Latest / Short Term Rental Problems and Solutions / Guest Red Flags

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Guest Red Flags · Short Term Rental Problems and Solutions

• Jeremiah: It's not all sunshine and five star reviews. If you've realized being an STR investor isn't glamorous, then you're in the right place. Today, we're touching on guest screening. From all the reservations I've hosted and all the bad guests experiences I've had, we get into the top risk factors, the biggest red flags, and what to watch out for as an Airbnb host. We get into it because this is the community where we talk about the gross, the awkward, and the operational messes as well as the real strategies. That help you keep going instead of quitting. Anybody can win big in this industry, but you can also ignore education and you can quit. My name is Jeremiah. I'm an investor with over a decade of experience. I'm also a property manager with over a hundred units under management. I talk about what rental investing looks like from the inside. Let's get into today's email. Good morning, Jeremiah. My business partner and I are avid listeners of the Short Term Shop, Thanks For Visiting, and a few other Airbnb podcasts. We love learning that way, but the problem with podcasts is they're never going to answer our specific questions. A colleague shared your show with us recently, and I got excited when I realized we could actually send you ours. That's great. We only have one rental, so learning everything through our own experience could take forever. I was actually considering signing up with a coaching bootcamp, but the price and time commitment have been holding me back. So here's our current debate. We don't use Instant Book, and my partner utilizes every inquiry looking for clues that someone will be a good or a bad guest. I think he overthinks it. Recently, a 40 year old father wanted to book our house for his daughter's sweet 16. It would be his daughter and eight of her friends, all teenagers. My partner immediately said no. I wasn't nearly as concerned, but we ended up declining it. After all the reservations you've hosted, what have you learned to look for? Are there certain risk factors or red flags that really do predict a bad stay? Or are we kidding ourselves trying to figure out who's going to be a good guest before they arrive? Warm regards, Adrian. Yes, yes, there are some red flags that me and my team watch out for with every reservation. But your immediate reaction and your approach towards instant book tell me you don't fully understand the role the algorithm plays yet. So I recommend that you start by checking out episode twenty on my podcast. The algorithm is judging you so that you can understand why instant book would have such a big impact on your revenue. It is worth it. Now if you just want to have an Airbnb and it's kind of for personal use and the income is like something you don't really care about, then I don't think you'd be listening to so many shows. I don't think you would be writing into my show. so I'm making the assumption that you do care about your revenue. and there's some small little changes that you can make that'll make a huge difference. another one to check out well check out the whole show. I've got a couple of episodes where I talk about guest screening and damage. and those will also be pretty valuable to you. So as far as the red flags go, I've got a long list here. and some of these come with little stories and snippets I'll tell you about. others are gonna be a big surprise to you, what I would consider a red flag and what I wouldn't consider a red flag. so I think we'll just get right into it. So if somebody makes a reservation for just one guest, it's a one-night stay, large house. and they're local. and they're asking for a late checkout. These are all red flags, not individually, but all together as one. It's that guest that is, you know, they've got a bunch of friends coming in for the weekend and they need a place for them to stay. and they just found out that their aunt actually won't be, leaving for the weekend. this is that kid that was gonna have a party at their parents' house. But then they found out last minute that their parents changed plans. So they are looking for something kind of last minute. this'll oftentimes coincide with a holiday weekend for like colleges, or it'll be like near a college, college town, things like that. it doesn't have to be nearby, but you're looking for kind of those risk factors. and this is the quintessential one. This is the one that everybody thinks of. So I want to knock it out right in the beginning. That is a red flag, obviously. and we do watch out for these. Our team gets very few of these. It's actually quite rare. But when they say they're booking the stay for their daughter and her boyfriend, so that's when you've got like an adult who is like sponsoring a romantic getaway for her daughter and her boyfriend. This always strikes me as a little odd. the reason this one's a red flag is because this is a third-party booking. So we ask the parent, hey, are you going to be there? Are you going to be there personally? Are you going to be there for the whole stay? Because if it is, then this should be a three-person reservation, not a two. and just by itself, I mean I've never had any issues hosting a reservation where it was like a third party booking like that, where it was just like, hey, my daughter's enjoying her 21st birthday, and her and her boyfriend want to come up to your cabin and they're using my Airbnb thing. No, the thing is, Airbnb wants everybody with a cell phone to have their own account. so the fact that this person doesn't have their own account is a bit of a red flag. Or they have their own account, have bad reviews. so I haven't actually run into any issues with this yet, but it something that I've found a couple of times. Like I haven't experienced an issue with these guests. I'm just