Latest / Thanks For Visiting / 247. The Ultimate Airbnb Spring Safety Guide with Justin Ford

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247. The Ultimate Airbnb Spring Safety Guide with Justin Ford · Thanks For Visiting

0:00
Sarah: Welcome back from the great week.
0:01
My name is Sarah Karakaian.
0:03
Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are--
0:04
Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting
0:05
Sarah: Let's kick off this episode like we do every week and that is sharing one
0:08
of you, our amazing listeners and viewers who is using our hashtag #STRShareSunday.
0:13
We'll share you here in the podcast, on our Instagram, all over the place.
0:17
You get a shot on our email.
0:19
Annette, who are we sharing this week?
0:21
Annette: This week we are sharing @chalets_hygge.
0:27
Sarah: Good job.
0:29
Annette: You guys probably listen to Google Translate a bunch.
0:32
There's so many STR shares I haven't done because I'm embarrassed to
0:35
try to pronounce Hygge, H-Y-G-G-E.
0:39
And I know other people pronounce it differently.
0:42
But I'm here.
0:43
I'm going to take one for the team.
0:44
I'm out here with pronuncing things.
0:50
All right.
0:51
And if you're listening, Chalets_Hygge, we want you to be on the show.
0:54
We want to be friends with you.
0:56
Carrie and Felipe, they are ex corporate executives turned hospitality gurus.
1:02
They're in Canada and they buy old ski chalets, and they rehab them themselves
1:09
along with their two fur babies.
1:12
Their places are top notch.
1:14
You can tell they put the utmost care into the construction and the
1:20
redesign, and they really have their guest at the forefront of everything
1:26
that they do, and just the home itself when they're purchasing it.
1:29
But please, check them out.
1:31
I mean, you are going to want to go stay at their places, all of their photography
1:36
in there Instagram account is great.
1:39
You can see there's so many guest photos in there, and so you really
1:42
can picture yourself at the property.
1:45
I know a lot of times we get really heavy sometimes with just interior
1:48
photos, but not really seeing the way that the property is used.
1:51
And I think if you can show humans in your space the way that you
1:55
would envision it being used is a great way to invite guests in.
2:00
But wonderful job.
2:02
Check them out.
2:03
Please get some inspiration not only from their pivot and job change
2:07
that they did and just pivoted their entire life, but the amazing work
2:11
that they do on their properties.
2:14
All right, Sarah, who do we have today?
2:16
He is no stranger.
2:18
Sarah: I was going to say, he's a complete stranger.
2:19
We've never met him.
2:20
No.
2:21
We have the most highly repeated guest on the show, goes to, of course,
2:27
our safety captain Justin Ford.
2:29
He's an international safety expert.
2:31
He works at Breezeway and he has an undying passion to make short-term rentals
2:38
safer, which is good for you, the owner.
2:41
It is great for the guest.
2:42
It is great for our industry.
2:43
Justin, and welcome back to the show.
2:46
Justin: It's awesome to be here.
2:47
I do safety work all around the world, but my favorite thing is when
2:51
I bump into people and are like, I've heard you on Thanks for Visiting.
2:54
I hear from your guests more than any other, and I love that.
2:58
It's so awesome when, I mean, they send me pictures and this is what we've done--
3:03
Annette: They stop you in airports, right?
3:05
Justin: I've been stopped in airports.
3:06
You're Justin Ford.
3:08
My neighbor doesn't even say hi to I [Inaudible] like that.
3:12
Annette: All right.
3:13
Thanks, listeners, for treating Justin like an old friend.
3:16
Sarah: The most hospitable of listeners for sure.
3:20
Well, Justin, we talk about a lot of things on the show.
3:23
We will link back to some of your other episodes in the show notes, so
3:26
if you want to get more of Justin.
3:27
But if you think for one moment that safety isn't a topic you should
3:30
listen to right now, listener, do not press stop or pause.
3:34
Do not put this episode off.
3:36
Listen to it right now because Justin gives you really wonderful tactical
3:40
advice, you can go out and do this week, and it's going to make your
3:43
place safer, in which it means your rental will be around longer so you can
3:47
continue to make money and build wealth.
3:49
So Justin, today we're going to talk about preparing for summer and
3:53
summer safety, and all the things that-- some things we can learn from.
3:56
Some accidents have happened.
3:57
Some products our listeners and viewers can purchase to help make their rentals
4:02
safer and just get us ready for summer.
4:04
Justin: Absolutely.
4:05
And the disclosure we always have, our intent is not to scare you out of hosting.
4:10
Safety is actually the one thing you can solve and attend
4:14
to in your rental property that will keep you out of trouble.
4:16
So again, none of this is to ever scare you out of doing this.
4:20
This is to help prepare you so something like this doesn't ever occur to you.
4:24
Annette: And the thing that I love about these episodes also, listeners,
4:28
is that you might be like, oh, summer safety, I don't have a pool.
4:32
I probably don't need to listen to this episode.
4:34
The cool thing is everything that Justin teaches not only can be used in your
4:39
own short-term rentals but your own properties and your friends' and family's.
4:43
So that's what I love about this is it's something that has this ripple
4:46
effect that you can also use in your primary residence also, which is great.
4:52
So let's dig in.
4:54
Justin: Well, the one thing I want to do before we start talking about
4:56
summer, we've got some things that have happened around North America where
5:00
most of your listeners are that we need to pay attention to and learn from,
5:04
um, that happened over the winter.
5:06
They're going to move us forward into summer and help us recognize
5:11
where we're missing things and things that are so easily overlooked.
5:15
I wanted to start with the Chattahoochee Hills Airbnb fire.
5:20
I don't know how familiar you are with that fire but this happened
5:23
in February, late February.
5:25
Three couples just outside of Atlanta.
5:28
If you're not familiar with Chattahoochee Hills, it's an easy destination
5:31
market for people who live in Atlanta.
5:33
And Atlanta is a big strong market where people like to drive one
5:36
or two hours either up into the Smokies, up into Northern Georgia.
5:40
And they like to just get out and stay.
5:42
It's not necessarily a market where you're going to the beach or
5:45
skiing or hiking, but you're just going to have a really nice time.
5:50
And these three couples went and stayed in the property.
5:53
It had a fireplace under the deck.
5:56
And we don't know how, but somehow that fire started outside of the property.
