Questions for longer stays?

Why would anyone pay a lawyer when they are married to one? I’m sure he can manage to inform himself re real estate law and leases, which the host says he is doing. It isn’t rocket science.
That’s like suggesting someone hire a carpenter to build a gazebo, just because their carpenter husband has never built one before.

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I provided my rationale but it’s disingenuous to ask ‘why.’

We don’t even know whether he is a practicing lawyer (we know he doesn’t practice real estate law), nor whether he is licensed. You’re of course free to disagree.

As to your carpenter analogy, I expect that if you compare the handiwork of a carpenter who has never built a gazebo with one who only builds gazebos that there would be a difference. Someone might conclude that the gazebo that virgin-gazebo-carpenter would build is good enough but someone else might conclude that they prefer the work of someone who specializes in gazebos.

It’s not a right or wrong answer. There’s a difference. It’s my suggestion. The OP can consider it and reject it for now, reject it for good or accept it now or accept it later.

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@muddy - Paying to lawyer to do something when your spouse is a lawyer is sometimes a CYA thing, sometimes financial. If it’s something related to the AirBnB I’ll pay him out of my rental account to his business account, as we keep our businesses separate.

It’s a CYA thing for something like our wills. He didn’t write our wills b/c he didn’t want any kind of conflict of interest, as we are each other’s beneficiaries. He’s only been practicing about six years, and they really hammered ethics and threats of disbarment when he was getting his JD. So he’s still got that 'not a baby lawyer but doesn’t claim to know it all" paranoia of steering someone wrong. To get into a new specialty, there’s no ‘test’ or anything, just continuing education, sometimes just a weekend course. Scary, if you think about that.

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Not as scary as letting people who have never been in the accomodations/hospitality business be Airbnb hosts or letting random strangers into your home. Not only do hosts have no training, many terrible hosts are allowed to remain on the platform.

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Oh, I certainly wasn’t insinuating just because a host has people in the family whose skills are such that they can be used for your businesss, that they wouldn’t be paid. Just that if he’s willing and interested to inform himself of real estate law, not sure why you’d pay someone else for consultation.

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FWIW, I am just now unhappily finding out how much it costs to utilize the services of a skilled, talented, trained but not professional [fill in the blank]: electrician, carpenter, plumber, & painter. I suppose the same applies to the white collar professions.

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I thought I knew what you meant until I read ‘but not professional.’

I am finding that it really is hard to find skilled, talented, trained and professional [fill in the blank]. Really hard. When you do they are often surprisingly expensive.

Yet those who are not skilled and trained are even more expensive in the long run.

Now and then I run into people who are skilled, talented, trained and professional and don’t charge all that much. I find myself paying them more than they ask because they just don’t know their worth.

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Be sure they are paying through Airbnb and not from a cashier’s check situation via their employer. This is a common scam and it’s usually for a longer stay.

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@HostAirbnbVRBO what I mean is that I have paid the price of hiring people that are skilled but not actually certified or professionally qualified in an area. I have had some things go wrong that probably would not have happened if the job had been handled by someone with more expertise and experience.

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I understand.

I’ve had the same experience.

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For my long-term rental (30+ days), we have the guests sign a rental agreement, which also includes all of our house rules. As others have said, we don’t stock MORE supplies, but we do provide them with the same things as when it’s a very short stay. We provide basically a starter pack of everything, since people will want to get and use their own stuff when they stay longer. I do send a cleaner every 2 weeks, but it’s not a complete cleaning–basically a quick cleaning of the bathrooms/kitchen, and starting the laundry (if she finishes it by the time she’s done, great. But if not, no biggie). And the cleaning (as others have said), is 100% for my benefit, to make sure everything is looking good, and to keep the last cleaning from being a huge nightmare of grime. We were nervous about the 30+ day rental situation, since the house is in CA (very tenant-friendly), but like EVERYTHING else, there are risks. I do make sure to have good conversation with the guest to screen them a bit before accepting the request. So far, it’s been working out (knock on wood).

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This is usually the pay by cashiers check or cc that will get denieds, overpay and ask that the extra amount be paid to some tour company/translator/his US secretary for travel/you name it. And then your account gets overdrawn when the transaction bounces.