How to Set Up a Short Term Rental in Panama City Beach (Episode 8 of 10)

Avery Carl [00:00:03]:
What’s up, guys? It’s Avery Carl from the short term show doing the intro for the panhandle of Florida. We are doing a ten episode deep dive on two markets here, both the Emerald coast and the forgotten coasts of Florida, which basically makes up the entire Florida panhandle. So ten episode deep dive here. We are going to add quarterly updates, so make sure you hit that subscribe button. We also have some supplemental materials for you guys on our website. So anything you need to know about current short term rental property pricing in terms of how much it costs to buy a property in these markets, you can find that on our website@theshorttermshop.com, dot. You can also find current air DNA income data thanks to our friends over at, you guessed it, AirDna. And we’ve got all that for you guys.

Avery Carl [00:00:50]:
So that you can listen to this at any point in time and go find live pricing and live income data. Also, if you guys want to buy a short term rental investment with a short term shop agent on the emerald or forgotten coast, you can just email us@agentshorttermshop.com and we will get you hooked up. These are two of my very favorite beach markets, by the way. I’ve chosen to live in the Emerald coast. I also invest in the Emerald and forgotten coast, so very near and dear to my heart. Also, if you guys just have more questions and you want to chat about short term rentals, we’ve created an amazing community over on Facebook with over 50,000 short term rental investors just talking shop all day. It’s got the same title as my book. It’s called short term rental, long term wealth.

Avery Carl [00:01:33]:
So head over there to chat more about short term rentals. And if you want to chat live on Zoom, we’ve got a call every Thursday that you can join@strquestions.com happy investing, y’all. Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode on the Emerald coast of the short term show special episode series. Today we’re talking about the setup process. So once you close, you’re going to have to get your property ready to rent. So today we’re going to talk about all the things that you need to do between closing and getting your first booking. And we have a great panel today, uh, to help us talk about this. And first we have Luke Carl.

Avery Carl [00:02:14]:
Luke, do you want to introduce yourself?

Luke Carl [00:02:16]:
Hello, I’m Luke. I teach management Monday for the short term shop, among many other things. And yes, I’ve taught over 10,000 people how to put their well, how to be better at renting their properties and hopefully give some good advice along the way. And I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve got several different types of real estate, different asset classes, and I’m grateful to be here.

Avery Carl [00:02:44]:
Thanks, Luke. And next we have Pete Appizzado. Pete, you introduce yourself.

Pete Appezatto [00:02:49]:
Yes, I’m Pete Appizato, an agent here on the short term shop. I’ve been an Airbnb host since 2010, and I’m very happy to be here with you people.

Avery Carl [00:02:58]:
And next we have January Johnson. She needs no introduction, but she’s going to introduce herself anyway.

January Johnson [00:03:04]:
This is the first time they’ve seen me. So, yes, I’m also an agent on the Emerald coast, and I sell from Panama City beach to Navarre Beach. I own four short terminals myself. I’m the longest running Airbnb host in the city of Panama City. Not Panama City beach, but Panama City. And I’m a community leader for Airbnb.

Avery Carl [00:03:25]:
Thank you, January. And last but not least, the infamous Chuck Kramer.

Chuck Kramer [00:03:30]:
I’m always last. That’s okay.

Avery Carl [00:03:32]:
You’re always at the bottom of my screen. For whatever reason, I have to work my way up.

Chuck Kramer [00:03:39]:
I haven’t been at this quite as long as Luke has, but we’re at eight years now, handled 18 listings. We have nine right now. Goodbye. You sell. It happens. And I’m detail oriented, so that’s one of the reasons I’m here, is because this particular episode is going to be all about details. I live in the Emerald coast as well, so it’s easy to stay up to date.

Avery Carl [00:04:03]:
All right, thanks, Chuck. Okay, so the first thing that we’re going to talk about when it comes to getting set up is permitting. So this is technically a task that you perform once you’ve closed the actual act of permitting, although you need to, if you did not listen to the previous episodes, about making sure that the regulations allow things and all that. We’re going to talk about that a little bit here. But my point is you need to make sure before you get under contract on the property that you’re buying something that is in the right zone, that you’re able to use as a short term rental. And the rules that you need to follow, you need to familiarize yourself with that before you close. So that’s just a preface. Now, we’re going to talk about the permitting process across these several counties.

Avery Carl [00:04:44]:
So we’ve got, um, Okaloosa, Walton Bay, and Gulf county. We’re including forgotten Coast Luke. So who wants to go first? Maybe we’ll talk about. Okaloosa, first and just work our way east.

Chuck Kramer [00:04:57]:
Sure, I’ll talk about that. Okaloosa. If you’re in Okaloosa county, chances are you’re also going to be in the city of Destin. There’s very few places that in the county that you can do a short term rental that’s not in the city. To start off with all of these that we’re going to talk about, you need to have a Florida business license, and you need to register for Florida sales tax. No matter which place you’re at on the coast, you’re going to need to do that in Okaloosa county. You need a business license, and then you also need to register for a business license in Destin, as well as a short term rental license. Destin is fairly strict, and they’re also very slow.

Chuck Kramer [00:05:43]:
You know, it’s. It’s a. It’s more a question for them, I believe, of trying to do too much with a small staff because they’re. They’re really good people there. But there is a very rigorous process. You have to go through. No internal inspections, but just getting the little sticker to put on your sign can take weeks. And don’t even try listing without that permit ahead of time.

Chuck Kramer [00:06:06]:
Destined, like many of the local folks here, employ third party companies to scour. Dota is looking for people that don’t have a permit number or a registration in their database.

January Johnson [00:06:18]:
So OTA is online travel agency, in case people don’t know that.

Luke Carl [00:06:23]:
Yes, Airbnb. I’m also in Destin, also live, basically in Destin, and, well, one county over, but not really. Cause it’s like. It’s a fine line. Right. But he nailed it. He’s absolutely right. My brain definitely looks at it a different way, as I am not detail oriented at all.

Luke Carl [00:06:44]:
And. But it is. It is a tedious process. It’s kind of a pain in the rear, to be honest. And it’s a good thing. It’s all. It’s a good thing. We are all very proud of destin, as well as Destin is proud of Destin.

Luke Carl [00:06:57]:
And it is a. It’s a beautiful place. The beaches are insane. And. And I think they’re doing a great job at keeping Destin, you know, classy. Keep it classy. Um. And, uh.

Luke Carl [00:07:08]:
But, yeah, just be aware. I mean, I usually say, you know, if I had to give a. Again, back, going back to when I first got my ducks in a row on my Destin house, it took me. It probably took me about 45 days, which was mostly my fault. I wasn’t prepared. Um, coming from originally, from the smokies, where everything’s fairly easy. Uh, I think. I think you probably should give yourself about 30 days.

Luke Carl [00:07:30]:
Uh, maybe. Maybe could get it done quick. Quite quicker than that if you’re really on it to get all your, you know, your permits, et cetera. But all I remember, it was a tedious process and kind of a pain in the rear end. But I’m kind of glad, glad it was, because it’s, you know, making sure that destin stays, you know, what it is.

Pete Appezatto [00:07:51]:
And at the other also, you know, it’s a one time thing. So, you know, typically when we’re closing, I mean, the tedious process of renewing and stuff, you know, most people, when they close on the property, want to do some things to it anyway. So it allows you that time to really get it ready.

Luke Carl [00:08:08]:
Go ahead, Chuck. I know you gotta. I’m gonna be somewhere between Chuck and Pete on that one. Go ahead, Chuck.

Chuck Kramer [00:08:15]:
Yeah. Tedious is a good word, but destin has been in an area of change. The years that I’ve been here, each year has been different, but the renewal process is no easier than your initial process. It’s the exact same steps. There’s no shortcuts.

Luke Carl [00:08:32]:
I agree. And I also agree with Pete. I do find that the renewal is way easier, but it is the same steps, but I’ve done them before, you know, so it’s like, oh, wait a minute. Oh, yeah. The hardest part about renewal for me is like, wait a minute. What was that stupid website I have to go to again? You know, like, remembering, and then as soon as I figure it out, it clicks. And it is a much, maybe not easier, but for me, at least, it’s a much quicker process, or at least time out of my pocket anyway is less.

Chuck Kramer [00:09:03]:
I would agree. I spent a little less time this year, but it took me a lot longer to get my sticker. But. And there is an order of things now.

Luke Carl [00:09:11]:
Hold on. Now we’re getting way into the weeds. Yeah, they’re now delivering the stickers, or at least this. They might change it again by the time that somebody listens to this, but this year, they actually delivered. And here’s an even funnier story. They delivered my sticker two days before I got a new sign. Because you have to have a sign in Dustin, and it has to be, like, the exact size, and it has to have the exact language on it, and it’s very strict. So I went over there to put my new sign, and I was like, damn it.

Luke Carl [00:09:42]:
My new permit’s already on the side, my new sticker. So I emailed him again, and he goes, no problem. If you. If you take it off the old sign, can’t get it back on the new sign, just let me know, I’ll bring you a new one. And sure enough, it didn’t stick. So I sent him an email, and then the next time I was over there, I had a new sticker. Used to be back in the day, you had to go get the sticker from the city, and I didn’t even live here at the time, so that was like. It was kind of a, you know, I mean, okay, I guess I got to go to Destin.