6:01
And around 8 o'clock in the morning, the three couples staying
6:05
there, two of them were awakened to the fire or were already up.
6:08
They quickly escaped the house.
6:10
And one of the couples that was on the third floor, in a third floor bedroom,
6:14
unfortunately didn't have enough time.
6:16
They didn't have enough notification so they couldn't go
6:19
down the main stairs to get out.
6:21
And they were forced to jump out of a window.
6:24
Um, and when they jumped out of that bathroom window from over 20 feet
6:27
high, both of them broke their back.
6:29
Thank God they survived, but they did break their backs and were
6:33
injured as a result of that fire.
6:35
So really, I see several learning opportunities here.
6:40
Were you two familiar with this one?
6:42
Sarah: You told us about this, Justin.
6:43
Yeah.
6:44
Justin: Of course.
6:45
Sarah: No, I know, and it just makes me so sad every time.
6:48
Justin: It's a tough one.
6:49
So the things that we can learn from this opportunity, and that's the
6:53
important thing here, is that the couple that was on the third floor, why
6:57
by the time they woke up weren't they able to just walk out of the house?
7:01
Well, were the smoke alarms interconnected?
7:03
This is a really big point, for interconnected smoke alarms, and we've
7:07
talked about that in previous episodes.
7:09
85 decibels.
7:10
No matter where a fire starts in your rental property, everybody
7:13
should be able to hear it.
7:14
So the fact that they couldn't walk down the stairs tells us that they didn't get
7:19
enough early notification to get out.
7:22
Number two is when they were forced to get out of the property,
7:27
how come they had to jump?
7:28
Why from over 20 feet did they have to jump?
7:31
Well, they didn't have an escape ladder, and we've talked about
7:33
that on previous episodes.
7:35
It's 50 bucks for an escape ladder, sign on the door, be able to throw that out.
7:41
And someone, uh, actually one of your listeners was talking to
7:44
me about this incident not long ago, and they're like, why didn't
7:47
they tie the bedsheets together?
7:48
Um, which is a logical thought.
7:50
Rapunzel, let's climb down out of the window.
7:53
You don't have that time.
7:55
These new modern houses.
7:56
This was a new home.
7:57
It was a roughly 2-million-dollar home.
8:00
New construction.
8:01
There's a lot of chemicals, things that burn really quickly in there.
8:04
You don't have time, so you need to think about how do my renters get out?
8:08
How do they get out quickly?
8:10
Annette: Yeah.
8:11
Justin, can we go back to the fire though that actually started it?
8:15
So the fire was outside?
8:17
Okay.
8:18
Are there some things that, um, we could put to help extinguish fires if
8:24
they're a fire pit or what can we do?
8:26
What can we supply guests with to help them actually make sure that
8:30
the fire's extinguished outside?
8:32
Justin: Yeah.
8:32
And that's a great point, and we'll talk about, uh, too on
8:35
the summer prep checklist.
8:36
You've got to make sure renters can put out a fire easily.
8:39
And if it's an outdoor fireplace, you've got to have some extinguishing tool.
8:43
And I'm not talking a fire extinguisher.
8:45
You don't want to put out the fire that you're enjoying sitting around in
8:49
the evening with a fire extinguisher.
8:50
That's a huge waste of the fire extinguisher.
8:53
You should be able to put it out with a bucket.
8:55
I was just in a rental property recently where you could see they're putting
8:58
all the ashes in a bucket next to the fireplace and there was no information
9:02
to tell the renters, don't do that.
9:05
Hot ashes coming out of a fireplace, coming out of a fire pit.
9:08
They need to be doused and you need to have instructions there.
9:10
You can't assume that the renters know how to put out a fire, whether
9:14
it's in a fireplace or in a fire pit, but they need to extinguish it.
9:18
We don't know who they are.
9:20
We don't know what they've been drinking.
9:21
We've talked about that in previous episodes.
9:23
We know three quarters of our renters are drinking alcohol, had
9:27
some wine, they've gone to bed.
9:29
We've got to have good, clear information instructions.
9:31
This isn't something that goes in the digital guidebook.
9:35
How do you put out the fire?
9:37
How do you make sure it's out before you retire and leave that area?
9:41
Sarah: That's great.
9:42
Annette: Got it.
9:43
Justin: So another one, grills.
9:46
At Christmas we had a fire in Panama City Beach.
9:49
Two things highlighted from this one.
9:51
This unfortunately was a deadly one.
9:53
But this was in broad daylight, during the daytime, 4, 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
9:57
And so you think, well, how did someone perish in a fire during the day?
10:00
They weren't sleep.
10:02
Two things were going wrong here.
10:03
One, the grill was being used too close to the rental property.
10:06
In this case, because it was in Florida, um, and we see this
10:09
in a lot of coastal locations.
10:11
It was an elevated house.
10:12
It's up on post.
10:13
The renters were able to grill underneath.
10:16
Fire got out of control.
10:17
Highlights, how important it is that grill stay away from the
10:20
house and that they have at least a nine-foot vertical clearance.
10:24
But then even when the house caught on fire, four of the, uh,
10:27
occupants escaped, the fifth one didn't as she was overweight.
10:30
She was unfortunately not in a position where she could escape easily.
10:35
And it's a reminder to us that our renters aren't you and me.
10:39
They're not two healthy ladies, 5'3.
10:42
I think you're 5'3.
10:43
Maybe you're a little shorter, Sarah.
10:45
Um, they're not a healthy guy like me, 6'5.
10:48
You may have a 350-pound renter who's staying with you.
10:51
You may have an elderly grandmother who's 85 years old, who moves very slowly.
10:57
You may have a two-year-old.
10:59
We've got to think about guests of all ages and all sizes occupying our
11:06
properties and make sure that they can all escape timely if they need to,
11:09
or the stairs is easy to come and go.
11:12
Can they easily open the windows?
11:13
Can they easily get out?
11:16
Annette: Justin, I know that we've talked about this a lot, but I want
11:19
to go back to this really quick, because my eyes, I see it everywhere
11:22
now, grills, either up against a home or underneath a deck or patio.
11:28
How can we as host make sure that our grill is not moving?
11:32
We might put it in the correct spot but guests can, oh, it's raining.
11:36
I want to move this underneath the deck.