saying, right? I think it's a high risk. the next one is asking if the property is in a gated community. this is a bit of a red flag for me. I'm not too concerned. Like I'll still host the reservation. I'll tell them that it's not in a gated community or that it is. But oftentimes if they're asking if it's in a gated community, it's because they're going to be changing up which vehicle they're driving in So I always follow up that question with the answer, but also another question. Like, oh no, it's not in a gated community. But why are you asking? You know, like what's the concern? You know, I am still gonna have to register every vehicle that parks in the driveway. and we do have camera monitoring on the driveway. I try not to like, you know, convince them not to book, but at the same time, you know, this is something worth paying attention to. When they mention that they're social this one's one of my favorites. So when they mention that they are a social media influencer, and this red flag is made even worse. When they mention that they'd like discounted stay in order to promote your listing. So people who think that their social media influencing is going to get them discounts on staying at your property is a big waste of time and money for me, anyway. these social media influencers are just looking for a handout, they're just looking for something free. and if they are not travel vloggers, then none of their audience is gonna care about your house. So let me get more specific. I fell for this. Okay. I fell for this. There was somebody online who was looking for, a place that they could stay and exchange promotion for a stay. So I contacted them. and it seemed like one of their videos that went viral was similar to what we were doing. But at the time I didn't have a TikTok account, so I couldn't really like dig into it that much. Turns out that her whole platform, her entire audience, is following her because of her lifestyle vlogs. it's her going to the gym it's her trying on new outfits, it's her like Doing her nails and talking about how pretty her makeup is or whatever. There's one video on there about her going to this resort and how cool it was. and that one went viral and it had like maybe 20,000 views. Now that's not all that impressive, I've come to find. But at the same time, if her followers, which There were thousands of followers. But if her followers are following her for her normal content, that's her gym her photos and makeup and whatever else, if that's what they're following her for, then there's absolutely no value being added by her promoting my rentals. Not only that, but the content that I saw her create in my listing was like, you know, a fit check. She was just putting on clothes. and the video that she made of her like walking around saying, oh isn't this place so cute? I just checked in Here's my coffee mug. and like her coffee mug she's like showing off her nails or whatever. That video got like 600 views. Not even, not even many, like compared to everything else that she's done. I was very disappointed. these social media influencers, if they are like travel social media influencers, Then their followers are looking for places to stay. They're looking for cool stuff to do and to see. and that could be valuable. I have not found any of those yet. Every single one that I've found that is a quote-unquote social media influencer is just looking to capitalize on the fact that they have a large audience to get a discount. when somebody tells me they're a social media influencer, I see that as a red flag. Okay. it's not a reason to not book for them, but when they ask for a discount, I generally will tell them no. I'll ask them if they can share information for me to find their social media because I do want to look down a little bit. I want to see what else is on that one. to see if it would be a fit for our property. Now, some of our properties are like romantic guests. You know, like it's a a little stay, it's a little getaway for couples. others are like for golfers, and then others still are for like Older adults that don't use TikTok. So it also depends on the property that they will be promoting and the time of the year. So I say this was a big mistake, but it wasn't really that bad. All I missed out on was the cleaning fee, which was like 200 bucks. So not a big deal. I wasn't really risking anything, and there wasn't any damage or anything like that. It's just that whenever a social media influencer offers to promote your property. Just remember that they haven't seen your property yet. and they're offering to promote something that they themselves don't believe in That again is a red flag to me. But anyway, moving on, because it's a long list. So if they are telling me in an inquiry or in a message that they're a content creator and they're asking to make sure that it's okay that they create content at our property, I'm wondering if this is OnlyFans. You know, and that's another type of social media influencer, right? But probably with a much smaller following. I don't know. I do consider this a red flag though, because you never know what kind of stuff. is gonna get used in this content like glitter or paint or whatever, you know. So that's a concern for me. it's not a reason to deny them completely. But you ever wonder why Airbnb has that check box on there that says allow commercial photography or not? I feel like this is that and that they should just be searching for properties that are allowing commercial photography right from the beginning. When they ask how many cars they can park in the driveway. So that's sometimes a concern for me. I ask them usually, how many cars do you plan to bring? Because if there's too many cars or they don't know how many cars, sometimes this is an indication that there's going to be a large get together. Now that's a red flag. It's not necessarily a reason not to book them, but it is a concern, right? oh and the other