How to Manage a Short Term Rental in Branson, Missouri

Avery [00:00:00]:
Foreign Everybody, welcome to the Short Term show special episode series on Branson, Missouri where we are doing a 10 episode deep dive on how to buy a short term rental in Branson. So we’ve got a few supplemental materials for y’ all in addition to the content on this podcast over on our website. So any questions you have about purchase prices and searching properties, you can do that on our website. We also have the Air DNA data thanks to our friends over at Air DNA income data on properties in Branson. So you can find these things at the short term shop.com so www.the shorttermshop.com purchase prices and income data. If you want to buy a short term rental property with a short term shop agent in Branson, you can email us at agents the ShortTermshop.com or if you just like us, you just want to hang out with us more, there’s a few ways you can do that can join our Facebook group. It’s the same title as my book. It’s called Short Term Rental Long Term.

Avery [00:01:01]:
We we are over there talking about short term rental investing all day, every day. Or if you prefer to talk to us in person or virtual person, you can join our Zoom call that we have every Thursday. You can sign up for that@strquestions.com we’ll catch you guys over there. Hey y’ all. Welcome back to another Short Term show special episode series on Branson. We got Bill today to talk talk to us about some common things that you’re going to have to manage around when you own properties in Branson. So how’s it going, Bill?

Bill Beck [00:01:41]:
Oh, it’s going great, Avery.

Avery [00:01:43]:
Awesome. Glad to hear that. So let’s talk about some of the things that you’re going to have to deal with when you’re managing in Branson. And luckily in this market there’s I don’t think that there’s going to be a ton of things that are difficult to manage. Like you know, in beach markets you have to deal with hurricanes and maybe people canceling because they saw on the news there might be a hurricane somewhere and then they just kind of preemptively cancel. So I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of things like that. So this might not be a super long episode, but we’re going to talk about a few things. So I guess since we’re talking about hurricanes, let’s talk about natural disasters.

Avery [00:02:18]:
So some markets have like we discussed with beach markets have natural disasters. Some markets have less. So, so what happens in Branson if Anything.

Bill Beck [00:02:28]:
Luckily, we’re insulated from, like, forest fires, hurricane. You know, those are big things that could wipe out entire areas. We don’t have that. We. We do have, interestingly enough, we actually have a fault line here. So when we’re getting under our insurance, you have to do earthquake insurance. Totally random. I’ve never experienced an earthquake.

Bill Beck [00:02:49]:
It’s not typical. But that is something that if someone’s getting set up, they’re like, wait a second, what earthquake? So that’s just a random little thing to be aware of, but big thing to really look out for is the thunderstorm, tornado, hailstorm scenarios. So we have had a tornado here in the past in Branson. If you look it up on, you know, history news, you can see articles about it damaging hotels. And, you know, it’s one of those things that. It’s hard to predict that, though, because tornadoes are so. They’re like these little random acts of awful occurrence. So the hailstorms, that’s probably the number one thing to be factoring in though, is because these hail storms will wreck cars.

Bill Beck [00:03:40]:
I was at my vacation rental that I own last summer, and I was actually just kicking it because it was one of those last minute cancellations. I was like, you know what? I’m gonna go over there, hang out in my pool, just enjoy it. And big thunderhead clouds came through and like, oh, man. And then the hail starts and you start to hear that clack, clack, clack, clack, and it just gets louder and louder and you’re like, oh, man. Because I had just gotten a new roof on my investment. I was like, are you kidding me? Like, this is a brand new roof. And after it finished, I ran outside and tried to scoop up some and put it in the freezer. There were ones like golf ball size.

Bill Beck [00:04:14]:
And I’ve never actually seen golf ball size. We’re out. People always think golf ball size, but.

Avery [00:04:18]:
That would knock you out.

Bill Beck [00:04:19]:
Yeah, it would. It could potentially, like, maybe like, I don’t know, kill you, but it would definitely not feel good. So my car got a couple. My car wasn’t destroyed, but it was definitely like, well, there’s some permanent dents. So.

Avery [00:04:32]:
Yeah, actually, last time I was in Branson, it did hail, but it was more like, you know, sonic ice cube size hail and not golf ball. So, I mean, do you. Is this something that you have to, like, tell your guests about in the summertime? Hey, if it. If it storms, there’s a really good chance it’s gonna hail. Like, is there any way to even do Anything about, like, preventing.