11:39
How can we stop the grill, once we know it's in a safe
11:42
clearance from the property, how can we keep it in that place?
11:46
Justin: One of these days we're going to have the Thanks for
11:48
Visiting Breezeway safety kit.
11:51
I know it's going to happen and one thing that's going to be
11:53
in is going to be a bike lock.
11:55
You need to have bicycle lock cables.
11:57
They're so useful for so many different things, and one of them
12:01
is for putting the grill in place.
12:03
Lock that grill either to a dog tie out, and on the dog tie outs that I'm
12:07
talking about are those stakes that are two feet long that you screw into
12:11
the ground so that the dog can't run.
12:13
You can actually use a bicycle lock and secure the grill right to that.
12:17
Then the renters can't easily move it.
12:20
I hate having them on a deck, but if you've got a safe place on a deck and it's
12:23
away from combustibles, you can secure it in that corner in a section of a deck
12:28
with a bicycle lock, and now the grill is not getting pulled in from underneath
12:32
the deck or pulled in, uh, in inclement weather, put where they want to put it.
12:36
So two very inexpensive solutions to solve a very big problem.
12:40
Annette: Right.
12:41
And listeners, if think the guest isn't going to move the
12:43
grill, they will move the grill.
12:45
Justin had one of the-- we were doing some safety videos and he had the best
12:48
scenario of why people move the grill.
12:53
He was like, hey.
12:55
Obviously, it's their vacation, but they went to the local butcher.
12:59
They spent a lot of money on stakes, big money.
13:02
And it just so happens to start raining.
13:04
And the guest is like, hey, I spent a lot of money on these steaks.
13:08
I am not going to let this rain ruin my steak dinner.
13:12
And they move the grill.
13:13
So don't think that they're just going to say, oh, I'll make these the next day.
13:16
It might be the last day of their trip.
13:17
They splurge, spend all the money.
13:19
They're going to do whatever it takes to grill those steaks.
13:21
We know people get passionate about grilling, so don't think that your
13:24
guests won't do what they need to do to move the grill and get that dinner
13:27
on the grill for their last night.
13:29
So these are the scenarios.
13:30
You might think that they'll just-- why would they want to be
13:32
outside grilling if it's raining?
13:34
Those are the things.
13:35
They might have spent a lot of money, or it might be their last night there,
13:37
and they want to make sure they're doing exactly what they said they
13:39
were going to do on their vacation.
13:41
Justin: Absolutely.
13:43
To your point, three nights, first nights can be grilling and they've already
13:46
got a dinner reservation for the second night, so they don't have a choice.
13:49
They got to cook that steak.
13:50
Annette: Yeah, exactly.
13:51
Sarah: And then Justin, we should also have a fire extinguisher
13:54
near the grill outside, correct?
13:56
Justin: Yeah.
13:57
And you have to check those.
13:59
I've been doing a lot of, uh, safety training on the road this past winter.
14:03
I can't tell you how many times we're going up and the host or the
14:06
manager's like, check it out, Justin.
14:08
I've listened to you on Thanks for Visiting.
14:10
And look, I've got a fire extinguisher.
14:11
And I'm like, that's great, but it's empty.
14:13
And they're like, what?
14:14
And look, I mean, people are using these and the renters
14:17
aren't going to call you up there.
14:18
Sometimes they're embarrassed or they think you're going to charge them.
14:21
So it's like, oh my gosh, the renters actually had to put out a
14:24
fire and we never know they did.
14:25
And we're so happy we had an extinguisher.
14:28
It didn't dawn on us we got to check it every time.
14:30
Sarah: Our inspectors check before every arrival to make sure
14:34
it's charged and ready to go.
14:36
Because you never know.
14:37
Justin: Exactly.
14:38
Within 30 feet is a smart location.
14:40
Annette: Speaking of, before we got on this episode, I was talking about our
14:43
podcast producer loves Justin Ford because he's learned a ton from him because
14:47
he is listened to all the episodes.
14:48
And Justin was at our live event, but our podcast producer had this exact
14:52
scenario happen where the grill fire-- him or his friend, I'm not sure.
14:57
They weren't used to the grill and they had this scenario happen.
15:02
And they're like, they felt like they were pretty veteran
15:04
grillers, but the grill caught fire because they weren't used to it.
15:07
And he obviously was referencing a Justin Ford episode.
15:11
But this happens and this happens to people you know.
15:12
And like you said, you might not even know that this happened to your guests because
15:16
they want to put it out and move on.
15:17
They don't want to tell the host, hey, we started a fire at your house.
15:22
They want their five-star review also.
15:24
Sarah: Right.
15:25
Justin: One of the biggest topics that I've been talking about, um, a
15:28
lot lately is what's been referred to as the Montreal Airbnb fire.
15:33
I don't think necessarily Airbnb deserves the rap in here,
15:36
but that's how it shows up.
15:38
I was on Canadian National Radio getting interviewed on this
15:40
one, um, a couple of weeks ago.
15:43
And Montreal has taken a huge push on this.
15:46
This was an arbitrage situation.
15:49
This was an example of someone who's rented out long-term rental units.
15:54
They were doing it in an area of Montreal, Old Montreal, where you're not allowed
15:58
to, um, rent out property short-term.
16:01
And in many cases, the windows were glued shut.
16:04
Or in many cases, the rooms didn't even have windows.
16:08
There was no legal egress.
16:09
All other Canadian provinces, but Quebec actually have egress regulations.
16:15
Montreal did not have these.
16:17
And um, unfortunately, three or four Americans died.
16:20
Three Canadians died.
16:21
This is something we don't talk about a lot because we're
16:24
always talking to you as hosts.
16:25
We don't usually talk to you about it as guests.
16:28
And this is a really important thing to take up because I think you'll
16:31
agree many of your hosts and your listeners actually stay in Airbnbs too.
16:36
I stay in Airbnbs.
16:38
I'm trying to book one in Los Angeles right now.
16:40
So it's really important to think about your own safety when you come into these.
16:44
If there's no egress, you're not staying there.
16:46
You need to speak up.
16:48
And even in some of the reviews, if someone had just read the review
16:52
from a guest in February earlier that said, this is not a safe place.
16:58
There are no windows in my unit.
17:00
And thought, we need to elevate this.
17:02
No one did.
17:03
I wish they had.
17:04
This tragedy wouldn't have happened.