thing about the driveway is like I always have a picture of the driveway in my listing. It's usually one of the last photos because usually a driveway isn't all that attractive. But I put that out there so that they can kind of tell how many cars they can fit the driveway. Well, if somebody hasn't looked through the listing and they booked it and they didn't see all the photos, then again, that's another reason for this is being kind of a red flag. It's because it should be clear already from my description and my listing. how many vehicles they can park. But if they're asking this question, then I'm kind of getting the idea that they've got a bunch of people coming or that everybody's gonna be coming in a different vehicle. Like if it's a three bedroom house and you got six cars outside, then, you know, obviously that tells you something. Here's another one. When they bring up the topic of how many people they can have there just for the day and not overnight. So I think it's weird when people ask about those kinds of rules before checking in Like how many people can I have there? and what if it's not overnight? and things like that. Like they're getting into like these tiny little details. and if I say yes to all of these, then regardless of what my house rules are, they're being overridden. I don't like overriding my house rules. I like working inside the envelope that I've created and expanding that envelope, you know, with some thought to it and some research. I don't like doing that right when the guest is asking. So if they'll ask, like, well, how many people could stay overnight? Well, my limit on township permit, our limit is 10. We can have up to two day guests. Well, can those do be de be different day guests on day one than day two? and then there's other factors involved, right? Because I've got to do community registration and the community wants me to register day guests as well. and if it's a gated community or not a gated community, this is just creating a lot of extra work for me. and really, if they wanted all those extra people, they should have booked a bigger house. But Here's another one. When they ask about support animals being allowed. So this is an indication to me that they don't understand Airbnb's policies or the concept of an emotional support animal. So when somebody has an emotional support animal, they should not be disclosing that. I personally don't think that they should be telling you about it. I would treat an emotional support animal or a support animal as like a medication. Now, not everybody does this. I know plenty of people who legally restrict. emotional support animals from their properties. They have a whole process that they want to go through. I think that it's best and safest to treat it like a medication. I'm not going to ask people to disclose that they use, you know, Ambient or Zoloft or anything personal, I don't care to know any of those things. and when it comes to an emotional support animal, again, they shouldn't be asking about this. I get the idea that they just don't know, So When it's a property that's pet friendly and they're asking about emotional support animal being allowed, the answer is always yes, but you don't have to disclose that. That's for me anyway. But it's a red flag for people to ask this because it means that they're not familiar with these policies. these are not experienced guests. So this is somebody that I'm going to pay attention to. it's also somebody who maybe because of their inexperience, they're just communicating with all their friends before they check in with all their family members, whatever the case is. They're talking to the other guests before they arrive and somebody's asking this question. it causes me to just keep an eye on them a little bit better. I'm gonna watch the cameras a little bit more. I'm gonna look at the reservation and see if they already have a pet listed there. and I don't know. Maybe this emotional support animal is and addition to the pet that's already disclosed. Maybe it is the pet that's already disclosed. Either way, I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm not gonna touch on this, and I'm gonna ask the guests to just keep their emotional support animal, kind of private, but also under control, obviously, because they are still responsible for anything that the pet does. Another red flag is when they seem to be the opposite of your target demographic. and when I say demographic, I mean like if you've got a tiny little house, like a four hundred square foot tiny home, and your market, your demographic, the the the ideal guest for your property is just like one little couple, right? and you've got like a party of three or a party of four coming in like that's a red flag for me. like Wouldn't four people feel much more comfortable in a bigger house or something with two bathrooms and I'm expensive for being this small. Like, so it's a red flag that four people would want to book such a small house because I know that they're probably not going to be happy with this. It's kind of made for couples, you know? and so for that many people to book this smaller house, it's not because they want to save money. I don't know why they're booking it. You know, is this just a really heavily booked weekend? Sometimes that's the case, you know, but this does cause me to, you know, look out for what else is going on. So when your target demographic though is like, you know, young families, because you've got like maybe ten steps to get up into the house, and then another ten steps, like a flight of stairs, to get up to the kitchen, that also could be a red flag. Because if it's a bunch of like geriatric older folks and they're asking about wheelchair access, like Obviously, this is not a house that's made for them. Like, why did you pick this one versus the ones that are much more accessible? So I've hosted guests like this that then check in and they complain about access. They