Luke Carl [00:10:10]:
Poor me. But. But you could send somebody on your behalf. But at least it. Again, we’re getting way into the weeds. They are delivering the stickers at least in 2023.

Chuck Kramer [00:10:21]:
Yeah. And look, we are. We are in the weeds, but some of this is going to come up again and again as we talk about the different jurisdictions. So we’re kind of laying it out there.

Luke Carl [00:10:30]:
And Destin, I mean, again, there’s more of a need to talk about this in Destin, really, than or maybe Walton county than probably any short term shop market.

Avery Carl [00:10:40]:
Yeah. And I also. I want to clarify that they’re not, like, putting a cap on anything or telling you that you can’t have a license. They’re not going to tell you no. You just have to make sure that they have all these things on file just so that things are organized. You have to supply them with things, and they might tell you you have to change stuff, but they’re not going to say no, you can’t have a permit, and then you’re going to be screwed. So when we say, like, really strict and really hard, we don’t mean it’s hard to be allowed to have a permit. It’s just a process to get the permit that you are allowed to get, basically.

Pete Appezatto [00:11:15]:
And I think it’s a good thing. I mean, you know, there’s. There’s other jurisdictions around the country. I mean, why? Started in Manhattan. It was kind of a free for all, you know, and there was no regulation, really, other than them technically making it illegal at some point. But I feel when the jurisdiction is actually friendly to the. To it go. Jumping through the hoops is a good thing once you get it and up and running, you know, there’s a reason why this place has been a mature vacation rental market for years, decades, totally.

Chuck Kramer [00:11:46]:
It’s also. It’s also worth mentioning that many of the condos are exempt from this.

Pete Appezatto [00:11:51]:
Yeah.

January Johnson [00:11:53]:
Because a lot of times I have customers who. Who, they hear Hoa and they get worried that the HOA is going to change the regulations about condos and things. So. Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up.

Luke Carl [00:12:05]:
Yeah, we’ll dive into that. Jan, is that the case, or do we need to worry or what?

January Johnson [00:12:10]:
No, not at all. I mean, if the condo is, I mean, all along the coast, the condos are not residential condos. I mean, you could live in them if you wanted to, but that’s not how they’re run. They’re run more like hotels. And. And the Hoa is made up of people who, who own rental properties, so they’re not going to vote against their own interests there. It’s not some other entity that’s going to make these decisions that’s apart from the people who are the owners. But, you know, people from other states hear Hoa and they immediately think controlling group of people who are going to take away your rights to do something with your own property, and that’s not the case.

Luke Carl [00:12:48]:
Yeah, I’m actually in a very rare area in destiny that doesn’t have an hoa. Most areas do, and it’s not. Certainly not something to be afraid of. Um, my properties happens to be in, like, a little. I don’t know, Chuck, how many? It’s only like seven by four blocks or something like that area, maybe a.

Chuck Kramer [00:13:07]:
Square mile, maybe two.

Luke Carl [00:13:09]:
That doesn’t have an hoa. But I’ll be honest with you, I feel like my, my little area, which is called crystal beach, not to be confused with Texas, um, is more strict in a lot of ways. Like, the city is kind of more on top of us there because there’s no hoa, like, enforcing their own rules, you know, like the city. Again, maybe I’m wrong about this, but I feel like in other areas, the HOA has these rules and things are kind of just in order. And where I’m at, I feel like the cops are kind of cruising around and the code enforcement is cruising around a little bit more because there isn’t like a governing body other than them. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s just a weird perception I have. But let me put it this way.

Luke Carl [00:13:55]:
I have seen on many occasions, here’s actually, let me tell you a funny story. The house we own in Destin was vacant for quite some time before we purchased it. It was in bad shape and just had been sitting there kind of in disrepair. And the driveway is a circle, which is rare, kind of weird for the area. So in other words, you can just pull in and then pull right back out. The cops had set up shop in my driveway to hand out people walking down the street with open container tickets. And I know this because when I bought it, I put, of course, put a camera. And I’m, like, seeing cops all the time, you know, and then also we would go there, and I would be upstairs, and, like, if Avery took the car to get coffee or something, I was just upstairs, and the driveway is empty.

Luke Carl [00:14:46]:
And, like, within ten minutes, there’s a cop in the driveway setting up shop. Because I think they were just used to my house being empty and because that convenient driveway, and they were just, like, pulling people over on golf carts and walking by with yetis full of vodka or whatever and handing out tickets. And I don’t know if that is maybe not as common in the hoa areas because there’s, like, more, you know, people keep an eye on things, but just kind of a funny story. I actually went and talked to him. I was like, hey, guys, somebody owns this house now. And, you know, I’m super happy you’re here, but just letting you know that, you know, new, new owner in town on this one, you know, I want.

January Johnson [00:15:27]:
To say one more thing about Destin. Destin is only 8 sq.

Avery Carl [00:15:29]:
Mi.

January Johnson [00:15:30]:
It’s very small. And so when you talk about, you know, a lot of times, people ask me the difference between Panama City Beach, Destin, whatever, and I was. I was shocked to find out that how small it really is.

Avery Carl [00:15:43]:
Yeah. All right, we got to move on to another county now because we’ve spent been, like, 15 minutes on Destin, and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. So let’s scoot over to Walton county, which is Miramar beach and 30 a. So Walton county, until recently, did not really have any permitting process at all. They’ve recently changed that to be a little more similar to Destin, because when things would happen, nobody would know who to call. It was just crazy parking problems, things like that. So I know Chuck’s done a lot of research on that. So, Chuck, do you want to hit the permitting in Walton county?

Chuck Kramer [00:16:16]:
Sure. And it’s not 100% done yet. They’ve just recently, like, two to two or three days ago, posted what they call their final draft. When they take the draft part out, then it’ll absolutely be final. But there’s a pretty extensive application process that includes you’ll need floor plans, you’ll need plot diagrams of your property, where things are, what they’re going to be used for. If you have septic, you’re going to have to include your septic permit, and that’s something you may not have bothered to get when you bought your property. If you have septic, you need a lot of the same things that we already talked about for okaloosa and Destin. In fact, everything we talked about for there, one of the things they have not finalized yet is the sign requirements.

Chuck Kramer [00:17:01]:
They have said that there’s going to be a signed requirement, but each piece of paper they’ve come out with has been pretty different. So, and I’m looking at their latest and it’s not even on here. So it’s still in flux. I guess they also want to see that you’ve been covered by everything else in the state, including the balcony inspection certificates. In Florida, if you have a short term rental that has third floor or above, you have to have a balcony inspection certificate. That’s something that Destin and Okaloosa haven’t asked for, but Walton’s going to have it on theirs. So this is a brand new process, and I’ve worked with governments of all types for a very long time, and my gut feeling is it’s going to be a very bumpy road the first year as they feel at the process. And hopefully they’re going to be lenient with some of these things during that because enforcement of this is going to be new for them as well.

Chuck Kramer [00:18:03]:
The one small concern here is that they also haven’t finalized how they’re going to determine occupancy. At one point, they were looking at how many people per square foot. And I think the Florida fire regulations have something along the lines of one person for every 250 sqft or a bedroom count, such as two people per bedroom. And then there’ll be parking requirements tied to that as well. But these are not in this quote unquote, final draft that I’m looking at. So.

Luke Carl [00:18:39]:
Yeah, I think it’s important to remember that we’re not experts on this subject. You got to make sure, you know, do your due diligence on the, there’s going to be websites for whichever area, any, any area nationwide. There’ll be some sort of a government website for what, what we’re doing here that will give you as much info as possible. And, but like, like Chuck said, Walton county is a little, you know, it’s going through some changes right now, so make sure you do your research and get all your eyes dotted.

Chuck Kramer [00:19:10]:
Yeah. Let me add one quick thing both about Destin and Walton and pretty much everywhere here is they’re going to require that you have a local person that can be sort of on call if there’s a problem. There’s varying requirements around that. They may need to respond in 30 minutes or 60 minutes. They will usually require an affidavit be presented with that person’s signature saying they agree to do it. Most of the time. We recommend folks talk to their potential cleaner or handyman about doing that, but start that early, because if they’re not interested in doing it, it could be a little harder to find somebody to do that for you.

Pete Appezatto [00:19:52]:
I think most cleaners understand. That’s part of a lot of my clients anyway. When they got their cleaners, they’re well aware that’s something that they kind of sign on to.

Chuck Kramer [00:20:02]:
Yeah, I think you’re right there. So which, again, is an argument for having a regular cleaner versus pulling a different one every few weeks off of one of the apps. Absolutely.

January Johnson [00:20:13]:
There’s also a fire inspection. I know we’re not talking about Bay county yet, but a fire inspection, I don’t know what that is. What’s the case in other counties?

Chuck Kramer [00:20:22]:
Gulf Shores has that as well. They do theirs every three years. The original text for Walton county included that. I haven’t had a chance to read the very final section of this document yet, but it seemed each time they came out with something, they just said, you need to be compliant. But I think they realized that they don’t have the manpower to do the inspections, at least not yet. Lots of posting requirements, though, about information inside the house. More than I’ve ever seen anywhere, including. We have to post things about the sea turtles.

