of course, you can call and get confirmation, but prior to them getting there, that would be the way to do it. Call the damn appliance store. When can you get. Do you have this item in stock, and when can you get it there? Then we start to present all options to the guests. This would be an even better way to do it.
[00:13:27] Okay? And I know how to do this. I've done it a thousand times.
[00:13:32] But even the best of us get so busy that we forget and, you know, things just kind of slip through the cracks. And the kids are running around, going to the beach and they're off of school for fall break and going to the county fair and work, work, work, work, work, work, work. And recording a podcast for you, which I love.
[00:13:57] Okay?
[00:13:59] So never get comfortable.
[00:14:07] I think that most people in my situation right now get annoyed and they're like, oh, I hate this house.
[00:14:14] When I.
[00:14:17] And I'm able to do this so long because of this, I get annoyed with myself. It's not the house, it's not the guest, it's me.
[00:14:24] I'm annoyed with myself. I knew better than to have. I am at a point in my career with hundreds of units where I should not be hearing about freaking deadbolts.
[00:14:36] I have employees.
[00:14:38] It is my job to train these employees. And if I'm hearing about deadbolts, my employees have not been trained properly and it's my fault.
[00:14:54] Okay? I'm. I'm mad at myself.
[00:14:57] How did this happen? Now, luckily, with the deadbolt wasn't that big a deal. I was a little disappointed in my cleaner because I didn't hear about it until like an hour before check in, which there was no check in that day. And I think she was getting a little, you know, again, comfortable with the fact that nobody was checking in. However, I was really like, literally that minute getting ready to go ahead and try and get a last minute booking in there. That night. There was two nights open, and I could have gotten it, but I definitely could have gotten it booked. I didn't realize how high the price was.
[00:15:34] So she didn't necessarily do anything wrong, but she did take her sweet time getting over there.
[00:15:42] And then my office team, you know, a little disappointed that the, the backup plan is not as good as it's supposed to be. So now you, you know, put the spreadsheet together. When was the, when's the last time the lockbox was tested and was there a key in it? What's the code for the lockbox? He's got 100 lockbox out locks, lock boxes out there, and there's going to be a hundred different codes.
[00:16:02] You know, things are going to go bad, things are going to happen, things are going to break, And when they do. You need a plan and you need to be cool. Because if you're blaming it on the house and saying, I got to get out of this business, this sucks.
[00:16:26] That's not why we're here. That's not why we're here. We're in, we're in real estate to hold it for long periods of time to buy a house.
[00:16:33] And this is where Covid screwed a lot of folks. To buy a house and think that you can sell it in two years for some profit is not realistic. That's not a. That's not a healthy market.
[00:16:44] It's not.
[00:16:47] But in 2020, 2021, everybody was buying houses and then hearing about their neighbor selling them a year later for 50 grand profit or whatever. And it was fake. It's not real.
[00:17:04] So now we're back to reality where if you buy a house two and you try to sell it two years later, you're probably going to lose a couple bucks. That's normal.
[00:17:11] That is normal.
[00:17:14] 5 years minimum. Really? Look, 10 years. Why even go through the process of buying a house if you're thinking you're going to sell it unless you're flipping it? That's a whole nother thing.
[00:17:23] There's plenty of reasons to sell houses after one or two years. But buy and hold vacation rental, not, you know, long term rental. Buy and hold, where it's like ready to go, pretty much. And you're not putting 100 grand into a piece of junk, turning it around, you know, that's when you can maybe sell it for a profit. It's called a flip.
[00:17:46] Getting in the groove of enjoying not having to deal with this property for a little while. Because it's going to come back and say hello right around the beginning of March, isn't it?
[00:17:58] And again, I love my team, my cleaner and my office team that were involved in this situation. It's not their fault. It's 100% my fault.
[00:18:08] And I appreciate them for being on my side and all the years of hard work.
[00:18:13] And we're going to button it up and fix these issues and move on. So when the dryer dies, communicate with the guests. Number one and number two. Guys, gals, go check your lock boxes. When's the last time you had somebody check your lockbox for function? Because I didn't expect mine to be busted, but it was.
[00:18:36] And luckily it wasn't while a guest was in there. Could have been a lot worse. I love you. Actually, I have a quote for you. Let me give you a quote.
[00:18:45] The quote is, who's the bigger fool, the fool or the fool who follows him?
[00:18:59] And I actually wrote down where I got this from, but I can't read what. What I wrote here, so I don't know who to credit that to. I am so sorry, but that's your quote of the week on short term rental management. With Luke in the cash cave, who's the bigger fool, the fool or the fool who follows him? It.
[00:19:15] Don't overthink it.