complain about how difficult it is to get up the steps. and it's like, I did disclose, I told you about the steps before you booked the house. I don't know why you booked the house, knowing that you have a difficult time with stairs. That's a bit of a red flag, you know, and it's something I'm gonna keep an eye on. I'm gonna be a little cautious with this guest because they are very likely to leave a bad review if it's not your target demographic. oh here's another one. When they change the guest count or the guest list more than once. so I have seen this happen where they'll be like, hey, we want to take these two people off and put these two people on. and like once, fine. Twice, that's a problem. Because now they can't figure out who they're coming with. and if the reservation is for like Thanksgiving. and it is September, when I'm getting this reservation and we ask them for the details of the reservation, like the number of people who are coming, what their names are, their vehicles, whatever, and again, I usually only ask the information that's necessary for registration. But as a host, I could ask for more than that, right? I think it's completely fine for you to ask for ID. a lot of guests will push back. So if you ask for ID, just be like, I'd respectfully request that you share a photo of your ID with me, because although you are verified with Airbnb, none of that information gets to me. If you feel like this is an invasion of your privacy, I want to respect your privacy and I'm not going to require this. So if you say something like that, I think most guests will be reasonable and they'll give you a copy of their ID. Because there's nothing that you're really going to do with it, or nothing that you can do with it. I guess you could steal their identity. but you don't have the last four of their social. So I don't know what people are worried about when they share these things, but let's get back to the point. So when this guest count changes, it means that like they don't have a fixed group that are coming for this. So they have to keep updating the roster because maybe they're selling rooms. So they've got Thanksgiving all figured out and it's some sort of an event that they're planning. and they've got people who are backing out and then they're replacing those people with other people. Like if somebody just backs out, that's a cancellation. They don't have to update their guest list. If there's other people who are now being added in because the other ones backed out, that gets me a little concerned. and this is the sort of thing that can actually happen. and we've hosted properties with like indoor pools and lots and lots of amenities where like it would be a cool like weekend getaway for a couple of people and a group of people. and you could organize this sort of thing and like a college dorm. Where like you're knocking on a bunch of doors and saying, Hey, it's gonna be like two hundred bucks for this weekend. We're gonna have this rager. I'm gonna have a keg there. and then like people check in and then people's plans change. so by itself, again, none of these things are red flags that would cause me to cancel on a reservation just by themselves. But you add multiple things on top of one another, and these are like yellow flags that add up to a big red flag. Right. oh when the Elements Music Festival's in town and the guests ask if they can exceed the occupancy limit because it's walking distance, the festival. this one actually came up. we do have a property that's walking distance to the Elements Music Festival, the Pocono Raceway. and it was a group of twelve that wanted to book a house that was a max of six. and that's a red flag. We were like, no, nope, we can't do that. So what I did after the fact, we didn't necessarily decline. We just told them that we can't host more than six people there. They're like, but we have tents. Well, Elements Music Festival has tents too, right? So if they had been respectful of the house rules, they would have just asked for six people to stay there. They wouldn't have asked for twelve people to stay there. also, there's permit limitations about tents in that township. I guess to generalize that for you guys, Adrian, that would be more like somebody who's looking to find a way to bend the Airbnb rules. hey, what if it's just like a couple of infants? Like, does that count towards the guest count or not? and it does. Like every beating heart, you know, has to be listed there. and a dog is a beating heart, you know? unless it's an emotional support dog. then it's a beating heart that doesn't have to be disclosed. Anyway, so when they ask if the hot tub is working, yes, why would I have it listed on here if the hot tub is not working? So I think usually the reason why guests ask this question is because they're concerned from previous reviews that maybe a guest had a problem with the hot tub and they're thinking they want to make sure it's working. But in the worst case, they're asking this question because they know when they check in they're gonna cause an issue with the hot tub. and they're gonna be like, I booked this house because you said the hot tub was working. They're setting themselves up for humongous credit in that situation. so just you know, something to watch out for. It could be just harmless, it could be like a setup. when they mention they're an Airbnb host, now I know I'm gonna get some hate for this because you guys, my listeners are most likely all Airbnb hosts or people who are buying short-term rentals to turn them into an Airbnb. But I hate hosting other Airbnb hosts. So if you want to book one of my properties, just don't mention that you have a listing because I consider this a red flag. a bunch of the reasons for that is because I know that Airbnb is not host friendly. and I don't intend to take advantage of that fact, but other hosts might. See, turnabout is fair play. and if they've been taken advantage of