17:06
So, um, really, again, highlights the importance.
17:10
When you're staying at a property, if you see something that's not safe, you've
17:13
got to bring it to people's attention.
17:15
Airbnb has over a 1,000 people dedicated to trust and safety.
17:20
Um, in fact, their trust and safety office, one of
17:23
their offices is in Montreal.
17:25
And if they know that there's something not safe at the property, they'll
17:28
shut it down immediately for bookings until they have adequate proof
17:32
to know that it's been addressed.
17:34
And they're more focused on that now than ever before because there's
17:38
been so many incidents lately.
17:40
Sarah: Wow.
17:41
Annette: We have a lot of listeners I know that do transform, let's
17:44
say, closets into bedrooms.
17:46
Justin: Oh, no.
17:49
Annette: I mean, I'm just-- I know that happens, especially in homes that have
17:53
really large primary bedrooms and closets.
17:58
Can they make those safe at all?
18:00
Is it possible to make those safe?
18:02
Justin: Yeah, they can.
18:03
And we see sleeping areas all the time.
18:05
I call them-- they're sleeping areas.
18:06
They're not bedrooms.
18:07
Annette: That's what I was going to say.
18:07
Not bedroom, a sleeping area.
18:08
Okay.
18:09
O
18:09
Justin: Not a bedroom.
18:09
Or a loft.
18:10
I see so many lofts.
18:12
Annette: Ooh, yeah.
18:13
Let's talk about that.
18:14
Those are very common sleeping areas and lofts.
18:17
Justin: Go into those, close the door.
18:19
Cover your eyes and imagine yourself escaping from those first and foremost.
18:24
Or in a loft.
18:24
I mean, where's the heat and smoke go first?
18:26
It goes to the loft, in a closet.
18:29
I was just at a rental where you had to go through the bathroom and
18:32
they converted a walk-in closet.
18:33
So now not only was there no window, but you have to go through
18:36
a bathroom to get out to a hallway to get out to a bedroom to escape.
18:40
I mean, it's a coffin.
18:41
And so if you're going to do that, it's the law, Canada, US, you can't do that.
18:48
But if you're going to break it for heads and beds, you got to make
18:50
sure the renters have the earliest best possible notification with
18:53
smoke alarm so they can get out.
18:55
You shouldn't do that, but if you're going to do it, at least make sure
18:59
you've got 20 interconnected smoke alarms there so they know how to get out.
19:03
But it's not expensive.
19:05
Do the math.
19:06
Sarah: Yeah.
19:07
If you're doing the heads and beds thing and adding beds to these
19:11
nooks and crannies and you know it's illegal, what happens then, Justin?
19:15
I don't know if your friends at Proper have given you any insight.
19:18
What happens if someone does get hurt or does die because they're in a
19:22
place where there wasn't legal egress?
19:25
Are these owners held liable?
19:28
Justin: Oh, absolutely.
19:29
Um, not only is your insurance going to deny the claim, we see that more
19:34
and more now, um, where the insurance companies are going, wait a minute, this
19:37
wasn't up the building code standards.
19:39
We're not covering that claim.
19:41
You filled out your application, you said you were good, so we're
19:43
not covering it, number one.
19:45
And then number two, it's called negligent homicide.
19:49
You should know.
19:50
You should now know that if you're offering a house for rent or a space for
19:56
rent, you need to know building codes.
19:58
And that's why I'm here.
20:00
That's why you're here.
20:01
We're delivering that message.
20:02
We give you access to all this information.
20:04
So it's really easy to learn all this stuff, but you need to know it.
20:07
And it doesn't take long to learn it.
20:09
Sarah: Hopefully you appreciate this, Justin, but listeners, I took Justin's
20:12
advice to heart so much that for a few-- I was co-hosting some properties.
20:17
I did not have legal egress.
20:19
And the ones that could have legal egress, there are windows, but you
20:22
couldn't open them all the way and have enough square footage to get out.
20:26
The ones that didn't have legal egress and wouldn't remove
20:29
the beds, I offboarded them.
20:31
I'm not working with them anymore.
20:33
And the other ones that did, we replaced the windows, so they are legal.
20:37
And then on top of that, we have escape ladders and cute
20:40
baskets right by the window.
20:41
We don't cover them up.
20:42
You can see them, but they're in a cute basket.
20:44
But that's how much it mattered to me too, as an operator.
20:47
Because then that's what hits the news stands and what have you.
20:51
And then as an industry, we're unsafe.
20:53
We're not professional.
20:55
And we don't take safety seriously.
20:57
And so people are going to be afraid to stay with us.
20:59
So I also give you permission if you're co-hosting, that
21:02
you don't have to do that.
21:05
There are plenty of properties out there for you to work with, partner with,
21:08
make money with, and doesn't have to keep you up at night like it was me.
21:13
Justin: It's a quick math equation and I like to tell people this whole the time.
21:16
How much is your property renting a night?
21:17
How many weeks a year?
21:18
You look over 10 years you're going to generate a million dollars in revenue,
21:23
four grand to put in an egress window and make it legal, even if it's eight
21:27
grand, I mean, that's 0.015% of the income that the property's going
21:32
to generate over the next 10 years.
21:34
And you've just made an investment, a very small investment to ensure that
21:40
people are going to survive when, I say this, it's not if, it's when an accident
21:46
or incident happens at the property.
21:48
AD MARKER
21:48
Sarah: How about the High Springs gas explosion?
21:51
What happened there?
21:52
Justin: Yeah, that just happened in Florida.
21:54
Um, and that's going to lead into the spring checklist as well.
21:57
A squirrel chewed through a gas line and when it chewed-- yeah, this
22:02
is one of these really tough ones.
22:03
So in Mexico where we're seeing a lot of gas explosions and incidents,
22:07
they don't require sleeved gas lines.
22:09
And what that means is the copper gas line that leads into the property has a plastic
22:14
sleeve around it so that it's protected, doesn't get crushed, all that stuff.
22:19
So they do get crushed.
22:20
They explode.
22:21
Big problem.
22:22
But here in the US, we're having a ton of trouble because squirrels and
22:25
mice like to chew on the plastic.
22:27
So their teeth then get through.
22:30
Now they're chewing into the gas line.
22:31
You've got to check your gas lines every year.