Avery Carl [00:20:55]:
We love our sea turtles in Walton county.

Chuck Kramer [00:20:57]:
They do.

Avery Carl [00:20:59]:
We don’t even have streetlights because of that. Because they don’t want to disorient the sea turtles.

Luke Carl [00:21:03]:
Yeah. No street lights and blue windows. What do they call those? They haven’t. They’re called turtle glass, isn’t it?

Avery Carl [00:21:08]:
Turtle glass, yeah.

Luke Carl [00:21:09]:
Yeah.

Chuck Kramer [00:21:11]:
So there’s a bunch of that kind of stuff. Yeah. Lighting. Lighting restrictions. You have to have a sign pointing where the nearest hospital is, nearest emergency room. The flag. The beach flag system.

Avery Carl [00:21:26]:
That’s important. That is really important because people get out there and drown all the time. And my four year old walks down the beach during red flag days and tells people, you’re not supposed to be in the water, and people still go in the water on double red flag days and they drown.

Luke Carl [00:21:42]:
And hospital things important, too. I’ve started to implement a system putting the address of the property near the front door just in case there’s an emergency, because these people have no idea where they are in a lot of cases. So I’m putting. I’m getting some signs made up, putting them by the front door. Hey, if you have a 911 situation, tell them this is where. I mean, obviously, 911 hopefully knows how to find the house, but, you know, just in case. You can never, never be too safe.

Pete Appezatto [00:22:08]:
Yeah. These are things that are actually good for your guests in the long run. I used to include all that information where the closest hospital is and everything in all my listings. But, you know, in the long run, these are, you know, it’s keeping your guests safe, and it’s. It’s literally, once you set it up, once it’s done.

Chuck Kramer [00:22:24]:
That’s true. So. And the county is able to provide most of this stuff. We have a. We have a couple of really nice visitor centers in the county. I dropped by there one day and walked out with three boxes of things, including a pretty cool mug. So they’re making it easy to. Or they’re trying to make it as easy as possible for owners to be.

January Johnson [00:22:46]:
I also think the county clerk websites are pretty good. At least I know Bay county is. They’ve got lots of links to all the things you need to know, and people are very helpful. I mean, granted, they want to help you pay your taxes, but they are helpful. So if you need to call and get information, I think it’s easy to do that.

Pete Appezatto [00:23:02]:
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been actually surprised at how friendly.

Luke Carl [00:23:05]:
They are on the phone.

Pete Appezatto [00:23:08]:
That’s a big difference.

Luke Carl [00:23:10]:
Yeah. It’s hard not to be happy here. Yeah, I guess. Avery, if you want me to talk about Gulf county real quick, it’s very similar there as well. We’ve got a property in Gulf county which is just one over from January, basically, and it’s very similar there. There is an inspection every year. It’s an annual inspection, which is a little frustrating at first. I had not been party to that at any of my other properties.

Luke Carl [00:23:37]:
And the list is. It’s a laundry list of things that you have to pass. But again, where I’m at in Cape sandblast, there’s not even been real estate there for more than about 40 years. So most properties are going to be a little on the newer side there. And I didn’t have any trouble passing my inspection first time, which I was very well prepared to not pass, and get a list of items to repair and, uh, reinspect, uh, because I read that that’s super common. And they. They’re very easy with the inspection process, that the guy gives you a cell phone number, and it’s just a dude, and he. He’ll text you and say, can I come over and inspect this thing? Um, and, uh, like I said, my first time I passed, um, no issues.

Luke Carl [00:24:28]:
And then every year, you basically just go back to that guy, and he goes back out and checks. I guess the biggest thing there in Bay county, or, I’m sorry, in Gulf county, is the railing height. Again, I don’t want to give a specific number because I don’t remember things. And it’s. I don’t want to step on any toes or get myself in trouble, but the railing has to be a certain height on any porch or deck, and it’s a little higher than normal, I think. So make sure you look into that, um, again, fairly simple process. And there’s a couple guys in. In the area that go around swapping out the railings for taller railings because it’s a thing.

Luke Carl [00:25:08]:
Um, uh, but again, if the property was in service previous to you purchasing, purchasing, in other words, if it was already a rental, it would have had to have passed the inspection anyway. So, um, but, but just be aware that is there. Other than that, in Gulf county, things are pretty simple and easy. And again, there is a website there with very, you know, it’s old school, but the, you know, the phone number at the bottom, they’re super helpful, just like everybody’s talking about in all these markets.

Chuck Kramer [00:25:37]:
Yeah. And, you know, these offices are small, too. Chances are if you call three times, you’re going to get the same person all three times. So that’s how good they are.

Luke Carl [00:25:48]:
Yes. Matter of fact, in destiny, the. I don’t want to give her first name because I don’t want to be, like, bombard her, but her last name is Destin, which I don’t know how that happened. Chuck, I wouldn’t be surprised if you asked her in some conversation at one point. I think she’s actually in a different role now. I don’t think she’s handling permits anymore, licenses. She is still at the city. But I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me.

Luke Carl [00:26:13]:
Your last name is Destin? And she’s like, yeah, it was a coincidence.

Avery Carl [00:26:16]:
All right, all right. We got to stop with Destin.

January Johnson [00:26:18]:
We only have so much time, and.

Avery Carl [00:26:19]:
We got a lot of ground to cover. Bay county.

Luke Carl [00:26:21]:
The city of Destiny.

Avery Carl [00:26:23]:
Bay County.

January Johnson [00:26:26]:
Bay County. Chuck, what do you know about Bay County?

Chuck Kramer [00:26:30]:
Bay county is probably one of the first ones around here to have regulations, as far as I can tell. Also within Bay county, you have Panama City, beach, the city, and you also have Panama City. It has their own regulations as well. So that’s a lesson. In any market. You may have to deal with multiple levels, but they do try to make it as easy as possible. You have to register within the county. Requirements are actually a bit lighter than some of the other ones in terms of what you need to provide.

Chuck Kramer [00:27:00]:
It’s a more mature process, and over time, I guess they’ve learned that some of the stuff they really don’t need, and so why spend the effort? You still have to be registered, at least when I stepped somebody through this just a few weeks ago, and it was interesting that Bay county wouldn’t take their registration without them already showing their PCB registration. The other markets are different. They work top down. In other words, you got to show your state to your county, to your county, to your city and so forth. But this one seemed to be backwards. But they make that very clear on the website. And again, as you said earlier January, the websites are great for these people. Do you want to add something to that?

January Johnson [00:27:39]:
Well, the city of Panama City, I know most of our people don’t purchase over here, but my short term rentals are in Panama City and they just started applying the 1% merchant fee to short term rentals. So that’s new in, well, as of October, but they’ve really just started, I guess, enforcing it. And they’ve worked with all the online travel agencies to actually delist your property as of May 1. If you didn’t have, if you weren’t registered with the county and the city, because Panama City did not have any idea how many short term rentals were even here, they had no way of tracking it. But the way they tracked it, they worked with the online travel agencies to do that. So it’s a pretty quick process, even registering at the Department of Business and professional regulation at the state level. But that’s new for Bay county, for Panama City. And there’s actually places in Panama City beach that you don’t have to pay a particular, that tax in.

January Johnson [00:28:35]:
There’s a special taxing jurisdiction. But I tell everybody just to assume that you’re going to have to pay the percent to the county and the percent to the city as well. But you don’t have to pay to register. You just have to register and then you have to pay your taxes.

Chuck Kramer [00:28:48]:
Right now in Panama City and Bay county, they’ve added this new business, they’ve added a business tax to match what Panama City beach was already doing.

January Johnson [00:28:56]:
Well, it was already applying to the hotels and all retail. They just now made it apply to short term rental property. So that’s how they decided to figure out and keep track of how many short term rentals there are. So it would. The fee was already existing. It’s just now applying to short term rentals.

Chuck Kramer [00:29:14]:
Understood. Whichever market you’re in, this is something that, whether it’s here along the Emerald coast or the smokies or Scottsdale, wherever, you need to make sure that you understand the business taxes don’t just focus on the short term rental licenses, because when you have a short term rental, it’s a business. And some places they will have a gross tax that you have to pay separately. And it’s not a tax on the customer, it’s a tax on your business. Now, Panama City beach is a little different. They have a business tax, but you can actually add it on and charge the customer for it. Bay County, I don’t know. So I don’t want to say for sure, but make sure you get all your details right.

Chuck Kramer [00:29:55]:
You don’t want to be getting a nasty letter.

Luke Carl [00:29:58]:
We put everybody to sleep while we’re talking about taxes.

January Johnson [00:30:02]:
What I want to say, too, is, you know, I’m not, I’m like everybody else. I don’t want to pay more taxes than I owe, but tourist development tax bring, you know, it goes to develop the areas to bring more tourists to your area. So you can think of it like a marketing fee for yourself, like a marketing expense. Because, I mean, they build all the, you know, they built a great sports park in Panama City beach with this money. You know, they improve roads and, and do all kinds of things that make it friendly for your guests to be here with these, with these tourist development council taxes. So, you know, when, when you’re writing that check or when you’re, you know, paying that, that fee, grit your teeth and think how great it’s, you know, what it’s contributing to because it is improving this area quite a bit. And we thank you for that.