enough times by guests on Airbnb, now the shoe is on the other foot. Now they get to check into an Airbnb and be that terrible guest that gets to take advantage. Because it is very, very easy to just like take a couple strands of hair off your hairbrush, put those on the sheets, cover it back up, take a little video and some photos of dirty sheets. and this house hasn't been cleaned. it's very easy to just take a water bottle out of the back of your car, put it underneath the couch, take a photo of that, and say, This house hasn't been cleaned. It's very easy to actually damage things in the property that would be difficult to find. Let's say you go into the cabinet, you take out the frying pan, and you snap it, or you bend it in half. I mean, some people can do that. They can bend frying pans. and try it, because like Frying pans, like the regular black non-stick ones, they're really not that strong. They're just like little metal thin, whatever. Back to the point. They'll do stuff like this and break things that you wouldn't necessarily have found as the cleaner. and they'll document it and send that to you through Airbnb so that they can get a large guest refund before checkout. Another thing they can do is they can make claims that it smells in the house. They can do all kinds of things. So when somebody knows those rules, it's usually because they have a lot of reviews on Airbnb or because they are an Airbnb host. So that's a red flag. Okay. most hosts are good people, but they've also been taken advantage of, most likely, because more and more this industry is being flooded with guests who know the rules and they know how to take advantage of you. Guys, even AI. knows how to do this. So the people who are using AI, they already know how to figure it out. Hey Siri, you know, or sorry, phone's turning on. or hey Chat GPT. I want to get a free stay at an Airbnb. What do I do for that? There's an answer. There's actually a very well thought out answer. and it involves a little bit of like planting stuff. So that's another thing. Like you can easily put some green food dye, put it in the hot tub. Now you complain about the water being green. and before you checked in you asked the host, like, is this hot tub working? and is the well water safe to drink? and then you go and you test the well water. You're like, this water tastes terrible. Like you ask all these questions beforehand. It's a setup. Like so there's actually people out there who will travel and stay at Airbnb's are completely free. With these like documented things, and I say completely free, but also it oftentimes just ends up being deeply discounted. So anyway, I don't I don't want to get way too far into that. I'm just saying that one big red flag for me is if they are an Airbnb host, I've found very difficult guests are also Airbnb hosts. Here's another one. When they have a ton of reviews, like 86 reviews. I had a guest one time at a house nearby to where I am right now in Tobyhanna and they stayed for six weeks. and they had like 86 reviews. I'm pretty sure they were travel agent, which is a third-party reservation. They weren't actually staying at the house, but they led me to believe that they were. So number of issues there. why do they have 86 reviews? Because they're using their account. For multiple stays. They probably work at like a company or corporation, or they own the company and they've got people who have to travel for work and they're paying for it and they're doing this all under their own profile. But like I told you before, Airbnb wants everybody with a cell phone to have their own profile. That way their behavior can be tracked back To their reviews. So that guest that was staying in Tobyhanna with 86 reviews, they actually caused a lot of damage. They had little kids there, they didn't disclose. There was toys all over the place. There was things that were like figurines that were not supposed to be played with that were played with, that were used as toys. Some things were broken. They moved a coffee table into the garage and used it as like a workbench so they could work on their car and change their brakes. There's brake fluid in the garage. there was this large like semicircle window, like half circle window above like a another really large window. and it was a really cool room with a vaulted ceiling. Well, they put paper up on that window and they taped it in place. I don't know how they got so high, but they did. actually I think I do know how they got so high because there was a ladder in the garage. That ladder was the homeowner's ladder. So they must have taken that ladder up to the second floor and put paper on the windows. So These are guests who are just 86 reviews, like 4.8 stars, like nothing like really red flag about that. But the fact that it was a third-party reservation and all these other issues, like so the paper was just the start of it, the figurines getting moved around, the coffee table getting used for breaks, That wasn't even the worst part. So we found wet. washcloths on top of a lamp. So like the lamp shade was all stained from the water and from it absorbing some of the moisture from the washcloth. We found black spots on the floor. So like this person was chewing tobacco and spitting it into a cup or a bowl or something and missing. So like there's all kinds of issues that you can run into in this industry. and that one happened with a guest who had 86 reviews. Many of them Highly rated. But yeah. that was not good. that was a pretty bad one. Now, here's another one. and everybody's expecting this. So when they have no reviews, that is not a red flag. Gotcha. So I don't care if somebody has no reviews. A lot of guests have no reviews. So that's not a red flag to me. I think it's very common. It's happened so many times. I'm not concerned. are they familiar with Airbnb policies? Usually no. if somebody with no reviews is asking if it's okay to have an emotional support