22:33
Thank goodness this traveling nurse who was staying in this tiny home
22:37
in High Springs, Florida, where this happened a couple of weeks ago, she
22:40
had first and second-degree burns.
22:41
She's going to survive first and second-degree, are certainly not minor,
22:44
but she's going to get through it.
22:46
Thank God she didn't perish.
22:48
But it just highlights so many things that we have to do on an annual basis.
22:52
You just can't assume that everything's going smooth.
22:54
Um, a lot of your listeners are in areas where we've had
22:57
heavy snow this winter, Tahoe.
22:59
We never even have talked about structural and roofs holding up heavy
23:03
snow loads and all the different things that drove-- animals underground.
23:08
They're burrowing.
23:09
They're living under the snow in the winter.
23:11
They're chewing through things.
23:12
They're hungry.
23:13
So more so than ever, we need to take a really good look at all the systems
23:17
around the property to make sure that everything got through the winter okay.
23:22
Um, the red squirrels didn't chew something up.
23:24
A raccoon hasn't done something.
23:26
Mice didn't do something, didn't die in your dryer vent, all that stuff.
23:31
Sarah: Yeah.
23:33
Annette: Can you explain?
23:33
I'm not familiar with the gas explosion, so what happened there?
23:37
Just for our listeners to know.
23:39
Justin: So because the squirrel chewed through the gas line as it went in
23:43
underneath, gas was leaking into the unit.
23:46
Now, a lot of states are starting to push having, um, these explosive
23:50
gas alarms in the rental units.
23:52
There wasn't one there.
23:53
And so it doesn't take long for enough gas to come in there and whether or
23:56
not it's turning on the pilot to the stove or a furnace is igniting, all
24:00
of a sudden you have an explosion, um, because gas is leaked in there.
24:04
So that highlights one of my favorite products from first alert,
24:08
which is only in the $40 range.
24:11
You've got to have carbon monoxide alarms throwing the gas detector.
24:14
My home state in Maine now requires that in short-term rentals, and I know
24:18
several other states are looking at it.
24:19
It's only a matter of time before all 50 states are going to start
24:23
requiring these explosive gas meters.
24:26
They're inexpensive.
24:27
Annette: Do you only need one now or does it need to be in every level of the house?
24:32
Justin: In my house, they're in every place where it could happen.
24:35
So I have a gas cooking range.
24:37
I have one plugged into the counter, just about three feet
24:41
to the left of the gas stove.
24:43
In my house, I also have a gas furnace.
24:46
Downstairs in the basement, in the boiler room where that gas furnace is, I have
24:49
an explosive gas alarm there as well.
24:51
And it's going to attack either propane or natural gas, methane,
24:55
any type of gases that could lead to combustion and alert you.
24:59
And it's a different alarm sound, so your renters might even call and go,
25:02
wow, the alarm's doing something crazy.
25:04
Annette: I was going to ask, so it doesn't sound like a smoke alarm?
25:06
It's a different type of--
25:08
Justin: Well, it's a beep, but it's a different pattern.
25:10
And so you need to be familiar with that.
25:12
On the back of the alarm, it actually tells you what this pattern means.
25:16
So if a renter's calling you, oh, it's doing this weird sos
25:19
type beat, that's head out.
25:21
Annette: Okay.
25:22
Sarah: Can you use that outside next to a grill, Justin?
25:25
Like a gas grill or a propane grill?
25:28
Justin: You can't, but that's a really good point.
25:30
That's one of the other things you need to do as part of your spring
25:32
cleaning checklist is the grill.
25:34
Um, grills get gas leaks.
25:36
They do.
25:37
They get cross set.
25:38
Um, you've got to use-- if you don't want to go to Home Depot or Lowe's
25:42
or True Value or any of those type of hardware stores for six or seven
25:45
bucks they sell gas leak detector, you can ask your gas company.
25:49
But around your own grill, even some soapy water, you just put it around all
25:53
the connections, turn the gas on, and if you see bubbling, um, you've got a
25:56
problem and you need to get it fixed.
25:58
Sarah: Thank you.
25:59
All right, so what's up next on our journey through getting safe for summer?
26:03
Justin: Well, so all of this is leading into regulations.
26:06
And this is something I really want to quickly touch on.
26:08
We've just listed a bunch of incidents.
26:10
That's just not even touching how many we've had, unfortunately, but we're
26:15
seeing now a lot of markets that are starting to come after it with safety.
26:18
And some of your listeners have even been calling me saying, hey,
26:20
Justin, I live here in New Jersey.
26:22
I listen to you on Thanks for Visiting.
26:24
My city's now looking at putting safety regulations in place.
26:28
What can I do?
26:29
And so I want to make sure people understand this is coming.
26:31
In three years, I think we're going to be there where everybody's
26:35
starting to see safety regulations.
26:37
So it's more important than ever now that you're getting ahead of it.
26:40
Yes, new construction, if you're thinking about building your own new brand Airbnb,
26:44
please put in a fire sprinkler system.
26:47
I don't think it's necessary to convert to it.
26:49
It's very inexpensive now.
26:50
A friend of mine just had built his new home.
26:52
It's $6,000 added onto the price tag of a $400,000 construction job
26:57
to add a fire sprinkler system.
26:58
So smart.
27:00
But if you don't have that, now is the time to embrace it, put it together.
27:05
And when you're going to these city and town meetings where the fire
27:08
chief's saying, hey, we're going to put these in place, say I already have.
27:12
Raise your hand.
27:13
Be an advocate that that wasn't that hard to do.
27:17
And it isn't that hard to do.
27:18
Safety regulations, I believe, are good, and they weed everything else out.
27:23
So, um, as we lead into spring and you're starting to see these meetings
27:27
pop up, make sure you embrace safety.
27:29
Safety regulations are good for your community.
27:32
Sarah: Perfect.
27:33
Annette and I, nerdy, if we drive anywhere, she's
27:36
pointing out safety issues.
27:39
Annette: The sprinkler system, that's a really-- I will say, that's the
27:42
first time I've thought about that.
27:44
If you were doing a new construction, if it's that minimal of a cost, why not?
27:50
Even for your own safety.
27:51
I mean, it's just an interesting thing that I hadn't thought about before.
27:56
Justin: A lot of hosts in Vermont, Vermont's been doing a
27:58
lot of stuff with regulations.