Pete Appezatto [00:30:44]:
And at the end of the day, I feel these things are, although they’re a little tedious upfront. You know, being a person who started in two different markets where the regulations kept changing to make them almost illegal, I’d rather deal with this upfront than have to worry about having to shut down operation down the road.

January Johnson [00:31:04]:
Totally.

Avery Carl [00:31:05]:
All right. So let’s move on from permitting and talk about actual setup in terms of stocking and furnishing. So most properties in these two markets are going to come furnished. So you might just have to update a few things or replace a couple things that you don’t like or that are worn out. So if. But if you do have something that is not furnished, typically, uh, there are local furniture companies that are really, really used to having to use a door code. Luke calls it door code culture. So a lot of them are going to be really helpful in terms of being able to get things furnished.

Avery Carl [00:31:39]:
They’ll come and set things up for you where in some markets, like, people won’t do that. Like, we are also recording the Texas Hill country right now, and there’s not really. They’re not comfortable with that out there yet, but here in these markets, they’re pretty used to it. Um, but so you’re. But it’s unlikely you’re going to have to furnish from the ground up. So let’s talk about stocking really quick. What are we stocking typically in our houses in terms of paper products or coffee or toiletries? Let’s start in the kitchen. So let’s talk coffee, spices, paper products.

January Johnson [00:32:12]:
I love a good coffee bar. I mean, I like to put coffee with different kinds of sugars and different kinds of creamers. And I have a regular keurig and a, you know, whatever other kind of pot you call that, a drip coffee pot. I’m not a coffee drinker, but, and I like to stock those things because I think that’s a nice touch when people are there. And I know coffee drinkers appreciate that. I supply basics like olive oil, salt and pepper, ziplocs, aluminum foil, you know, just basic things that you would. That you need in a kitchen. Pretty, pretty basic.

January Johnson [00:32:50]:
But I also provide, you know, and this is obviously specific to the host, but I also provide, like, some popcorn, maybe a little spaghetti, and, you know, spaghetti sauce, because, you know, people might be arriving at my places at 10:00 at night, and they’ve got kids, and there’s nothing to eat, nothing’s open. And so I at least try to provide some kind of a little snack that they, you know, could get by on that that’s individual to other people.

Luke Carl [00:33:14]:
But.

January Johnson [00:33:16]:
I think that’s mostly. No place ever has good knives. So I try to have a couple of decent knives in a property. I know that’s important to me. I like to cook, and even if you’re just trying to slice something open, you need to, you know, you don’t need a dull knife.

Pete Appezatto [00:33:31]:
These markets are big on groups coming together and staying together, you know, and I think really? Well, stocking your kitchen is important because I know from me, in my past units, I’ve gotten dinged with reviews of like, oh, he didn’t have a muffin tip or something like that. So I think, you know, paying for it upfront all at once, like, fully stocking your kitchen with utensils and stuff like that, I think is a really smart way to go. It just makes your place look well stocked.

Chuck Kramer [00:34:00]:
Agreed. And I’ll certainly make sure that you’ve got kidware, you know, the plastic but dishwasher safe plates, forks, spoons, cups. Lots of kids and, well, lots of kids.

Luke Carl [00:34:19]:
Yeah. My systems are the same at all my houses, really. I try to, honestly, what I do is I go to the short term shop Facebook groups, like the big Facebook group, and we have, we call it the big list. And there’s like, I don’t know, 300 posts on there of things that people like, recommended for their property. And I’ll go through and be like, oh, that looks cool. That looks cool. Because I’m not really much of a kitchen gadget kind of person, but I do have a keurig and a drip maker and nespresso and what do you call it? A press, french press, as much coffee stuff as possible and things, you know, I, again, I try to have the same thing in basically all my houses, regardless of where they are, so that when something breaks, I know exactly what it was and just go back and re, you know, order the same thing or something similar.

January Johnson [00:35:10]:
Wine glasses. If you have a pool, unbreakable wine glasses, you don’t want glass around the pool or at the beach.

Chuck Kramer [00:35:19]:
We also, in the last year, we started putting in the paper hot cups, you know, things like the cups you get from Starbucks and stuff, because it keeps people from taking our coffee mugs to the beach or out with them. And we’ve noticed that our turnover in coffee cups has dropped significantly. And it’s not even so much the cost of the coffee cups. It’s the trouble making sure that you have enough and then suddenly finding out you don’t. Or it shows up in a review that, oh, yeah, you know, it was a six bedroom house and only had five coffee cups.

Luke Carl [00:35:50]:
I have a coffee cup system. I have branded coffee mugs with my, you know, my company name for my rentals, which, you know, it’s like, I don’t really push it or anything like that, but it’s just a cute little logo, I guess, and I bought them on. If you give me a second, I’ll find the website to recommend but they were very cheap. I don’t, I mean, so cheap that I don’t even know how much. I mean, like a dollar apiece or something. And so I buy them by, by, by the box, and I just put tons and tons of them in there. And, and if they take them, I’m happy with that. And I put so many of them in there, it would take like a year for the, for it to get to the point where somebody’s complaining.

Luke Carl [00:36:31]:
Um, and then I have. I keep them in my truck. I have a box of those in my truck, so if I happen to be at one of my houses, I can just restock them.

Avery Carl [00:36:40]:
All right, so let’s move to the bathrooms. Do we stock anything in the bathrooms?

January Johnson [00:36:45]:
Beach towels.

Pete Appezatto [00:36:46]:
Yeah, beach towels and better quality towels. I can’t stand when I stay at a place. And it’s the cheap, really thin towels. You know, you don’t want to go so big that it takes forever to launder these things. But I think better quality towels and better quality sheets always goes a long way in making your property.

January Johnson [00:37:04]:
And Sam’s club has really great bath towels for $7. And they’re.

Chuck Kramer [00:37:08]:
I mean, I buy them.

January Johnson [00:37:11]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re not expensive. You can spend a lot of money on these things, but, I mean, you don’t have to. I think. I think once you find a good source for it, then just keep doing it.

Chuck Kramer [00:37:21]:
And the same for beach towels, but, you know, don’t, don’t buy the colorful ones with the, you know, animated characters on them and that kind of stuff that, because someone’s going to throw that in the laundry with your white bath towels and you’re not going to have white bath towels anymore.

Avery Carl [00:37:38]:
Do y’all keep any sort of, like, beach wagon or ice chest or anything like that?

Pete Appezatto [00:37:42]:
I think that’s smart. You know, you want to make it convenient for your. And, you know, when people come to a beach market, the beach is the amenity, right? So making their trip and everything convenient. So if you have a garage and stuff like that, I think that’s mostly important to store that stuff there and give them it so they could actually make their trip to the beach easy and enjoyable.

January Johnson [00:38:02]:
I have beach chairs and a cooler, and I encourage guests, and it’s in my, my automated messages that if they would like to leave items that they, that they bring, like floats or snorkeling equipment or pool noodles or those kind of things, that, you know, feel free to leave them and then, you know, the housekeeper or I can go over and hose them down every now and then. I mean, it’s just nice to have a collection of things for kit, for kids, and they’ll buy things and then they don’t, they can’t take them home on the plane or they decide that, you know, they don’t need them in Iowa or wherever they’re coming from. So we end up with kind of a rotating assortment of things, which is fine.

Chuck Kramer [00:38:38]:
It’s sort of like once you get started, it takes over and refills itself after a while.

January Johnson [00:38:43]:
I think they make babies in the box and they make more of their own things.

Luke Carl [00:38:46]:
Yeah, I go through, I go through and purge about once every six weeks or so. I’ll go back there and it’s like, whoa. You know, and some of it’s nice stuff and. But it gets to the point where I just basically just get rid of almost all of it and then just start over again.

January Johnson [00:39:03]:
I have a couple of beach bags, too, or, you know, you could use it for groceries or whatever, but just being able to put everything in a big sack and take it to the beach with you, people might not be thinking that way.

Chuck Kramer [00:39:12]:
Already we’ve actually managed to collect a large pile of stuff from the local beach shops that guests have left. And they make great beach bags. I mean, they are reusable, they’re fairly sturdy. We also provide a couple of boogie boards, body boards for that kind of thing. Don’t buy the eight dollar ones because they don’t last. Um, we do not provide any tents, any canopies, any umbrellas. They don’t last. You won’t get past one or two guests with those.

Chuck Kramer [00:39:45]:
And then no one tells you they break.

Luke Carl [00:39:47]:
Yeah, they don’t tell you until the next guest comes in, and then they’re mad that it’s broken. I do have be, I have umbrellas up on the, at the pool. On the pool deck. I’ve got two or three. And they break too, because if you don’t crank them down, you know, it gets windy here and that wind, they’re gone and so, but luckily Lowe’s is right there, you know, so I just, I keep extra ones. So if somebody does show up and says, hey, your umbrella is broken, your house is a piece of junk. Two stars. I can say, oh, no problem.