Bill Beck [00:04:52]:
I don’t know. I’ve. I’ve even been in the predicament. I’m like, what do I do if my car is out in the parking lot and this thing rolls through? It’s like, do you go harps and throw it over? And the answer is just. You just kind of have to roll with it and hope it doesn’t go too bad. So my community, like I said, we did have our roof get damaged to the point of where we got an insurance claim that we could get, you know, a replacement. So that’s generally what’s happening most often is just roofs will get pretty messed up. But luckily the new style, you know, metal roofs and just general roofs are improving.

Bill Beck [00:05:24]:
So it’s. It’s not something that. I mean, it’s. It’s not like destroying your vacation rental and preventing guests from showing up. So.

Avery [00:05:32]:
Gotcha. There’s not really anything you can do about hail storms or tornadoes in terms of prepping, like a hurricane. So it’s just something you kind of have to be aware of.

Bill Beck [00:05:41]:
And on the flip side of that, I mean, we’re talking about the bad weather. I mean, Branson really has mild weather. I mean, we’re talking like, you could have days in January where it’s 75, even 80 degrees randomly. I mean, it is in the, you know, basically central portion of the US you’d assume it can get cold, but, I mean, this last year, we had two times two snow events where it was maybe an inch each time, and it melts within a couple of days. So we don’t have any blizzards. I mean, we do have an occasional one. Like, everyone freaks out because, you know, it’s not like Chicago, Milwaukee, Minnesota, where they’ve got salt trucks that can just, you know, get the roads clear if there is an ice storm. That is something that people need to be careful of.

Bill Beck [00:06:22]:
Just. Just drive slow. And we do have hills here. So if there is an ice storm, probably going to shut the area down for a couple days. But again, this is generally in times of year that are January, February, which is the slowest kind of season here in Branson, where not a ton of people are coming.

Avery [00:06:38]:
So does that happen every year? Like, what’s the snow situation there? Is it. Does it just kind of dust or ice for a few days? Is it gone within a day? Or is it something that, like, you have to deal with on an ongoing basis?

Bill Beck [00:06:51]:
So annually it’s probably like, I don’t know, one to two, maybe three ice storms where it’s just freezing rain hits the ground and then maybe it’ll snow on top of that sleet. It’s just mixed icy precipitation. So as far as just general snow, I mean, it’s like we don’t get like fat mounds of snow. Like, there’s no, there’s no skiing around here. I’ll just say that.

Avery [00:07:13]:
Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. So it is something, though, that happens so rarely that the city isn’t really equipped to handle it. So everything does shut down like you said, correct?

Bill Beck [00:07:23]:
Yeah. It’s like, why put money into something such a random event that’s not predictable and something that they need to invest in preventing or managing.

Avery [00:07:32]:
So how do you manage that with guests if it looks like that’s going to happen? Do you like, typically lose power? Because I know in areas like that where there’s a lot of trees and the power lines are not underground, you can lose power a lot of times when you have these ice storms because trees fall on it. Is that what happens there?

Bill Beck [00:07:48]:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So just getting that utility company calling them up, getting them on, and aware that there’s a power outage, if you actually see, like lines go down, I mean, that’s the one to, you know, notify them immediately, but it’s pretty quick. If power goes down, it’s, it’s, it’s back up pretty quickly, so.

Avery [00:08:06]:
Gotcha. So it’s pretty similar to some of the other, like, southeastern markets that are kind of mountainous. But it’s not like a thing like in Colorado where there’s infrastructure to handle that. How do you handle it with guests? Like, what do you tell them if it looks like that’s going to happen and they’re on their way in? What’s your cancellation policy?

Bill Beck [00:08:25]:
Great question. I’ve actually been lucky enough that I haven’t had to experience that, so I don’t even know really. I haven’t had that happen. It’s just such a rare occurrence and it’s at times a year that hasn’t really impacted me, so.

Avery [00:08:39]:
Gotcha. Well, that’s good to know. That doesn’t really happen that much, so. So let’s talk about one other thing. Since everything is condos here, everything, our condos, everything, everything is a condo. Now I’m distracting myself with grammar. Are there ever times when there’s going to be like a big major repair done on a condo building, like maybe doing all the exterior, doing all new roofs or something that would prevent guests from being able to come and stay?

Bill Beck [00:09:08]:
Yeah, that happened. In my community, we had. Is Obviously, a lot of these have been built 30 years ago. There’s just maintenance that, you know, needs to be done. So our case was that the stairs had started to degrade and they needed to replace them. So there was a period where they basically, you know, had to a lot to get those things fixed, and there just wasn’t any stair access, which, you know, when you’re. Generally, our buildings here are, you know, like a set of six units. So there’s like two up top, two in the middle, two in the bottom.