27:59
I talked to a host in Killington recently who listens to your episode and they
28:04
just put a sprinkler system into their-- and they're using PEX tubing now.
28:09
It's inexpensive to retrofit a vacation rental that they had.
28:12
It was $12,000.
28:14
That may sound like a lot.
28:15
To him, he actually verbalized it.
28:17
Three weeks of rental.
28:18
And it dropped his insurance rates in the long-term.
28:21
Annette: Oh, that's-- I like that you're putting the investment of the egress or
28:28
the sprinkler system into that long-term.
28:31
I mean, it's an amenity for yourself, but there's the repercussions of, a, like you
28:34
said, the insurance coming down, peace of mind, which is priceless, over the length
28:40
of you owning the home and hosting guests.
28:42
It becomes pennies on the dollar than for each nightly reservation if
28:47
you're going to make the investment.
28:48
Sarah: And I was going to say too, if, and when you sell that property, like
28:52
my owner who did put in the egress windows, she did make that investment.
28:56
I mean, that's just going to make it that much more attractive
28:58
to a potential buyer too.
28:59
So you can think of it that way.
29:01
I mean, I know, Justin, you've mentioned it can be marketing for the listing, but
29:04
I'm also thinking on that exit strategy.
29:06
Um, hey, we have these third-floor apartments and they've got egress windows.
29:10
They are legal.
29:12
So you won't have any issues should regulations change and they really
29:16
crack down on those sorts of things.
29:18
What are the challenges that you see facing-- are hosts getting more hip, I
29:23
don't know what word I want to use, to safety and implementing these changes?
29:28
Or what is the vibe you're getting?
29:30
Because I know this is what you do day in and day out.
29:32
Justin: They are.
29:33
People are definitely tuning in and I'm really impressed.
29:37
I was talking with someone who's out in Oregon recently, and she changed
29:41
the narrative in her community.
29:42
The narrative was, we don't want short-term rentals.
29:45
We don't have enough long-term apartment rentals here now.
29:48
The short-term rentals have taken that over.
29:50
There's parking issues.
29:51
There's trash issues.
29:52
She went in and changed the narrative to safety, and it was awesome to
29:56
see that happen because that's not what these communities are doing.
29:59
And when you do that, if you don't have a host or a homeowner who's committed
30:03
to safety and making sure people aren't injured or dying in their rental property,
30:07
they probably don't care about trash.
30:08
They probably don't care about parties.
30:09
They probably don't care about anything else that's out there.
30:12
So you're going to weed things out.
30:14
If you've got these properties that can't meet the safety standards as a short-term
30:18
rental, they're not going to meet it as a long-term either, but at least
30:22
now the homeowner's going, all right, I guess I should switch back to long-term.
30:26
And now you've added some long-term into a market.
30:28
It's good from a competitive reason.
30:30
Now there's less inventory in your market, but you're the star because,
30:34
hey, come stay at my property.
30:35
I've done all the safety regulations, which means I care about this community.
30:40
So change the narrative.
30:41
Change it away from we'll get rid of your parking and trash issues as soon
30:46
as we get your rental property safe.
30:47
Let's do that first.
30:49
Sarah: Yeah.
30:50
Love that.
30:51
You've got to send this Oregon host our way.
30:53
She sounds like a real star.
30:55
Annette: All right, Justin.
30:56
So spring checklist.
30:57
I know our are going to be excited to check things off their list.
31:01
Listeners, maybe we can even put this into some, um, download for you.
31:07
I think I can do that.
31:07
Justin: Yeah, we'll put together a sheet.
31:10
So based on everything we just heard, everything that happened this winter,
31:12
first and foremost, get those windows.
31:15
If you can't open those windows easy, the renters can't.
31:17
Especially you've got the older homes, they've swelled up, you've painted them
31:21
shut over the winter, whatever it may be.
31:22
Get the windows open.
31:24
Make sure that all the blinds are working.
31:26
That is the way out.
31:28
Should be the first thing you do.
31:29
Open the windows up.
31:30
Let that spring air in, fresh air.
31:32
Clean the property out.
31:34
Windows are all working, everything's working great.
31:37
And then of course, next, we can't have anybody die on the property, so let's make
31:40
sure all our smoke alarms, CO alarms, if you didn't do it when the time changed,
31:43
if you had a really busy winter season, now is the time to get in there and
31:48
make sure all your alarms are working.
31:49
It's the most important thing.
31:50
People can't stay in your property until you know all the smoke, all the CO, all
31:55
the heat detectors, remember, you got to have heat detectors in your garage or
31:59
attic spaces, that they're all working.
32:02
And then I know you do this, um, Annette, because you have so much
32:07
long-- I see so many different clothes on you every time I see you.
32:09
I know you're cranking your dryer, so I know that you clean that dryer
32:14
vent out because it's probably full.
32:17
Um, especially if it had a lot of snow around it this winter, I think you had
32:19
some-- did you guys get snow in Columbus?
32:22
Sarah: It was actually a light winter, but regardless, we'll still check it.
32:26
Justin: You got to get in there and clean out the dryer vent.
32:28
On Amazon, they make these brushes on a cord.
32:31
It's a four-inch.
32:32
Your dryer vent duct is typically four inches.
32:35
Anybody can do this.
32:36
You pull the dryer out because you got to clean behind there once a year.
32:39
You got to check and make sure your vent's still connected and
32:42
make sure your vent's to code.
32:43
If it's not semi rigid or rigid, you need to replace it.
32:47
Really easy to do that.
32:48
But now's the time where you put that brush in and make sure it goes
32:51
all the way through to the outside.
32:53
Um, I had somebody reach out to me last week that said, oh my God, we
32:57
found a whole mouse mess in there.
32:59
They do.
32:59
They come in there because it's cold.
33:01
Birds are making a mess in there.
33:03
Anything that restricts that flow, it's time to clean out the dryer vents.
33:07
And a lot of markets, um, they have companies that do this too.
33:11
So you can hire, um, somebody that will come in and clean your dryer vent for you.
33:15
So I highly recommend you get right on that.
33:17
Sarah: That's what I do.
33:19
I just hire them to come in, sign off.
33:21
Annette: What's that look like?
33:22
How much?
33:23
Sarah: Think it's 125 bucks.
33:25
Annette: Oddly specific.