Luke Carl [00:40:18]:
Here’s where to find a brand new umbrella. And I keep one out outside, actually, in my, have a little area that, you know, all the pool stuff kind of, or the beach stuff kind of stacks up and there’s a brand new umbrella in the bag there that nobody ever knows what it is, and they don’t. They don’t mess with it. It’s been there for, like, two months now, this, this spring. And so next time somebody says, hey, your umbrella is broken, I can be like, oh, by the way, there’s a brand new one right there. Just throw the other one in the corner, and we’ll get it. When you check out.

Chuck Kramer [00:40:48]:
Check with your insurance carrier. Some insurance carriers won’t allow you to provide anything that’s inflatable, which means even if leave them, you still got to remove them.

Luke Carl [00:40:58]:
And I have heard that from Chuck. And therefore, every time I go to my house and there’s an inflatable, I stick a knife in it and throw it in the trash. I don’t know whether my insurance covers me or not, but I’m not playing around with that, so I just get rid of them.

Chuck Kramer [00:41:11]:
Yeah, I tell you, one of my carriers is adamant about that and sends me a reminder maybe every six or eight weeks.

Avery Carl [00:41:18]:
All right, so we actually did not talk about bathrooms, even though I said we were going to move to bathrooms. So do you guys talk anymore? Kind of shampoos, conditioners?

Luke Carl [00:41:29]:
I use whatever my cleaner does, you know, I just. Hey, whatever you’re doing, if you got to charge me an extra $20 a turn for shampoos and soaps, I just make sure I do my best to keep it on somebody else’s plate. Sorry, Pete.

Pete Appezatto [00:41:42]:
No, that’s okay. I used to put in the showers. It was a thing called, by company called simple human, and it’s three containers, body lotion, shampoo, and conditioner. Because I noticed if you leave out bottles, they take it, so. You know what I mean? So I think that is actually a good way to go on it.

Luke Carl [00:42:04]:
They do that on cruise ships?

Pete Appezatto [00:42:05]:
Yeah, yeah. It’s just, they fill it up with a large. You know, I would buy it in bulk, and then they would fill it up during the turns when it needs to be refilled.

Chuck Kramer [00:42:16]:
It’s a great way to do it. For the cleaners. It’s as long as you buy decent dispensers, they can be pretty fast.

Luke Carl [00:42:21]:
Yeah.

Pete Appezatto [00:42:21]:
The good ones, you don’t want to buy cheap because it’ll be ripped off the wall.

Luke Carl [00:42:24]:
That’s a good brand. That same company makes those night, really nice trash cans, too. I put those in my. I put those in my units.

Pete Appezatto [00:42:32]:
Everything they make is good quality. So, yes, it’s like $70 or $80, but not cheap.

Luke Carl [00:42:38]:
It’s not cheap, but worth it.

Pete Appezatto [00:42:40]:
Yeah.

Luke Carl [00:42:41]:
One of those simple human automatic opening trash cans. I never would have dreamed this thing would work. And we’ve had it for, like, three years now, and it’s flawless every day. It just, you don’t even touch it. It opens itself. Nice stuff.

Pete Appezatto [00:42:53]:
Yep.

Chuck Kramer [00:42:54]:
We also put makeup mirrors, uh, the vanity top makeup mirrors in our place, along with, uh, makeup towels.

Pete Appezatto [00:43:01]:
Black towels.

Chuck Kramer [00:43:02]:
Yes, black towels. The ones that you actually have makeup embroidered on them.

Pete Appezatto [00:43:06]:
Yes.

Chuck Kramer [00:43:06]:
And it’s exactly not obvious to everybody. And that’s. I I believe that saved us a lot of linen.

Luke Carl [00:43:13]:
Yeah. When I, I remember when those first came out on Amazon, it was like, oh, my God. Somebody said, dude, you gotta check this out. They got these new makeup, uh, they say makeup on Amazon, and it was a huge deal. And now you go on Amazon, there’s like 50 different brands doing the same thing, and it’s just spread like, like crazy. But they’re, they’re wonderful to have. You got to have them.

Pete Appezatto [00:43:32]:
Yeah.

January Johnson [00:43:33]:
I don’t stock this as a regular thing, but I have in the past put a big bottle of aloe lotion because people are going to come down here and burn the hell out of themselves. And, you know, I don’t provide sunscreen. I mean, you know, like I said, previous guests will leave things, but I think that’s a nice touch sometimes because, you know, the sun can be brutal and people aren’t expecting it, and it’s very uncomfortable.

Chuck Kramer [00:43:57]:
We, we leave a simple suntan sunblock along with a little thing of aloe in the refrigerator, you know, in case people show up late, they want to get to the beach. All of a sudden, they realize they don’t have what they need to go. And there’s a little sign on it says, you know, if you use it, please replace it. Most people do. Not always, but most people do. And I’ve gotten nice comments about having it, like, oh, we forgot ours, or we left at home, or, and the kids were able to go to the beach or the pool right away. And then I had someone that wrote maybe a hundred word review, and I think 60 of it was about the aloe in the refrigerator.

Luke Carl [00:44:35]:
So usually those hundred word reviews are 100 words in the other direction.

Avery Carl [00:44:44]:
Yeah. I wonder if there’s any, like, individual aloe packs that you can leave, like an after sun pack, like a ketchup.

January Johnson [00:44:51]:
Pack that you can just.

Avery Carl [00:44:53]:
Yeah, like, oh, love. Separate muscle.

Luke Carl [00:44:55]:
I’ve needed.

Avery Carl [00:44:56]:
I’ve actually tried and failed to burn myself several times this year. Cause I am so white, and it’s like I don’t tan like I used to. When I was younger.

Luke Carl [00:45:07]:
My back is still peeling from the last time we went fishing down at the beach house.

Pete Appezatto [00:45:10]:
I didn’t fail on Monday. I got burned.

Luke Carl [00:45:15]:
Yeah. It’s cool though, right?

January Johnson [00:45:17]:
It’s fun with the northern redneck on Monday.

Chuck Kramer [00:45:20]:
Yeah.

Avery Carl [00:45:23]:
All right. All right. So we’ve gone over, you know, make sure you have a well stocked kitchen. What we’re doing in bathroom. But specific to this market, you do want to have beach towels and or separate towels for your pool if you have a pool. Typically we’ll have them be different colors, but like Chuck said, nothing crazy. And an ice chest, a beach wagon. We actually have a few little foldable chairs that have never gotten up and disappeared, I don’t think.

Avery Carl [00:45:48]:
Have they looked? The chairs haven’t disappeared much.

Luke Carl [00:45:50]:
They don’t disappear. They do rust. So I replace them every spring and I do under, I under promise on those. I say there may be a few backpack beach chairs available, but you probably want to inquire about the beach service guy down at the, you know, pay the guy $40 and he’s got an umbrella and chairs ready to go for you for a couple of days. But yes, people don’t steal them. I think it’d be kind of a pain in the rear end to steal those, to be honest. Take up a lot of space in your car.

Pete Appezatto [00:46:16]:
Yeah.

Chuck Kramer [00:46:17]:
I’ve worn more about people taking to the beach and forgetting to bring it back, but it hasn’t been a problem.

Avery Carl [00:46:24]:
Yeah. Yeah. So that’s some of the specific stuff. If anybody finds individual packs of aloe, let us know. I don’t think those exist. All right, so let’s talk about your people. So the people that you might need to hire to help you manage this, specifically your cleaner and handy person. Man or woman.

Avery Carl [00:46:45]:
When are we engaging those people? Like, at what point in the process? And what questions are we asking? How do we find them? The whole thing.

Pete Appezatto [00:46:53]:
I think probably one of the best times to sort of start is when they actually get into the management classes. That’s when I’ve had my clients at least compile a list of people to start reaching out to. But as they’re getting closer to closing, getting a quote on what their cleaners are going to cost is probably a good way to go. And handyman, I always recommend to my clients, at least have three in your phone, because if one can’t show up, you call the next and then you call the next.

January Johnson [00:47:20]:
I think it’s good to have an appliance repair person, too. I’ve tried going the home warranty route, but they’re so slow, you can’t be without hot water for five days or seven days while they figure out what. Where’s the handyman? So I have an appliance repair guy, and he can usually get there within least two days. I think that’s really important. And cleaners. I think it’s best to have a cleaning service that has lots of people. I have had mom and pop kinds of cleaners, but when I did, I always had at least two in rotation because somebody might be sick or on vacation or can’t show up, or at least you need to know or doesn’t show up. And you need to have somebody else who’s familiar with your property already.

January Johnson [00:48:02]:
So if you go that route, you need at least two in rotation at any one time. But what I like about my cleaning service now is that she’s got a team of people and she’s got two or three people trained on my property specifically. So she does that. She manages that for me.

Avery Carl [00:48:19]:
Yeah. I hear a lot of investors posting on Facebook and things that will say, I’m looking for a new cleaner, and I want one cleaner. I want it to be the same person every time in my house, and I don’t want it to be a company. And guys like that’s not attainable, because in order for a cleaner to make enough money to live, they need to be able to clean multiple properties. And depending on the size of your property, it might take them the entire turn to, which is about 4 hours to get yours done. And in the summertime, when it’s all Saturday to Saturday bookings, and they need to get, you know, four or five done, they’ve got to have a team. And you cannot limit people. You can.

