Managing property from another state and maintenance?

[David1111]

Hi all - we're curious how other people have been managing their properties when they are in different cities or states from where their listings are located? We have been able to manage our calendar and bookings and the turnover/cleanings from afar but have run into some problems when we have maintenance issues that come up. Things like batteries dying on a lock or a toilet being clogged, etc. We have a friend who is acting as a point of contact for us but I'm curious if anyone knows if there are any 'on-call' 24/7 type maintenance companies that exist for things like emergencies? We prefer not to have a large property management or short term rental company take it over since this is really the only aspect we seem to need help with. Thanks in advance for any tips or ideas!

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

I would suggest you employ a local host who manages your property on the ground including light maintenance and can manage local suppliers for larger/more complicated maintenance jobs. You can normally find local host groups on FB and ask there for recommendations @David1111 

[David1111]

Thanks Helen - Facebook Groups would be a good place to connect with other hosts who are local to see if they have any recommendations. 

[Karim75]

ever gotten an answer?

[Helen3]

Have you tried posting on a local Airbnb host group for your area and ask for local recommendations for co-hosts @Karim75 

[Lorna170]

@David1111  We hired a husband/wife team who were available to our guests during certain hours (NOT at 2AM unless the place was burning down).  They handled everything for us and we paid them well to do it.

Find yourself a team, staff person or designate a co-host.  ALSO, have a good list of plumbers, electricians, etc.

[David1111]

Thank you - yes putting the vendor list together as well. 

[Simone918]

Hi @David1111 !

My name is Simone, I live in Italy and I manage my airbnb in Miami from here.

It has been a long journey starting with a Property Management company that did all, turned into a mixing scenario with a local girl managed online activities and another cleaning services company doing some else... Nowaday I manage all the online activities by myself and I pay a local girl who do the cleanings.

I had lucky: the local girl is fantastic. She does a perfect checkout test of everything. Report to me for every demage, check for batteries dying, has a look into A/C filters, test water filters into the fridge. Even restock all the consumables.  

She has a husband that is running a handymen company. So, every time I'm in need for plumbing, fixing and so on, I know who may I call.

Now it's 3 years. I did have a lot of issues solved, many claims open to airbnb and a complete apartment repainting with no problems at all.
I can say that to start managing an airbnb remotely you absolutely need:
- a large dose of self-control
- a strong ability to delegate tasks
- a bit of luck

In return, you can be much more proud of your work and save a lot of money!

[David1111]

Thank you for sharing Simone!