animal, again, that's not as big of a problem as if they have like five reviews. So a guest that has no reviews is just a typical guest. That's like I think like one third of the reservations that we get are from guests who have no reviews. So it's not a concern for me. something that is a red flag is when they take forever to respond to a message. So like you ask them for registration info and it takes them like three weeks to get back to you. That's a problem. That's a red flag for me. because they're not good at communicating. and if anything comes up, you do have to be concerned. So we'll usually call that guest if too much time passes before they answer the message, usually it just means that they don't have notifications enabled. So we'll usually send them a message and just say, Hey, notice you didn't get that message. Can you please turn on notifications or make sure that notifications are turned on for Airbnb? Because communicating through the platform is our only method of communication. Like we shouldn't have to make a phone call. Airbnb doesn't like us making phone calls to guests, but this is our only way of reaching you. If they still don't respond to that, you can reach out to Airbnb and Airbnb will call them and take care of things. But again, if they Do not respond for a long time. That's a concern. When they ask how close the neighbors are, this is a red flag. When they offer a terrible price and it's last minute, I'm not giving them a better price. Sometimes I'll take a small amount off just as like a token thing. but the fact that it's last minute is also an issue. So, like if it is last minute, they can probably find a better price somewhere else. When they book for three weeks and then extend for two more weeks, this is a red flag. So if they ask to extend two more weeks, now five weeks, five times seven is 35. Over 30 days is not a short-term rental anymore. That's a long-term stay. So if you go to 30 days, you need a lease agreement, you need ID, you need background checks. I've got a whole different like way of handling long-term stays. So I do not allow guests to change a short-term reservation into a long-term reservation. and usually the excuse I give them is that, you know, they paid hotel and sales tax on their reservation. So I can't convert that at this point into a long-term stay where neither one of those things would be due. So that's a red flag for me. Also, if they are extending past 30 days, then they might just intend on taking advantage of some of your tenancy laws in your state. and there's some states where this is a lot more tenant friendly than others. But I mean at the end of the day, if they wanted to, they could just become squatters. So this is just a sign. and so what I do is I make the guests check out or check into a different house and that they cannot extend past 29 days. So again, because then they can establish tenancy in Pennsylvania, that's the cutoff line. So if somebody books for a long stay and then they extend or they extend twice, there's gotta be some sort of explanation for that. like if their house, was lost in a fire, I can understand this. Now, those guests are a high risk. So no matter what the reason is, this is still a red flag. So if their house was lost in a fire, it makes sense why they're staying, why they're extending. You should just get them on a long-term reservation from the start. Just be like, look, we can prorate your stay if you stay less than 30 days, but let's start your reservation at 30 days. now one of the reasons why this is a problem is because they're not coming to your Airbnb for the typical reasons. They don't fit into that envelope that we were talking about. They might not have a pet that's well house-trained and is certainly not house-trained for your property. So this is not like a travel-worthy pet. you're taking a much higher risk with. This guest who is just been displaced from their home. All this fire occurred. They're going through some life changes. You don't know if they're mentally where they need to be in order to take care of your property. this is a high risk guest. You know, I'm just saying I'm all for helping people out in their time of need. I am a little bit concerned about the quality of this guest. Okay. When they have a moving van and they're staying for a week while they close on or sign a lease on their next home. That's another red flag for the exact same reason as the last one. Because they're likely to extend. You don't know what their credit is like. They haven't signed a lease yet. what's going on with that? Where they already have a lease, they should be able to provide that, right? So I get concerned by any of these reservations where the person is not housed, like they're homeless. They've got all of their possessions in a U Hall and it's parked in your parking lot or your driveway. and what's stopping them from moving all their stuff into your house and staying there completely free for the next three months while you go through an eviction? I just think it's risky. You know, one of the biggest risks that we run as Airbnb hosts is squatters. the next one is stayover tenants, you know? and although I've never run into this problem, this is a red flag and I'm constantly aware of it. and it's because I manage both long term rentals and short term rentals and mid. So like I'm always watching out for this kind of thing, and I have to. But if they ask if it's okay to have a moving van, A budget rental car whatever, I get a little concerned. All right. This is somebody I've got to watch. I've got to watch the cameras a little bit closer. I gotta make sure they're not starting to move things into the house. Now it's very natural for them to go out to their moving van, open up the door, and start searching around for clothes that they were looking for, or chargers or cables or whatever. But if they start bringing in furniture, TVs, anything like that, you should be very concerned