Avery Carl [00:48:56]:
That’s like indentured servitude. You cannot make them only work for you so that they can’t make enough money to live. So you’ve got to be flexible on that. I don’t like when people do that. You have got to think about other people and having them want to work for you, to want to do work for you and not be scared of you. So you got to. You’ve got to let them, you know, give them some space and let them do what they’re. What they need to do.

Pete Appezatto [00:49:18]:
And I think it’s important to have multiple because I know with me in the past, you know, one gets. There’s times where one gets a little complacent and I would call the next because it keeps them on their toes. So if they know they have your business. Going forward, they could get a little complacent. So keeping people on their toes is always a good way to kind of, you know, keep it fresh and making them want to keep your business.

Luke Carl [00:49:41]:
Yeah. What Avery said, don’t do that. It’s not possible unless you’ve got 20 properties of your own. You’re not going to have your own cleaner, you know, so. But it. I will say it is much more common to have, like, a mom and pop, you know, like a woman and her cousin or something in the mountains. Down here on the beach is way more common to hire a larger company that’s cleaning maybe 50 properties or even 100 or more. It’s.

Luke Carl [00:50:09]:
It’s not as common in the mountains. So I understand if you’re coming from the mountains and you want to hire, like, your own crew, that maybe works for 15 other people as well, but it is a little less common down here.

January Johnson [00:50:21]:
I want to talk about checklists for cleaners, because I’ve seen some clients who have these incredibly long checklists, and I just feel like, okay, first of all, the cleaner knows what they’re doing for cleaning, but I only put items on my checklist that are unusual or like, please water the plants, you know, and I do put on there to please sweep and wipe down the back porch. For some reason, cleaners cannot see the back porch. It’s, like, invisible to them. And it’s a screened in porch. It needs to be swept and it needs to be wiped down. It is part of the house. It’s part of what I expect them to clean. So I make notes of those certain things.

January Johnson [00:50:58]:
But other than that, I mean, they’re cleaners. They’re going to clean the things that you want, or if you give them a super long list, they’re going to ignore your list.

Luke Carl [00:51:06]:
Yeah, I agree. Don’t micromanage your cleaner. You just have, especially if you have one house. I mean, it’s kind of like, who do you think you are? You know what I mean? Like, these people are professionals. Let them do their job. By the way, there are zero individual allo packets on Amazon. So there’s a.

January Johnson [00:51:22]:
Here’s a marketing opportunity.

Luke Carl [00:51:25]:
Somebody listening to this wants to get into the short term rental aloe business.

Pete Appezatto [00:51:29]:
I think I need to because I got burnt on Monday and that. That’s a good business for me.

Luke Carl [00:51:33]:
I would buy them. I would stock them.

Avery Carl [00:51:35]:
I would buy them, too.

January Johnson [00:51:36]:
I totally would buy them.

Pete Appezatto [00:51:37]:
Yeah.

Luke Carl [00:51:37]:
I’d put them in my beach properties.

Pete Appezatto [00:51:39]:
Yeah. The only time what I used to put on my checklists were not a regular, ongoing, daily, or each turnover thing, but it was intervals like, change the batteries every three months and this and that, because you don’t want to get to a point where, you know, the, uh, the. The fire alarm or the. The carbon monoxide thing is beeping because the nine volt batteries been. Hasn’t been replaced in over a year, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So changing the batteries in the remotes and stuff like that, I think is important to do because you don’t want to be where the client’s like, you know, I can’t turn on the tv, stuff like that.

January Johnson [00:52:17]:
Batteries is another good thing to stock at your rental.

Pete Appezatto [00:52:20]:
Yeah.

Avery Carl [00:52:21]:
All right. Um, let’s see. So we’ve talked about people, so you also. Guys don’t want to be in. Pete touched on this a little bit. You don’t want to get under contract on a property and the next day start talking to cleaners, or you especially don’t want to start talking to cleaners. I’ve seen some people really want to get ahead of the game and start talking to them before they even get under contract. That’s kind of a waste of their time because they can’t really quote you anything until they see the actual house.

Avery Carl [00:52:44]:
Because even if you know, you’re going to buy a four bedroom, the price for two different four bedrooms can be different. Different based on a number of things. Maybe how many bathrooms, maybe how many bunk beds, because they’re having to change more sheets. So just keep that in mind. Wait till closer to the end of the contract or after closing anything else.

Pete Appezatto [00:53:03]:
On people and what you might want to do, too. And I’ve had this. I’ve done this in the past with my clients buying and selling. You know, maybe ask while you’re in contract the existing owner who they use to clean, because that may. That way that that person already knows the house. So, you know, if they’re. If the current owner is happy with them, obviously they’ve been using it for a period of time. I think that’s a good way to go.

Pete Appezatto [00:53:29]:
And usually they’ll be willing to provide it because they’re selling the property anyway.

January Johnson [00:53:34]:
Yeah. I had a client ask recently for who the current owner was using, but they said it in terms of to keep those people employed. And I thought that was really nice, that they were thinking of those people in the local economy. It’s like they want to disrupt that in these people’s lives. And so I thought that was a sweet thing.

Pete Appezatto [00:53:52]:
That is a smooth transition, too.

Luke Carl [00:53:56]:
Here’s a complete. I’m going to go on. Give me a tangent here real quick, Avery. I just had a thought of what would it be like for a guest to discover this podcast and listen to this? You know what I mean? Like, they have no idea. I feel like I kind of hope that they would be relieved or like, you know, happy that there’s so much thought and time and effort that goes into this. But anyway, just a little note, just, hey, at the end of the day, we’re in the vacation business. It’s all about our guests. We love our guests, and I feel like we don’t quite say that enough.

January Johnson [00:54:27]:
Yes, we’re. This is the hospitality business. This is not just a real estate investment. You have to understand that you are in the hospitality industry now.

Pete Appezatto [00:54:35]:
Yep. After you purchase the property, you take the investor hat off and put the hospitality hat on.

Avery Carl [00:54:44]:
All right, so let’s talk about sheets and towels. I almost forgot about this. How many do you need to order for each bathroom? How many do you need to order for each bedroom? What are we doing there?

Pete Appezatto [00:54:53]:
The more. Not the more the better, but at least three sheets for each room. That’s, I mean, three sets for each room. That’s what I used to do.

Chuck Kramer [00:55:01]:
Depend on your arrangements with your cleaner, whether they’re going to clean them in house or take them out or.

Pete Appezatto [00:55:06]:
Exactly.

Chuck Kramer [00:55:06]:
But yeah, the standard pretty much is three sets of everything.

Pete Appezatto [00:55:10]:
Yeah. Some cleaners have a linen program, so that sort of makes it easy, but in the long run, you’ll probably end up paying more for it that way. But it really depends, like Chuck said, on how they do the laundry.

Luke Carl [00:55:24]:
Yeah, it’s a conversation to have with your cleaner. Every cleaner is going to have a bit of a different system. If you like your cleaner, adopt their system, and if you don’t like their system, probably don’t hire them. But, yeah, three is a good rule of thumb.

January Johnson [00:55:36]:
But know this, the more however many towels you put out is however many towels they’re going to use. So, I mean, if you want, like for, for my property that sleeps four people, I put six towels, but if I put twelve towels, they would use twelve towels. So they would use a different towel every day, and then that’s creating a whole other issue. So I feel like, um, you know, I have washers and dryers on my property. People can wash and dry their own things. They don’t need to have 42 beach towels left for the cleaners at the end.

Chuck Kramer [00:56:04]:
Yeah, it’s easier to leave extra laundry pods.

January Johnson [00:56:07]:
Yes.

Avery Carl [00:56:10]:
How many laundry pods and dishwashing detergent pods. Are we leaving? Are we leaving the whole canister out? Are we doing it in a little jar, or how are we doing it?

January Johnson [00:56:20]:
My housekeeper brings two or three and puts them out, you know, garbage bags, dishwasher pods, and laundry pods. She puts them out.

Luke Carl [00:56:29]:
I’m happy either way. Some of my houses, the cleaner will leave the entire bucket of, you know, the little game pods or whatever, and some, sometimes they will put three, you know, usually three, and then, like, a little tray, nice and cute somewhere. It doesn’t matter to me either way. The only thing I don’t want is the lack thereof. If they show up and there’s not a pot or two, I don’t need enough for them to do their laundry for the next three months. You know, like, if they brought some, because some people are crazy, they’ll bring a whole van full of laundry or whatever, but I don’t want them to have to show up and then. Oh, my God, I got to call instacart right away. This is a drag, you know, so anything but nothing is good with me.

Pete Appezatto [00:57:12]:
I’d rather leave out more than, I don’t know.

Chuck Kramer [00:57:14]:
Yes, we’ve moved to these clear canisters. You can buy in a lot of different places. And I just tell them, put a whole handful in there. Don’t, you know, don’t count them. Five, six, eight. Whatever it takes. We find that the canisters don’t disappear like the bags did. The bags are just a little bit too easy to throw in your luggage.