Bill Beck [00:09:44]:
So if there’s like, access issues, you just have to be aware of that and block off your talent. Obviously, try to work with your association and know when that’s happening to block your calendar to prevent that from being booked and turning into a cancellation.

Avery [00:09:59]:
Gotcha.

Bill Beck [00:10:00]:
So that’s. That’s one really. I mean, the. The stair axis is kind of one of the main ones that would prevent people from actually getting into the unit. There’s been times where people just expect the pool to be open when they’re like, wait a second, it’s may. This. This pool should be open. You’re like, well, it’s gonna be open in a week.

Bill Beck [00:10:17]:
So that’s a very sensitive thing to be aware of, is when does your pool open? If you have a pool that will really upset guests when they’re like, wait a second, I thought we could do it, and now we can’t. So I don’t know how to disclose that in a listing, like, appropriately. But it’s one of those that if they reach out, to be very clear about timing and availability.

Avery [00:10:39]:
Okay, gotcha. Yeah. So does it ever happen? I would imagine it doesn’t happen much where the condo would not let, you know, six to eight months, maybe even a year in advance of this happening to where you’re really going to have to cancel anyone other than just like, block your calendar. Is that right?

Bill Beck [00:10:56]:
Just because of the communication, the particular association, I mean, yeah, they should do advance notice that they’re going to do something. So definitely be an active participant in what’s going on. You don’t have to be on the board, but be aware of what’s going down as far as plans and show up to those annual meetings because, shoot, they could be raising fees or changing stuff or, you know, doing things that they want people’s opinion on. If no one shows up, then you get these old board members that are like. A lot of times they’re not even like, vacation rental owners, and they’re just like, people who are like, I’ve Been here for however long, I’m just going to do what I want. And you’re like, well, maybe I don’t want you to do what you want. Maybe I want to, you know, do something differently with the money or, or invest in a different way. So definitely, if you get that chance, do show up.

Avery [00:11:44]:
Gotcha. Yeah. You always want to be aware of what’s coming down the pipe. All right, what else do we have? So let’s talk about, we’ve already talked about potential assessments that could happen. Let’s talk about. You do an annual maintenance audit. What is that? And what time of year do you typically do that?

Bill Beck [00:12:02]:
Great question. This is just the best practice. I mean, this is not required. But if anyone has the ability to go check out the unit that they own once a year, I mean, that’s, I don’t want to say bare minimum, but that’s something that would really give you eyes on what, what’s going on with the property. Because if you start to own your investment for, you know, however long, things are going to add up and you’re not going to know exactly what those things are. Things like maybe an item was taken by a set of guests, like a wine opener or. I’ve had my Roku. I had a Roku stick on my main TV that guests actually took.

Bill Beck [00:12:41]:
They basically were taking it out to plug in whatever HDMI thing they had. And then someone must have grabbed the power cord that connects to this stick. So then it was basically like rendered useless. So it was like just those little things that, you know, you gotta, you gotta kinda have to be aware of. So with an annual walkthrough, I mean, it’s just literally like, stay at your place like you’re a guest and try everything. Turning on lights, turning them off, you know, testing all of your stuff in your, your kitchen, doing it, like pulling out all the drawers, make sure they don’t like get stuck on anything. I mean, you’re basically looking for anything that’s not effective or working. So I’ve had guests.

Bill Beck [00:13:19]:
I mean, I, I had a situation where a guest left a four star review. It was one of those where it’s like, okay, like, thank you for pinpointing all these little items. They called out that my, you know, the, the shower liner was getting a little bit pink, which I’m like, okay, well, I was due to get those installed, so thank you for publicly telling me that I should do that. I’ll go do that today. Things like the poles. So I had bifold doors. I don’t Know how you feel about bifold doors, but I absolutely cannot stand them. They’re always.

Avery [00:13:50]:
They’re always off the track.

Bill Beck [00:13:51]:
They never were always off the track. They are, like, really hard to repair. They never are straight. So I had one in my kitchen where the actual pin just flat out was, like, no longer operating. So I was like, okay, let’s get a handyman over there. Let’s just take this thing off. It’s a. It’s a pantry door.