and contact Airbnb. right away because your house, I'm assuming, is fully furnished, you know? Another one is when they live nearby. and this goes along with, you know, what we started with, which is like the stereotypical party scene. but when they live like down the street, sometimes they're just coming to your house because their power got shut off. and that gets concerning because why is their power off? You know, was there a power outage? Is there construction going on? help me fill out This picture. Help me paint the picture. What's actually going on here? That you live in Pocono Lake and you want to stay at my Airbnb in Pocono Lake. So, like, what's the explanation? Again, this is a red flag and it's not a reason not to book somebody, but you get it. when the guest asks where to buy fireworks. So this is particularly a problem in our area because it's surrounded by woods. and buying fireworks. for Pennsylvania residents used to be illegal. But almost every single HOA out here has a 500 or higher fine for shooting off fireworks. So they'll have security or they'll have like board members like patrolling the community. whenever they see or hear fireworks or whenever they're likely, like the fourth of July. So if the guest asks where to buy these, I'm like, well, I want to remind you, here's three locations, but I want to remind you, you cannot shoot these off at or near the property. Like you can't just like drive down the street and shoot them off at the lake. you can't go to a community amenity and shoot off your fireworks. They're going to get your license plate. It's going to be tracked back to me. I'm going to get the thousand dollar fine. I'm going bill you for it. and guys, I'm sorry, but Airbnb is not always gonna not always gonna pay you back for that. Happens sometimes. has that ever happened to me? it's not actually. I've had reports that my guests were shooting off fireworks, but none of those reports have ever been confirmed. Never have we gotten actually a fine. I do have a long-term rental where we got a fine for having fireworks, but she fought it and she won because. I don't know. I don't know why she won. she told us that she won. she might have just paid the fine. I don't know. But that was a long term rental, right? That wasn't an STR But this is a red flag if the guest asks you where to buy fireworks, just assuming that it's okay. It just doesn't seem like they have much common sense, or maybe they just don't know anything about the house rules. Another red flag for me is when they show up early and they ask you, like, hey, why is my code not working? Well, your code becomes active 15 minutes before check-in. and it's 45 minutes before check-in. You can't just show up to your Airbnb early expecting to be let in Just like you can't just show up to your hotel without asking for an early check-in. Oftentimes, if they are showing up early, like they're showing up while the cleaners are still finishing the house. The cleaners will get very upset by this. now this hasn't happened to me that much lately, but about four years ago we had a cleaning customer and they seemed to constantly have guests just arriving early and it would piss off our cleaners. anyway, so if they show up early, or if they ask why their code's not working, it's because of the timing. All right. and that's a red flag for me. It tells me that this guest is somebody who might be an issue for the whole stay. here's another one. When you request full names of all guests and you only get first names. what are you hiding? You know, like I asked for full names. please provide Bob's last name. You know, are they just making up names? Sally and Bob and Joe and Jane and Susie? Like, are you just making these up from like some children's nursery rhyme? I don't know. But I have seen this before and I have seen it be an issue. and I have no problem with people's privacy, but I am only requesting information that is required for me to submit to the community. and I'm not doing anything with your information after that. So my privacy policy is pretty good. It's just like, you know, trust me, with the last name. Come on. when they get defensive or too privacy-oriented, when you just need registration details. Buddy, I just need to know what state your car is registered in Is it New York where your home address is, or is your car registered somewhere else? if your license plate says Florida and you're living in New York, I need to know that your license plate says Florida. That's possible. It's likely, actually. and then my last red flag. when people think that they can have packages delivered to the house. I haven't really seen this be a big issue, but it does happen. they'll ask you for the address prior to check-in, like a couple of days before check-in, because they're ordering stuff that they want to arrive while they're there. But like shipping oftentimes causes problems and they end up getting the package the day after they checked out or the package arrives while the house is being cleaned or when the previous guest is there. I haven't really, again, I haven't seen this be a problem for me, but I do sometimes have guests who want things delivered to them and they'll ask for the address beforehand. But the reason this is a red flag is because if somebody does get that address and they start establishing like, you know, like electricity in their name, they're setting themselves up to be a tenant. again, just something to watch out for because if they get a utility bill in their name. and if they are given access to the property, then they are tenants. and if they don't check out, like I'm not sure what you're gonna do about it. I think I would be calling the police and saying that they're trespassing if they extend past their stay, that's what they're allowed to stay for. the police might show up if the person knows their stuff, depending on the state, they might be able to claim residency, and which case