Chuck Kramer [00:57:34]:
You can immediately see how many are in there because it’s clear. It just seems to work well all the way around. We do that for the laundry pods. We do that for the dishwasher pods. We do that for our turtle food. Turtle food.

Avery Carl [00:57:48]:
Chuck’s got turtles at his house. They’re in the lake. They’re not in the house. Right.

Luke Carl [00:57:54]:
Liability. Can the turtle bite my son or something?

Chuck Kramer [00:57:59]:
You can’t get unless you go in the water, and we don’t know. In the water. So my liability stops at the shore.

Avery Carl [00:58:06]:
Okay, all right. Turtle food. That’s a new one. That’s a new thing to stock that. I hadn’t heard.

Luke Carl [00:58:12]:
I want to come to the turtle food house.

Chuck Kramer [00:58:14]:
I get comments on it all the time. People love it for their kids, you know, and it. It costs me, like, I don’t know, $5 a month.

Luke Carl [00:58:21]:
What is it?

Chuck Kramer [00:58:22]:
It’s actually. I order it from Amazon. Yeah. You know, it’s safer for them than the people going out and throwing junk into there, like, you know, typing in.

Luke Carl [00:58:30]:
Turtle food right now. I want to see what this looks like.

January Johnson [00:58:33]:
Is it pellets?

Chuck Kramer [00:58:35]:
Pellets. It’s like, you know, dried shrimp, some bugs. Dried bugs. You know, bugs. It is. You know, it’s all freeze dried, so.

Avery Carl [00:58:44]:
Freeze dried bugs.

Luke Carl [00:58:45]:
Wow. There’s, like, some fancy. There’s all different types of turtle food. There’s fancy, there’s cheap.

January Johnson [00:58:51]:
Depends on how well you like the turtles.

Luke Carl [00:58:53]:
Yeah. Are these purebred turtles?

Chuck Kramer [00:58:55]:
No, they’re wild, and there’s, like, four or five different varieties in the lake. It, uh, didn’t know that.

Luke Carl [00:59:03]:
You know, the turtles got papers, man.

Chuck Kramer [00:59:05]:
You know, it. It can be worth it to add something like that. Think outside the box.

Avery Carl [00:59:09]:
Yeah, totally. All right, well, what else have we, have we not talked about in terms of setup that we need to talk about?

Chuck Kramer [00:59:18]:
Landscaping.

Avery Carl [00:59:19]:
Let’s talk about that.

Chuck Kramer [00:59:21]:
Oh, okay. If you got a condo, this probably isn’t a big deal. You put a potted plant on the balcony, and you ask your cleaner to water it, and you’re good. On the other hand, you buy a townhome or a single family home that doesn’t have an hoa. That does everything for you. You need to find someone to do that. There are a lot of landscape companies here, but based on my experience, they’re all understaffed and overworked. The demand is very high, and it could take you some time to find somebody, getting someone even show up for a meeting.

Chuck Kramer [00:59:50]:
I went three months just trying to get someone to show up for a meeting. But once you find them, take care of them.

Pete Appezatto [00:59:58]:
Yeah. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Sorry.

Chuck Kramer [01:00:01]:
I was going to say, and almost related to that is also trash pickup. You know, the counties have their schedule, but the county schedule may not jive with your rental schedule, and you don’t want people showing up. Two full trash cans. They’re going to sit by the curb for three days until the next pickup, so you can make arrangements for that, too, during the big season. And I think Luke does this. The trash companies offer a concierge service. Well, they’ll actually go pick up. They’ll roll out the cans, dump them, put them back, and then they’ll also do a Saturday pickup.

Chuck Kramer [01:00:31]:
I think you said, luke, but there’s also private companies that will fill in that you can hire for that.

January Johnson [01:00:39]:
While we’re talking about trash cans, I just got the city to replace my trash cans because they were just gross and stinky, and I thought, I’d like new trash cans. And so they were like, sure, just leave your old cans by the road, and it took them like a week and a half to get to it. So my neighbors kept dragging my trash cans back thinking they were helping me. And I’d drive by and pull them back to the road because I was waiting for the replacement for solid waste, too. But it’s really nice. And the new trash cans make me happy to look at them because they, they were new at one time, and I’m sure.

Luke Carl [01:01:06]:
Huge difference. I’ve done that, too. I think it was about two years ago I called, I said, man, these trash cans are disgusting. I need new trash cans. And they were like, no, we’re not going to do that. So I called again this, this winter, and they said, yes. And, um, I have three. I have two regular and one recycle.

Luke Carl [01:01:23]:
Um, they only replaced one of the three, but it was better than nothing.

Pete Appezatto [01:01:27]:
Yeah.

January Johnson [01:01:27]:
And one of my properties, I have two. It’s one address, but there’s two units. And so I pay for an additional trash can there because the city in Panama City picks up trash on the beach. It’s different. It’s privatized, but I pay for additional cans so that it’s not disgusting and gross because they will, they’ll fill it right up and just pile it all around and that’s terrible.

Pete Appezatto [01:01:47]:
Yeah. And again, when we’re in contract to buy the house about a week before closing, we request from the sellers a list of utilities and they’ll, you know, asking for that information again makes the buyer’s job a little bit easier because if they have an existing maintenance, outdoor maintenance company, landscaper, whatever you want to call it, they will also provide that information so you can then reach out to them.

January Johnson [01:02:14]:
All right.

Avery Carl [01:02:14]:
Anything we need to do to set up pools, if we have a pool.

Chuck Kramer [01:02:19]:
Water, we need to fill it up.

Luke Carl [01:02:25]:
Next question.

Chuck Kramer [01:02:29]:
Well, both Luke and I have places with pools, so I think we’re in a good spot. But you need a pool heater.

Pete Appezatto [01:02:35]:
Yeah.

Chuck Kramer [01:02:35]:
You don’t have a pool heater. You’re not, you’re going to lose out on some of that shoulder and off season business, the October, November, March, early spring break. And then that requires its own set of handling. Most of the time it’s gas. So you, at least if you get gas, you want gas. You also need to make sure you got a service company. It’s going to be responsive. They’re actually going to show up on, you need to have regular maintenance done on the pool where they’ll come out, clean out the, you know, the stuff that blows in it and floats around and clogs the drains and checks the water.

Chuck Kramer [01:03:10]:
There are very few large companies here. There’s maybe two or three across the whole area that actually do the pool maintenance. And most of the rest of it are independent contractors or maybe partners, but there’s no shortage of them. But like cleaners, you may find yourself changing around until you find one that matches your style.

Pete Appezatto [01:03:33]:
Always get multiple everything. Whatever company you’re using to maintain or do whatever you need to do in the house. Always have more than one.

January Johnson [01:03:41]:
I tell people to go on nextdoor.com. i call it Facebook for nosy neighbors because if it’s in your neighborhood, it’s generally like we saw suspicious people, but it’s local people that recommend local people. Probably already a lot of recommendations on there for companies or handyman or cleaners or, you know, any kind of people that you could want. Or if you don’t, if you don’t see it, you can ask for it. So once you close on the property, you can join next door in that neighborhood and you’ll get a lot of, you know, it’s another resource for you.

Chuck Kramer [01:04:10]:
And of course, you need to make sure you have chair, the right kind of chairs and tables to match your home setup. I mean, you want to keep your design a little consistent from inside to out and keep an eye on those things as well in knowing that on occasion a chair or table is going to end up in the pool.

Luke Carl [01:04:27]:
So I get the real nice polywood, the super high dollar. I mean, to me, it’s a high dollar stuff and it’s well worth it. And to me, honestly, the pool is not as big as a problem as I thought it was going to be. People are very excited about it. So, you know, if you got dead lizards floating in your pool, it’s probably not going to be good, but which can happen if you don’t get it. I do twice a week on the cleaning. I think really once a week is what most folks do. But I went ahead and upped it to two just because I do not want my guests to be unhappy.

Luke Carl [01:05:00]:
I don’t want hear complaints, man. So, but I will say overall, it’s much, it’s less work than I thought it was going to be over the years, it’s been relatively, you know, and again, it’s an outdoor pool and the pool heater do, do upgrade as much as possible on the pool heater. I do find it’s valuable to have that right on my phone. I use an app called I aqua link that there’s several of them out there, but that’s the one that my, my system uses. And I can, I can. And I also have saltwater. Thanks to Chuck’s recommendation, I was in a situation where I needed to upgrade some, some parts of the pool. And I got the fancy led light that changes colors in the middle, you know, in the dark and things like that.

Luke Carl [01:05:47]:
And, and also went with the salt water, which was not cheap, but actually in the long run it is a little less because you don’t have to buy all that chlorine. The salt is way less expensive than the chlorine. And I can put saltwater pool in my headline and bam, dude, my property lit up. When I, I didn’t want to do it. I told him no. And then I called Chuck and he’s like, yeah, you should probably do it. And I’m glad I did because as soon as I put saltwater in my headline, man, that property went nuts. I don’t even know what the difference is, to be honest.

Luke Carl [01:06:15]:
I don’t even care. But people seem to care.