Bill Beck [00:14:08]:
We don’t need the bifold. Just take it off. It’ll be exposed. Not that big of a deal. So all these little things that are like, also, you know, just progressive upgrades, like cheap ones. Like, I went and got new fans, so I had a couple of fans that were old. And I’m like, you know What? I’ll spend four or $500, get all brand new fans because it looks nicer. Because these are just things that, you know, over time, it’s like, it’s not a huge cost out of pocket, but it’s just going to look nice.

Bill Beck [00:14:35]:
So I definitely recommend that, because if you’ve got eyes on it. And then when you get guests, for example, this happened two weeks ago, they called and said, hey, we’re just, you know, want to make sure that. That that air mattress is working. You know, we just don’t know. If you don’t have one, we could bring one. We just want to call and make sure, you know, there’s concern. And I had just like three or four days prior, gone and audited my air mattresses by filling them all up, sitting on them, hearing, okay, this one’s got a hole. Throw it out.

Bill Beck [00:15:06]:
These others are good. So I have three that are functioning because I bought another brand new one because I didn’t know what the situation was. So I have three functioning air mattresses, and that was something that I had never done. When I first got mine, I was like, they’re there somewhere. I don’t know. I bought it with someone that had one, so we’re good, I think. And then you get these random like, hey, the air mattress isn’t working. And you’re like, I don’t know.

Bill Beck [00:15:29]:
Like, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. What happened? And when you go in and actually, like, get your hands on everything, you can speak with tacit knowledge and be like, yeah, we’ve got this covered. I know. I have three. One’s a twin, one’s a king that’s short, One’s a king that’s tall. I just checked them. We’re Good. And then you’ve got contingency plans in case, you know, one does end up eventually going.

Bill Beck [00:15:52]:
So those are just things that I feel like I’ve got peace of mind now that if people call, have issues. Um, another one too is I had guests that talked about, hey, we don’t have hot water. Like, we’re freaking out, we’re not gonna be able to take a shower. And it was like. So in my particular unit, it just takes a little bit for the hot water to start going in certain, like, especially in the main sink. So I had an emergency plumber go out there because I had a heating element go out in my water heater last year. And I was like, oh man, here it is again. Maybe I just gotta get a new water heater.

Bill Beck [00:16:22]:
But it ended up being. Just had to run it longer. So these are all things that, like, when you pick up experience over time, you just know what to watch out for and you’ve got more knowledge of how it works. So.

Avery [00:16:35]:
Yeah. Anything else, maintenance wise, that we need to pay attention to? So, guys, I think that at this point in the series, you’re probably realizing that this is a very easy market to own in. We don’t have to deal with a lot of, you know, there’s not a lot of natural disasters and not a lot of like crazy things going on. No wells, no septics. All condos, even the detached ones that look like cabins are technically condos. So it seems like this is a pretty easy area to own. Like, great for beginners or experienced investors.

Bill Beck [00:17:06]:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, the H Vac is definitely something to be getting serviced annually because those tend to be so finicky. But I mean, really, there’s not a lot, there’s not a lot of big ticket items that can come out. And I think that’s something that I need to put out there is when people are trying to run and crunch numbers on estimates for annual maintenance fees, they’re putting in massive amounts. Like I’ve seen people put like 3%. It’s like, that’s like 16 grand. Like, what. Where you get, where are you getting this from? And I, I will just put that out there.

Bill Beck [00:17:39]:
I’ve had a year, like my first year I owned mine, I spent less than a thousand dollars on all maintenance for the entire year. And it’s like, because the HOA is doing a lot of the main heavy lifting for the exterior and the building maintenance and the lawn care and all that, I mean, it’s. It was really minimal. So not to say that’s the standard. I mean, there could be, you know, new water heater that needs to happen or, you know, God forbid, a brand new H vac. But if you’re taking care of your things, I mean, it shouldn’t be massive amounts for annual maintenance.

Avery [00:18:09]:
Yeah, yeah. What do you. So you’ve already kind of talked about items that get up and walk away and kind of replacing those. So I mean, there are other markets that we’ve done this same podcast on that have been like an hour and a half because there’s so many little things that you have to watch out for. But what else have we not talked about that you might have to deal with a few times a year in terms of maybe it’s not replacing anything or maintenance related, but you know, guests gets there and Silver Dollar cities closed or something. I don’t even know what that thing would be. But what do you. Is there anything like that?

Bill Beck [00:18:45]:
Christmas decorations.

Avery [00:18:47]:
Oh, let’s talk about that.