You're gonna have to contact Airbnb, and Airbnb is gonna have to cancel all your future reservations so that you can get this person out. Like this is a very bad scenario. it's possible. it's just something to be aware of, it's just something to watch out for. But in my experience, I've never dealt with this and I've never met anybody who's dealt with this. So it's possible, but not likely. another little tip on the squatters thing is I recently caught on to a show called The Squatter Hunter, and it's hilarious. So I'm not necessarily promoting this, but I do like watching it because there's some justice to it, right? there was a situation where somebody that was the cleaner for an Airbnb, they became the squatter for the Airbnb. and then they advertised each room, they were renting out each room to other people. They were living there and they were renting out the rooms. So the squatter hunter posed as one of those people who was going to rent a room. and she allowed him through the door. and then he basically turned around and said, Hey, we're roommates now. and you can't kick me out. and she just got real upset and loud and said she was going to call the police. He goes, Call the police. I have a written lease. Cause he did. That was what makes him the squatter hunter. that's his MO. So he gets a lease from the actual property owner and he shows it and he says, I have an actual lease on this property. I have a right to be here. Go ahead and call the police. Can you show me your lease? and they don't have one. You know, if they show him a lease and it's forged, like that's obviously a problem. so anyway, it's a cool show, you know. most squatters are not associated with Airbnbs. They just walk into a house that's vacant because it's empty. But this could happen very easily with another scam that I've mentioned before. Which is posing as a realtor. So you can go to most delis and you can find a fishbowl with business cards in it. You just sort through those business cards or you look at the rack of business cards at your like mechanics shop and you're gonna find business cards for real estate agents. So you take one of those real estate agents, business cards, and you call a for sale listing. Just make sure it's not that agent, a different office, preferably. and just say, hey, my name is Jeanette Thompson, and I'm a realtor with Weikert in Easton. Make sure it's not too close. Weikert in Easton. and I'd like to show your property on Wednesday at 3 30. Is that okay? and they'll say, sure. The code is 052 whatever. 052. Now you've got a code, you've got access. and if you're a squatter, wannabe, then what you do is you go over and you use that code to get in the house. Take the key out, walk inside and stay. Set yourself up. You can change the locks. You can do, you know, whatever. It's illegal. It's not what you're supposed to do. I'm not suggesting you do this, but this is a scam that's very common to just impersonate a real estate agent because there's a lot of realtors who are dumb enough to just take those credentials that they hear over the phone as word and like allow somebody into their listing. I don't do this. and that's why I don't do this, is because as soon as I became aware of it, my policy with my property owners became that somebody has to go through showing time in order to get a code. Or they have to be somebody that I personally know. and if I have their phone number saved and everything else like that, then it's okay. That's the exception. But otherwise, somebody has to go through an authentication system like showing time in order to book a showing for any of my properties. and this has pissed off a few people. One is Lisa Gibson. she's a real estate appraiser, but she also runs ARM environmental. it's an inspection service for radon. and this lady is difficult to work with. She's very difficult. and she gave me the hardest time because I wouldn't give her access just for calling and texting. Actually, she didn't even call. She just sent me a few text messages because I was a listing agent. She goes, Hey, I'm supposed to do an inspection for your property I was like, all right, contact the buyer's agent, they'll give you the code. It's available on those dates and those times. and she wanted to have like a full two-hour conversation about why I should let her have a code. and I was like, nope, you sound a lot like a scammer. I'm not gonna give you a code. So she faulted me with that. and then later on, I needed to refinance one of my investment properties, and she was the appraiser. and I'm pretty sure she gave me a value that was $20,000 below where it should have been, specifically because I gave her a hard time about access in the past. I mean, I've got her number saved now. So it's not an issue. But at that time, it was an issue. and it's because people could cause a scam like this. So yeah, if you know this lady, get the message around because a lot of people don't like her. and I think she should just like. Pack up and start business in another state with a better attitude. Yeah. So to all my listeners, I genuinely enjoy sharing messages like this. and that's because this is the show where we discuss the challenges as well as the stuff that no one talks about when they sell the dream of easy passive income. If you're a property manager, an owner, operator, a co-host, or an investor, then email me at info@galvanizedmanagement.com. I'd love to connect and learn more about your approach. and if you have a question, ask it. Your question might be the next one that we break down. and chances are you'll help a lot of other hosts in the process too. We win or we lose together. If this episode helped you, great. I'd appreciate a good rating and a share too, so we can keep growing organically. Together is how I believe we make this industry better. Until next time, stay steady, keep learning, and keep building something real. This is Short-Term Rental Problems and Solutions.