Chuck Kramer [01:06:19]:
Well, with the chlorine shortage we had recently, I mean, that, that, uh, you know, that’s the being dependent on one thing, uh, what do you call it? Single point of failure. Um, so when you go to salt, I mean, you get salt anywhere and you can buy bags of salt. You know, even the dollar general store here has, has.

Avery Carl [01:06:39]:
Really?

Chuck Kramer [01:06:40]:
Yeah, and it’s not as important what kind of salt it is.

Luke Carl [01:06:44]:
So can I put like Morton’s, like water softener salt in my pool?

Chuck Kramer [01:06:49]:
Yep.

Luke Carl [01:06:50]:
Oh, I wouldn’t even know. I don’t even know how it works. It’s not my problem.

Chuck Kramer [01:06:55]:
Yeah. So a lot of these different people, you know, they sell different kind, different bags. I personally, I think it’s the exact same stuff in every bag. It’s just got a different price on it. But there may be small differences. But the pool equipment documentation will tell you your choices are broad and people like it because it makes your skin softer. It doesn’t create that chlorine smell as much. I mean, you’re still going to get it because in essence, you’re creating chlorine from the salt.

Chuck Kramer [01:07:23]:
And the chlorine smell that people complain about is really chlorides, not the chlorine itself. I won’t get into the science of that, but it doesn’t happen anywhere near. I had a, my last home for twelve years and I loved it. And everyone that came over to use it loved it. I would, if I had a choice, I would get salt every single time.

Avery Carl [01:07:44]:
All right.

Luke Carl [01:07:45]:
Well, you cost me ten grand with that speech, but it’s paid off.

January Johnson [01:07:51]:
Okay, so I’m going to share this tidbit that I saw yesterday on a house. Okay. I said I wasn’t going to share it because I think it’s such a good idea. I’m going to keep it for myself. But the wifi password in this house that I showed yesterday is five star.

Avery Carl [01:08:04]:
Review, and you’re a little behind the. Behind the curtain.

January Johnson [01:08:10]:
The first time I’ve seen it. I see so much property all the time. And it was the first time I saw it. It was yesterday, so. Oh, well, now I know.

Luke Carl [01:08:17]:
I’ve been doing that for quite a while. I will say it’s cute and it’s clever. It doesn’t. It doesn’t do anything. No.

January Johnson [01:08:23]:
I’m so innocent. You spoiled my innocence right there.

Luke Carl [01:08:27]:
Okay, hold on. I’ll take you one step further. I have the same username and password at all my properties. So when for me personally, it’s awesome for multiple reasons. If any property says, what’s your wifi password? I just automatically know what it is. I have to think about it. Also, when I roam around from property to property. Got my laptop, got my phone, I automatically connect.

Luke Carl [01:08:49]:
Don’t have to worry about. Don’t even have to think about it. Don’t have to log in. I stole that from big P, friend of ours, and I never dreamed, you know what I mean? It just wouldn’t cross my mind. Why not just use the same damn password and then, hell, I could take a roku stick from one house to the next. Automatically connects.

Avery Carl [01:09:09]:
All right. Anything else? Utilities, Internet, connecting that stuff. What do we. That should be pretty easy. But is it? How do we find who we need to call to get things connected?

Pete Appezatto [01:09:22]:
That’ll be provided by the seller when we’re under contract.

Luke Carl [01:09:26]:
So, yeah, it’s just Cox or mediacom.

Pete Appezatto [01:09:31]:
They’ll provide a list of their current.

Luke Carl [01:09:33]:
Cox is a little better.

January Johnson [01:09:35]:
Yeah, I keep a list of, you know, what, the service providers. There’s only one electric provider, so that’s it, at least in my area. And, you know, the water is the city, but the trash can be different and Internet can be different. So I keep a list of providers.

Luke Carl [01:09:54]:
You won’t get a choice. It’ll be either Cox or Mediacom. Not one or the other. It’s just one.

Chuck Kramer [01:10:00]:
Yeah. The overlap between them could probably be described as less than an acre in the entire area. But depending on what you’re trying to offer, you could go fixed wireless, you could go with a hotspot. If you’re not looking at providing much or if you’re an Hoa or condo, they may provide Internet for you.

January Johnson [01:10:19]:
Yeah, but you’ll still have to get the box.

Chuck Kramer [01:10:21]:
Yes.

Luke Carl [01:10:23]:
Actually, my hoa came with the box, although I got Mediacom anyway. So I, I have a three story townhouse. Top floor has the Hoa router, and then I have a mediacom router on the middle floor. That way I’m covered from all angles. If the Hoa Internet goes out, I’m good. If the mediacom Internet goes out, I’m good. And it took me a couple of years to figure out that system, because the Hoa Internet, I mean, you know, it’s the beach. I mean, you’re literally like five minutes, five steps from the water.

Luke Carl [01:10:56]:
So, you know, some weird things can happen here and there. Cool.

Avery Carl [01:11:00]:
Anything else? Nothing else.

Luke Carl [01:11:02]:
I’m having fun. Not much sleep last night, but great to be in such wonderful company.

Avery Carl [01:11:10]:
Well, my mom is texting Luke and I on the side right now trying to figure out how to use our golf cart. So if you are providing a golf cart, make sure you have, have in your, in your touch, say, which is your digital guidebook, how to use it, because my mom’s being kind of dumb right now. All you do is unplug it, and she’s like, I’m scared.

Chuck Kramer [01:11:35]:
I mean, that’s, that’s an idea for an amenity, too. And I think we talked about that on the other episode along with bikes.

Avery Carl [01:11:41]:
We did. Yeah, we did. But, yeah, make sure. Another thing in terms of setup, you have to. I don’t care. You’re going to argue with me? You, you have, I outraged some of you with the post that I did on instagram about this. You have to use a digital guidebook. You cannot just have a thing like a binder on the table with kids, like fingerprints and everything.

Avery Carl [01:12:07]:
I don’t care if you’re mad at me for saying that. If I, if I’ve marginalized you for not being techie enough, it’s not hard to use. Just do it because you, they want to know stuff, and they want to know stuff before they get there. Like, Luke and I just went on vacation not that long ago, and I really wanted to know before we got there what the coffee situation was or, you know, what, how to get in and all this stuff. And they’re like, oh, well, we’re going to meet you there. I’m like, no, you’re not going to meet me there. I don’t want to meet you. I don’t want to have any contact with you.

Avery Carl [01:12:35]:
I just want a digital guidebook that tells me before I’m there that I can look at. We’re coming in late with 09:00 p.m. mountain time with the kids, so they’re jet lagged and tired and late. I want to know before I get there what I need to do and how to do it so I can come in and not be, like, scrambling around with. With pissed off, tired kids. So you have to use a digital guidebook, period.

Luke Carl [01:12:59]:
I agree. Real guidebook in the house. I’m out on that, dude. It’s going to get pizza grease and nasty. You know what I mean?

January Johnson [01:13:05]:
It’s never going to stay updated.

Luke Carl [01:13:07]:
I mean. No. Okay.

Avery Carl [01:13:08]:
Yeah. So anyway, that. That’s my spiel on that, and I do not care if you’re mad at me about it.

Luke Carl [01:13:13]:
No, you’re right. Preach.

Avery Carl [01:13:17]:
Um, anything else? Uh, just make sure, you know, you’ve got everything you got. I mean, what, you know, do you have doordash there? Or is there, like, independent delivery? Do you have instacart? Where’s the nearest.

Luke Carl [01:13:28]:
Put it in your guidebook.

Avery Carl [01:13:29]:
Everything. All in the guidebook.

Luke Carl [01:13:30]:
Like, I’ll tell you, I’m gonna take it one step further. I know you’re trying to rap, but I’ve got instant cart from my rentals, separate email, and not for my. For my personal life. I have all my. My bank accounts and on my cards for the rentals, on file. The address is on file. Somebody’s super cool. I shoot them a cake.

Luke Carl [01:13:50]:
You know, somebody’s having a birthday, I shoot her some flowers, you know, stuff like that. I go above and beyond. If they suck, I’m not sending them anything. You know what I mean? I think that’s the gut instinct, is all. This person, this guest, doesn’t like our house. They don’t like us. Let’s send them something to kiss their ass. They’re still going to leave a bad review.

Luke Carl [01:14:06]:
I send stuff to the cool people. Yeah, I got a birthday right now. There’s a chocolate cake going out right now to one of my houses.

Avery Carl [01:14:16]:
Is that our house?

Chuck Kramer [01:14:17]:
They’re there for delivery.

Luke Carl [01:14:18]:
Oh, by the way, it is Avery’s birthday. Avery’s birthday. Happy birthday.

Avery Carl [01:14:24]:
Thank you very much. For my birthday, I would love for you guys to come work with us to buy a house in the emerald or forgotten coast. You can do that by emailing agents at theshort termshop.com. if you just have more questions, you can do a few things. You can join our Facebook groups called short term rental, long term wealth, same as my book. And also every Thursday we have a live Q and a Zoom. We call it our office hours. And you can join that or sign up to join that@strquestions.com.

Avery Carl [01:14:54]:
dot thanks, guys.