Bill Beck [00:18:49]:
November 1st. This is super. Okay, I’m going to say it as like an outsider, even though I live here now, but I moved Branson. I heard this whole. There’s this whole Christmas thing here, which is after October 31, you know, Halloween, the area goes into full blown Christmas mode. So the city actually mandates that all businesses need to hang lights and our entire area becomes like a Christmas holiday season. So this is part of what brings people deep into the latter portion of the year. Again, awesome for owning vacation rentals because this is like a season that people specifically come here for because this is what Branson celebrates.

Bill Beck [00:19:29]:
So with that in mind, Silver Dollar City has one of the craziest, like, Christmas light displays you’ll ever see. They have, I think, 6 million lights. I was told that and I was like, okay, that’s kind of cool. You got to check out like a YouTube video and just look at what it looks like. I mean it. I think they did you. You. Have you been to the Dollywood Christmas display?

Avery [00:19:51]:
I haven’t been at Christmas. I’ve only done Dollywood in the summertime.

Bill Beck [00:19:54]:
Yeah, I think it’s. That’s pretty. They’re both pretty intense. Like just, just visual marvels. So all that being said, you got to have some Christmas decorations regardless of what faith you are. Like, to go get your. Like, I have a fake Christmas tree. I’ve got wreaths.

Bill Beck [00:20:15]:
I’ve got little like nutcrackers. I mean, all these little things. So for that two month period you throw that up, people will like notice that depending on what type of property you have too if you got a really larger lodge style property, I mean, you could do a lot more, but definitely some degree of where if you have just a little touch of something and you can keep it in your owner’s closet or I even keep it in one of my spare bedroom closets just in a, like a plastic tote. So that is something that, you know, people will notice in a good way if you do do something. So one challenge of that is just making sure like your cleaning company removes that stuff so that when you get your bookings in like March, people aren’t like, what the heck? Why is there like a wreath here and a Christmas tree? Like, this is what.

Avery [00:21:05]:
Yeah, yeah. And so dear deer cleaners, are they typically the ones who set that up if you’re out of state?

Bill Beck [00:21:10]:
Yep.

Avery [00:21:11]:
Yeah, yep.

Bill Beck [00:21:12]:
I’ve never actually gone and put that stuff out. That’s just something that they will do as a courtesy. They understand too. It’s like, that’s important.

Avery [00:21:20]:
Yeah. And there’s some markets too that that’s important and others that it’s not. Like our mountain properties, it’s really important. So we do that. Our beach properties, we don’t bother with it. So you really do have to like pay attention to who your guest avatar is and what, you know, what your seasonality is here. Obviously it makes sense because people come there during that time of year. In our Florida properties, people don’t really come there during the winter, so no need to do it.

Bill Beck [00:21:43]:
Yeah, it’s. It’s one of those things that again, I didn’t really realize until I’d gotten here and owned mine and had eyes on it that this is like extremely important, that if you’re not doing it, then you’re, you’re not keeping up with what everyone else is doing. So.

Avery [00:21:57]:
Yeah, what else? Anything else that you kind of have to do. Is there anything specific that guests will expect but maybe is not a good expectation? Like, is there anything about the market or owning properties here that will surprise them? Like for example, are they going to be scared like of wildlife? I don’t guess it’s going to be a big problem in condo buildings, but I’ve seen in some markets where there’s like a bear on the porch and it freaks them out.

Bill Beck [00:22:30]:
Maybe because we have so many condos, the fact that a lot of the neighboring units will be occupied. So there is a situation of where there, there isn’t as much privacy as a cabin in the woods with your own acreage, you know, so that situation where I’ve got an Owner hitting me up, saying, hey, your guests were really loud and it’s a problem. So you need to like tell them to be quiet because the people that I have as guests are upset with me. And now I’m going to get a bad. Because they’re upstairs bouncing around making noise and it’s an awkward situation because then you’re like, okay, well, theoretically my people are fine and dandy if they’re making noise for the other person, that’s kind of their problem. But it’s, it’s also like from a political working with your neighbor, you don’t want to piss them off. So it’s this very sensitive situation where you have to be, you got to be diplomatic. So definitely want to let your guests know, hey, you know, there’s quiet hours.

Bill Beck [00:23:31]:
Hopefully that that wasn’t communicated in the check in and instructions and rental agreement. Like, you got to have some respect for your neighbors because we are all sharing the same building. So. And then, you know, some people don’t worry about it. They know people are on vacation and whatever. Everyone’s having a good time. So it’s, it’s not a huge deal. It’s just so the occasional guests that decide to roll back at like 12:30 at night and then stay up for another two, three hours having a little party, you know.