33:26
Justin: Nothing.
33:26
Peace of mind.
33:27
Sarah: In Columbus, Ohio.
33:28
Annette: Mm-hmm.
33:29
Justin: That's [Inaudible] fee for some people.
33:31
Annette: Mm-hmm.
33:32
Justin: Extension cords.
33:33
Time to get rid of them.
33:34
If you haven't already, now's the time.
33:36
Extension cords are dangerous.
33:38
They're a temporary solution, but if they're still there and people could
33:42
use them for air conditioning, you're putting air conditioning units in windows,
33:46
putting fans in, I'm seeing a lot of people-- it's going to be a hot summer.
33:50
I mean, I'm in Maine, it's April, and we're already
33:51
going to see 70-degree temps.
33:53
It's global warming, whatever.
33:54
Whatever your political feel.
33:56
It's getting warmer.
33:57
So if you're putting fans in all those different things, look to see if an
34:00
electrician can install an outlet that's closer to the fan so you're
34:03
not having to use an extension cord.
34:05
They're a huge fire hazard.
34:07
And they're, again, a temporary solution.
34:09
But if you have to, inspect them, make sure that they're
34:12
not going under a carpet.
34:13
They haven't worn out.
34:15
There's not cracks in them, everything's good to go there.
34:17
Annette: Awesome.
34:19
Justin: Grills, we already talked about.
34:21
Grills need to be thoroughly clean, degreased.
34:24
I'm a huge believer that if it's time to change out the grill and
34:28
even close to it, switch over.
34:30
If you have a gas grill, switch over to the open flame grill
34:33
type where the burger's get in direct contact with the flame.
34:37
It's time to switch to the griddle type.
34:40
I have a Weber Grill.
34:41
I actually just went on their website this morning and purchased a griddle to
34:44
now retrofit onto my Spirit 310 Grill.
34:48
So it's easy to do that.
34:49
A lot of companies are selling that now.
34:51
That's the new wave for safety, is to get rid of the open flame, go to griddle.
34:57
There are companies, Blackstone, that make them.
34:59
I'm seeing those everywhere.
35:01
You want to go to closing in that flame as best you can, and then the grill
35:06
has to work as it was manufactured.
35:08
You can't be giving renters a match stick to light it.
35:12
If the igniter doesn't work, get a new igniter.
35:15
You can't make that work?
35:16
Then get a new grill.
35:17
Annette: If we were in the market for a new grill, so you're suggesting
35:21
to buy the closed flame griddle.
35:24
Okay.
35:24
Justin: Closed flame grill.
35:25
Still can be propane or natural gas, but get rid of that open flame.
35:33
And, um, a lot of the professional management companies are doing that now.
35:37
Um, I've been to three or four companies now where if you want
35:40
to list with that company, you have to have a closed flame grill.
35:42
Annette: Interesting.
35:43
Justin: Blackstone is one of the ones that they-- some of the companies I see
35:46
are using, but it's such a strong wave.
35:49
Like I said, Weber is now making conversions.
35:51
You can go to the Weber website.
35:53
I've seen them on Amazon, there's some knockoffs.
35:55
But that's the trend now we're seeing is to go to griddle.
35:58
And it's nice because then the renters can cook bacon and eggs outside.
36:02
It improves the functionality of being able to get outside at the
36:06
rental property, which is great.
36:08
Sarah: Right.
36:09
All right.
36:09
And then fire pits.
36:11
We touched on that, making sure there is a-- we made one together,
36:15
Justin, at the vacation rental.
36:17
We have a-- it was a black bucket, we stenciled on the words "fire
36:22
extinguisher" and our inspectors would put water in it before every
36:26
guest arrival, so it was very clear.
36:28
Right next to the fire pit.
36:29
Well, not right next, but right next to where all the seats were, and they could
36:32
see it, and then they could put it out.
36:35
Justin: Yeah.
36:35
Or have a hose nearby and a sign that's on the hose that says, "Please use
36:39
this hose to extinguish the fire pit."
36:42
And of course, if it's a gas fire pit, you've got to have instructions there.
36:46
Those are causing more incidents than the flame producing ones.
36:50
People think, oh, I'm just going to put this little gas fire pit on my deck.
36:53
Be very careful with that.
36:55
One, if it's movable, they'll move it.
36:58
And two, you want to have notices up there that this is not to be left unattended.
37:03
You've got to watch kids.
37:05
It's the kids that are roasting marshmallows that fall into them.
37:07
You shouldn't be allowing anybody to cook or do any type of marshmallow
37:13
roasting on a gas fireplace on a deck.
37:15
They're not designed for that.
37:17
The instructions say, don't do that.
37:19
You certainly don't want renters doing that either.
37:21
It's for ambiance.
37:23
Be safe about it.
37:24
Get some signs in.
37:25
And while we're on the deck, furniture.
37:28
Furniture at rental properties is a huge cause of incidents.
37:31
Not just the tip over incidents.
37:33
If you haven't secured your furniture inside the house, you've
37:35
got to do that, but outside too.
37:37
If you've got the type of deck furniture that you need to take an Allen wrench
37:40
to it, two or three times a season to tighten, it might be time to now upgrade
37:44
and get some stuff that doesn't need that.
37:47
Anything that involves an Allen wrench or having to tighten all the
37:49
time is not great quality anyway.
37:52
It shouldn't be used at a rental property in my belief.
37:54
But if you are going to continue to do it, you've got to get
37:57
out there and tighten it up.
37:58
And they make, um, threadlocker.
38:01
You can go to any auto parts store or hardware store.
38:04
It's a little blue glue that you just wrap around the screws, take them
38:08
out, tighten them back in, get them locked in so that when your renters
38:13
are sitting on that nice patio chair or the stool that's outside around the
38:17
nice little bar area, tiki bar you've made, that they're not going to fall.
38:21
Sarah: Which, uh, listeners, I'll attest to this.
38:23
You know that-- I don't know who makes it and I don't want to throw them
38:26
under the bus, but there's this very specific wood chair that everyone
38:31
on Instagram has been putting around their fire pits or around their pools.
38:34
Annette: I know that chair.
38:35
Impossible to get it in and out of.
38:37
Sarah: It is not comfortable, and popping in and out of.
38:39
But people are leaving them out all winter because people want to
38:41
sit out by the fire pit during the wintertime, at least here in Ohio.