Avery [00:24:00]:
Yeah, yeah, you gotta, you gotta remember to remind them of that. Put that in your guidebook. If you’re in a condo, like, actually my office is downstairs from a condo that I own that’s a short term rental upstairs. And there are a ton of kids up there and they are running around like a herd of elephants. They’re having a great time. I actually was walking out to the coffee shop earlier and they were on the front deck and I could hear the mom and the kids talking about how much they loved it. And I was like, oh, that’s really nice. But they are, if I didn’t own it upstairs, I’d be like, man, they need to chill.

Avery [00:24:30]:
But like, you know, guys, run around as much as you want, enjoy it. But I can definitely see how when you’re dealing with other owners and other guests, you want to make sure that they’re aware that there’s people underneath them.

Bill Beck [00:24:41]:
Yeah. And then everywhere here is pretty much you have to drive everywhere. So not a lot of walking to most things. Whether it’s.

Avery [00:24:50]:
That’s something that’s important.

Bill Beck [00:24:51]:
Oh, good question. Not, not a ton. We have them, they exist, but they are not as prevalent as I would hope. I think part of it’s because everyone has to get here by car anyways. It kind of creates this. Well, we already have a car, so why would we take that? That is. That is a good question, though. We do have them, but they’re.

Bill Beck [00:25:12]:
They can be challenging. I’ve had scary scenarios where, you know, I have gone out relatively late, and then it’s like, well, I don’t know if I’m able to get back because there’s like, one guy driving around town and it’s like. So that’s a great question.

Avery [00:25:25]:
Yeah, that’s. It’s like that in a lot of our markets. Like, I took an Uber here recently, and because I had to go get my Jeep from the Jeep place, which is a whole. I could talk about that for an hour. And he asked me all these questions and figured out I was in real estate, and he was like, oh, let me find you on Instagram while he’s driving. And figured out that I. That he’s messaged me before. And I didn’t.

Avery [00:25:49]:
So I had. It was like a reckoning of like, oh, yeah, I messaged you about being a real estate photographer and you never wrote me back. And so I felt like a total jerk the rest of the way. And that’s the only Uber driver in town. So you want to make your guests aware of that, because sometimes when people are coming from big cities where Uber is just everywhere, or Lyft.

Bill Beck [00:26:07]:
Oh, yeah.

Avery [00:26:07]:
They think that they can rely on that when they get here, and they just can’t.

Bill Beck [00:26:11]:
That is a sinking feeling. When you Uber out and you can’t get back and you’re like, oh, no, what am I going to do? Call the taxi company who does that? Right? Like, yeah, on that note, too, we got to talk about traffic. So with Branson being, you know, we call it talk about the Strip. I mean, this is similar to the, you know, Pigeon Forge traffic. We don’t have as many lanes, so we’ve got two lanes. So generally, you talk about peak season. Like, this is brutal traffic. So trying to avoid the Strip, if possible, obviously, you know, if you’re a guest and you want to go to there, you have to go there.

Bill Beck [00:26:52]:
So just people that live here generally avoid it during peak season just because it’s so challenging. Like, doing a left turn is terrifying. I mean, plus, people. People start to just be the worst drivers ever. They’re like, I mean, I don’t want to stereotype, but I’m going to is like, they tend to be very country drivers that you look at. You’re like, oh, Arkansas Again. And they will turn around like a U turn, like in the middle of the street. And you’re like, you can’t do that.

Bill Beck [00:27:19]:
That’s like, there’s double yellow line there. You cannot do that. And they. Or they’ll just like, park in the middle lane. Like, where are we going? You can’t do that either. Get. Get off, go to a parking lot. We have plenty of parking here.

Bill Beck [00:27:31]:
There’s no issues about that. But. But the. Keep your head on the swivel. If you’re driving in Branson in June, July and August, I’ll just say that that’s. That is definitely like, I’ve. I’ve. I haven’t had any accidents, but I’ve been like, man, if I wasn’t paying attention, like, it could.

Bill Beck [00:27:46]:
It could have been bad.

Avery [00:27:47]:
So, yeah, good. Good to keep in mind. So transportation, you. If you’re flying in, you need to rent a car, because there you’re not going to be able to really find an Uber. And when you do rent a car, be careful and pay attention. All right, what else, Anything else that we have to deal with on a regular basis managing in this market.

Bill Beck [00:28:03]:
Oh, this is Silver Doll. If you’re going into it, most people are coming from the east, and then it’s a left turn to get into the entrance into Indian Point. That can back up for miles. And I’ve seen it, and I’ve been like, blown away that people don’t just get in the right lane, go past the stoplight and turn around and come take a right. Because that is an absolute hack. So if you have one in Indian Point, or you want to go to Silver Door City and skip an hour worth of traffic, get in that right lane, go through that light, turn around, and then you’ve got a right turn.

Avery [00:28:34]:
So good to know. Awesome. Anything else before we go? It’s pretty. Pretty easy one. Easy. Easy to manage here.

Bill Beck [00:28:43]:
Yeah. I mean, as far as, like, your welcome book for guests, I mean, you know, how do you. How do you feel about welcome books.

Avery [00:28:49]:
And in general, got to go touch day. Got to be. Got to be digital guidebook. I don’t like the manual ones, for lack of a better word, because I want to know stuff before I get there. Like, if I’m coming in, it’s gonna be late, I’m dragging two toddlers. I want to know what’s in there, what do I need to grab at the store on the way in, you know, all that stuff. So I need to upgrade.

Bill Beck [00:29:10]:
I just. I still have the manual one. I Just one of those things, like.

Avery [00:29:14]:
Eventually is gonna skin you.

Bill Beck [00:29:18]:
Yeah, well, hopefully she doesn’t listen to this episode.

Avery [00:29:22]:
Watch yourself.

Bill Beck [00:29:25]:
Definitely. No, I bring that up though because people have absolutely asked, like, where’s a good place to eat? Branson is definitely an eater friendly area. So I’ve gone out and tried all of my picks and I try to, you know, think I have good taste. So having that, you know, hey, go here, go here, go here. Don’t go there, don’t go there.

Avery [00:29:46]:
Oh, where do you go? Where, where’s. If you’re going to Branson and you want to have a nice dinner, where’s the best place to go?

Bill Beck [00:29:52]:
So locals are going to kill me for saying this, but Downing street, poor house in Hollister. That is the jam that is some of gone there. Did you maybe you asked me when you popped through.

Avery [00:30:05]:
I can’t remember because there were only so many places we could get with the bus. And is it like. Looks like a really old school, like English pub?

Bill Beck [00:30:13]:
Yes.

Avery [00:30:14]:
Yes. Okay. Yeah, I went there.

Bill Beck [00:30:15]:
Yeah. What do you think?

Avery [00:30:16]:
I was great. It was great. You know, I was pretty stressed out. Like Luke was at the end of the road in the bus with the kids. The kids were screaming. Luke was getting really cranky. So I was like just in there trying to get some to go food and leave. But I do remember it being really, really good.

Bill Beck [00:30:29]:
Next time you come through, we got to de stress you. Like, like this perpetual I was stressed in Branson thing. We got to get a cut. Cut through that. Downing street poor house. My favorite on the landing. There’s some good options over there. I really like mist for pizza.

Bill Beck [00:30:47]:
Mr. G’s, Mr. G’s Pizza. That’s in downtown Branson. A super fly under the radar place for like a good lunch is called. It’s called pick in porch. Like you’re picking something. There’s no G.

Bill Beck [00:31:00]:
So it’s an apostrophe.

Avery [00:31:01]:
Pick and porch.

Bill Beck [00:31:03]:
It’s a craft mall that has one of these like restaurants and that sits tucked in the back that just has like just phenomenal food. So that those are like the top three that I would just throw out. I’m not gonna say any anti ones because I don’t want to have any bad vibes. I will say there’s a burger joint on the strip that only takes cash that was a bit annoying that I went to when I was just didn’t have any cash on me. And they’re like, well, there’s an atm. I’m like, you got to be kidding me. Right. Like, just let me pay for my.

Bill Beck [00:31:34]:
My dang thing. I mean, this is the COVID era, right? We don’t take cash. It’s like, you’re gonna really be like, we don’t take credit cards. Like, get.

Avery [00:31:42]:
Yeah, that kills me with Amex, because I only typically carry Amex with me. And they’re like, we don’t. We don’t take Amex. I’m like, why? Well, because it’s an extra service fee or something. And I’m like, but what. I will pay that service fee for you to just take my card and not give me a heart. I think that happened recently at the. At a nail salon.