38:46
And then these chairs are getting worn, and they're a good quality
38:51
but we had a couple guests, yeah, break them because they shouldn't
38:55
have been left out all winter.
38:56
So even if it's a good quality, they're not meant to take all that weather abuse.
39:01
Make sure you have the right piece of furniture if you want them to be
39:05
out during the elements and whatnot.
39:07
Justin: If you don't remember and never heard episode one the first time
39:11
I was on with you, the whole reason I got started in this was because of an
39:14
incident that happened to me personally at a property I had with a hammock.
39:18
You've got to make sure those s hooks are really tight and secure.
39:22
Any of these swings and hammocks and all these different types of
39:26
outside chairs, sit on it and have your friends sit on it with you.
39:31
Really do a good load test.
39:33
Make sure that they're going to be safe for your renters
39:35
to use this summer season.
39:37
Sarah: Right.
39:37
How about First Alert, Justin?
39:41
Justin: So First Alert.
39:42
I was with you guys in Columbus a few weeks ago.
39:44
I've become a massive fan of First Alert, that's all it's in my property.
39:48
I don't have any-- there's no code.
39:49
I'm not getting anything for this.
39:51
I need to talk to them.
39:51
I'm going to be at the NFPA conference with them in, uh, Las Vegas in June,
39:56
and I'm going to try and get something.
39:57
But anyway, in the meantime, the cool thing I like about First
40:01
Alert is they haven't had a single recall on their product since 2006.
40:05
And no one else in our industry who makes safety products can say that.
40:09
Kidde can't say that.
40:11
Nest Google, whatever.
40:13
Smoke Armor.
40:14
I hate those, you know that.
40:15
They don't score very well.
40:17
I wish hosts would stop using those.
40:19
First Alert continually, and sometimes they're marketed under the name, um, BRK.
40:25
BRK actually owns first alert, but those are the products
40:29
you need to have in there.
40:30
So First Alert makes the three best smoke alarms, the dual sensor, interconnected,
40:35
dual sensor, battery operated, and now they do a 10-year dual sensor one as well.
40:40
So those are the ones that I really like the most because
40:42
they're such good quality.
40:44
They also make the combination, explosive gas and carbon monoxide alarm.
40:50
And I'll make sure I'll send links for all those.
40:52
So if you're shopping for new products for safety, they also make a great fire
40:58
extinguisher, the PRO5 or 50, referencing a five pound fire extinguisher to have.
41:05
So highly recommend them.
41:07
Sarah: Awesome.
41:08
And then last but not least, on this spring safety checklist,
41:11
we've got hot tub and pool safety.
41:14
Justin: Yeah.
41:14
So again, last year, another record year for pool drownings.
41:19
If you've got a pool or a hot tub, you've got to secure it.
41:22
For 20 bucks, 30 bucks, you can make a locking cable that secures your hot
41:27
tub cover so the renters can't get in.
41:29
The gates have got a latch and closed over the wintertime.
41:32
Um, they may have come out of shape.
41:34
If you're in Florida, it's state law.
41:37
The gates have to self-close on their own.
41:39
There's a lot of local markets, outer banks, where they have to self-close.
41:44
Because of that, you need to do that everywhere.
41:45
I don't care if you're on Nantucket where they don't
41:48
require that you need to do that.
41:50
You owe it to make sure.
41:52
Um, you have to put a water watcher program in place if you have pools.
41:56
It's inexpensive.
41:57
You can start a water watcher program for a dollar.
42:00
You just take a card, punch a hole in it, and put a piece of string through
42:04
it and say, wrap this around your wrist.
42:06
You're in charge of watching the pool.
42:07
Make sure you have those on your kitchen counter when the guests arrive.
42:11
So really important.
42:12
And lastly are chemicals.
42:14
We saw a big incident over the winter in Florida where a British couple
42:18
got Legionnaire disease in a hot tub.
42:21
And that really highlights that you need to properly maintain the chemical
42:25
balance in your hot tub or pool.
42:26
And you can't just figure it out.
42:28
You can't read the instructions, you can't do it because
42:30
you've always done it at home.
42:32
If you don't have a professional maintaining your hot tub or
42:35
pool chemicals, then you need to get certified yourself.
42:38
There's some different programs online to do that.
42:41
But don't just be pouring chlorine in or asking your cleaner to do that.
42:45
You're asking for trouble for that.
42:46
And I know that might be a big change for a lot of you, but there's too
42:51
much litigation out there now that shows that we can't just do this on
42:54
our own based on a YouTube video.
42:58
Sarah: All right, Justin.
42:59
We've got some work to do before, um--
43:01
Justin: Got some work to do.
43:02
Sarah: Before this week's guests arrive.
43:04
So anything else you want to leave our listeners with when it comes
43:07
to getting ready for summer fun?
43:09
Justin: It's the one thing you can do, check it off first.
43:12
You're going to feel really good.
43:13
It's going to help you get into all that other stuff.
43:15
Shopping for new mattresses, upgrading the TV, raising your
43:20
price, um, all the other things.
43:22
But when you do the safety stuff, there's a certain level of closure
43:26
that you get from that, and a certain level of satisfaction.
43:30
And that buzz that you're going to get from that is going to help you move
43:33
through everything else you have to do.
43:34
So I encourage you to get the safety stuff out of the way.
43:37
Feel good about yourself, that your guests can trust you, because they already do.
43:42
And now you're living up to that trust that they have in you.
43:45
And then as you move forward through everything else you have to do to get your
43:47
rental ready, you're going to feel good.
43:49
Sarah: And how about this?
43:50
This will be semi selfish but also awesome.
43:53
Share this episode with one of your hosting friends.
43:56
Maybe they don't listen to Thanks for Visiting yet.
43:58
Maybe they don't listen all the time.
44:00
Share this episode.
44:01
It'll get the Thanks for Visiting word out, of course, and also share
44:04
Justin's name with someone else.
44:05
But also it'll just get another host thinking about the safety elements
44:09
they can touch up for this summer.
44:11
Justin, we have a lot of work to do.
44:12
We got a bunch of links to get into this show and make sure our
44:16
listeners have all the resources they need so they can heed your advice.
44:20
With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
44:22
Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are--
44:24
Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
44:24
Sarah: We'll talk to you next time.