Avery [00:32:00]:
And I was like, I don’t have any. I can venmo you. And they were like, well, can your husband come? And I’m like, no, my husband can’t come. He’s 20 minutes away and the kids are asleep. This is just take my money.

Bill Beck [00:32:12]:
Yeah. That is hilarious, though. Just the modern era of just being able to, like, give people money to. It’s like, just clear jets. Like, I want to give you your money. I have it. But don’t make this something that I have to get all stressed and worked up about.

Avery [00:32:24]:
Yeah, yeah, you got to just that. Well, you know, I haven’t lived in New York in a long time, but there are so many places in New York that only take cash, period.

Bill Beck [00:32:32]:
Also on food, Silver Dollar City is probably the best theme park food, like, ever. I mean, you’ve been there, right? Would you agree?

Avery [00:32:39]:
I had the. I can’t remember what it was. It was like some kind of, like, monkey bread type thing. Oh, God. So good.

Bill Beck [00:32:46]:
I mean, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. But they’ve got. You got everything you can imagine. Because, I mean, I’ve been to bigger theme parks, like Six Flags Worlds of Fun, and they just, you know, have your standard fare of, like, burgers and, you know, hyper overinflated price, whatever. But Silverado City has some pretty incredible food. So.

Avery [00:33:05]:
Yeah, it’s some kind of really good, like, barbecue bowl with, like, jalapenos and cheese and. And some vegetables and stuff in there. It was really good. It was. I can’t remember. And there’s like, a little food court area thing. I can’t remember. There’s probably a thousand places.

Bill Beck [00:33:22]:
Yeah, we don’t really have, like, a. Like a bar district either, too. So that was weird for me because I come from big cities where it’s like, oh, this is the area where people go out at night. So we’ve Got the paddle wheel which is by the landing. It’s a interesting like bar that sits out on the water. I think you said you’re you RV’d over there, right? Kind of.

Avery [00:33:39]:
We did. We stayed somewhere over there on the river.

Bill Beck [00:33:41]:
So that, that’s where one of the main like I guess bars is. But we don’t have too many nightclubs or we don’t have a ton of nightlife out here. So this is definitely more family friendly area with you know, there are bachelorette parties will come out here. So we’ve got like moonshine tasting at the landing where you can go get real, real sloppy if you want.

Avery [00:34:01]:
Awesome. All right, well before we go, we’re coming towards the end of our time. Anything else that you run into pretty often with either guests or management in this market?

Bill Beck [00:34:12]:
Just your standard like people break stuff, you know, get a broken lamp, get a whatever. So just being ready to, to handle replacing stuff. I mean it’s not like common common, it’s just when you’ve got number of guests staying your place, I mean over time if you don’t have high. That’s why I recommend getting high quality stuff. Don’t get cheap, cheap stuff because if it’s, if enough, if it’s quality enough, it should last. So it’s kind of that I’m sure you agree is like don’t go too high end but definitely don’t go too low end because you’re just gonna end up paying for it eventually by having to replace it. So.

Avery [00:34:48]:
And it’s just going to get you a bad review too because you’re not going to say, oh this is broken. You’re not going to discover it yourself. A guest is going to discover it and they’re going to give you a bad review. Not always, but it’s something to think about. So just get something, you know, decent quality up front. Totally. It’s more efficient. It’s going to save your reviews.

Bill Beck [00:35:05]:
Also this is something I have not experienced yet, now that I thought about IT, is the ACs like the units like freezing up. So if people try to crank their air conditioning down too low because we have so much humidity and heat in the peak season that it’ll actually freeze up the unit and when that happens it basically stops like working. So you have to get a, basically an H Vac guy to get out, go out there and take care of it. And if you’re like 90 degrees out with crazy humidity in the summertime, like your property is going to start cooking your guests alive. So having like a, a ceiling or, excuse me, floor temperature that you set. So they don’t set it below that because if they go like, I think it’s 70 is what I do in mine. But if you go to like, because if you put like someone goes in there and drops like 62 degrees in like peak summer, it’s just going to freeze up the unit. So that’s just a quick little random tip that can happen.

Avery [00:36:01]:
Good to know. Well, guys, if you want to buy a place with Bill in Branson, email us@agentshorttermshop.com or if you just have more questions, there’s a few ways you can get those answered. You can join our Facebook group. It’s called Short Term Rental, Long Term wealth, same title as my book. Or we have a weekly live Zoom Q A call that you can join by signing up at STR Questions. Thanks, y’ all.