Is it just getting posted more or are there more rentals that people are having major issues with this year - refrigerators not working, pool unusable, AC not working etc.
If i rented an already grossly overpriced rental for the week & had major stuff going on that doesn't get resolved, I would be freaking out.
Sorry, but a PM sort of shrugging it off & ignoring it would not be acceptable. And if they can't have enough staff to handle the problems, they shouldn't be taking on so many properties
Most people work hard all year to enjoy a week off. It shouldn't be ruined by a bad Property Mgmt co.

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Is it just getting posted more or are there more rentals that people are having major issues with this year - refrigerators not working, pool unusable, AC not working etc.
If i rented an already grossly overpriced rental for the week & had major stuff going on that doesn't get resolved, I would be freaking out.
Sorry, but a PM sort of shrugging it off & ignoring it would not be acceptable. And if they can't have enough staff to handle the problems, they shouldn't be taking on so many properties
Most people work hard all year to enjoy a week off. It shouldn't be ruined by a bad Property Mgmt co.

Ragging on the PM = shooting the messenger (the majority of the time)

If, say, that fridge is not working /sealing and the property owner says "NO...that fridge is fine, it's the renters/user error" to the PMs request for a replacement, then nothing happens

The best solution, as the seasoned folks on here know...is a long standing/returning year after year relationship with a cottage/owner/PM. Do your homework...not a true indicator, but many of the covid buys are now owned by folks that are "deer in the headlights" with the actual cost of upkeep for an OBX cottage. Folks sold sight unseen/no contingency cottages - often w significant issues - to new "we're gonna make some serious bank!" owners - many first time coastal owners.

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You always hear the bad news and never the compliments. PM's do sometimes fight with owners, but it's the owners house and they are boss. Our PM dept dropped several homes owned by some that don't care as much as the PM wished this year, I am sure others did too.

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Could also be that a lot of the bigger multi family homes are owned by LLC's and investment companies and they are about the bottom line. Sometimes it could be just waiting on a part or replacement appliance and that takes awhile and can take up the majority of a week's stay. The Pm's responsibility though is to try to mitigate any issues so if AC breaks they bring over floor or window units. Fridge is broken then they bring a replacement fridge- dishwasher you are out of luck and really you can hand wash. Cleaning -house should be clean especially with cleaning fees.
It happens every season.

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LLC's

I’m thinking ANY homeowner that has their cottage in any rental program anywhere runs it under the “protection” of an LLC?

If one “runs” their rental, “wide open” (no LLC) the risk of renter “JimmyBob” falling off your porch after consuming a 30 pack, and then filing suit because the railing was “loose” is real. You might end up caring for JimmyBob the remainder of his life.

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Not more issues, just more vocal. Pretty common when people feel their budgets squeezed.

We have had a hotter than usual June, which does mean slightly more temp related HVAC and other failures and a lot of warmer items in the fridge for hours after filling when guests make common fridge loading mistakes or don't pre chill their beverages.

We were squared away on our HVAC and other issues because we did pre season maintenance, but we did have a water heater valve start to leak. Luckily the guests noticed it, and we were able to get the plumber out and the work done within a few hours. $40 part with a several hundred dollar final bill d/t labor and emergency call out, but way better than letting it worsen. WH is less than 2 years old, so valve should have been fine and was okay when checked in Spring. Just a fluke.

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The real weird thing is how so many refrigerators quit working on check-in days between one guest and the next. In fact, appliance failures happen 97% of the time on weekends. Sometimes the most horrible house one week is honky dory the next. As (Last) Resort Quest once said, "the essence of an Outer Banks Vacation is your attitude and the beach".

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Many people have hit on the big points but I will try and tie them all together.
The rental management companies can only fix a certain number of problems in a given time. Very few of them have a dedicated maintenance worker for HVAC. Also the management companies are understaffed and don't have consistent or quality cleaners that notice things like a fridge not cooling an AC unit that is not functioning well or a dishwasher that leaks.
The reality is the only checks done are the cleaner comes ( who might be cleaning the house for the first time) they "clean" and put new sheets on the bed and tidy up as best they can and move on to the next house. They are not checking for anything else. A supervisor may or may not show up to check it but on Hatteras they are so short on cleaners the supervisor is cleaning houses like everyone else because of no shows ect. (BTW cleaners are usually 10-99 employees so there is no real accountability.)

Next is if the rental company knows about a appliance issue they then have to find someone to fix it. Sometimes their hands are tied because the homeowners have chosen a brand that is hard to service ( Find a LG appliance guy on the outer banks) Also if they have bought it at one of the big box stores the warranty is through them and it can take weeks to get a repair, they are not calling Manteo furniture and getting a service call in a day or two.My advice to homeowners is to shop local and pick appliances that are durable and serviceable.
HVAC... if the system is not in 100% working order the first rental it will only get worse as the season goes on. There is a big IF in the equation of the owner routinely services the unit it will last longer and perform better. I can tell you from personal experience a $125 spring service and coil cleaning goes a long way to keeping systems running.

The flip side is renters routinely run the AC at 63 degrees with the windows open when it's 90 degrees outside because they are either fools or figure "it's a rental I'm going to do what I want to do with my week" All that does is beat the unit up and make the electric company rich. Once caveat is with electronic thermostats many home owners will get messages that the unit is running and not cooling or if they have a window switch that will shut the unit down if windows are open and the unit can not keep up.

Rental companies are also tied because of their agreement with the owners they may have designated specific providers for certain things like appliance repairs or HVAC. Those vendors may be very busy Some homeowners are very responsive some are not so much it might be hard to get an answer. Most rental companies have the authority to make repairs as needed without the homeowners approval but again that is on the rental company

Refrigerators not cooling on turnover days...
You have to let the fridge catch up....Remember before you checked in the last renters checked out. They had the door open for a long time emptying the fridge packing stuff to go home then taking all the ice for their cooler to go home.
Once that happened the cleaner opened the fridge and let it stay open while they cleaned it again not allowing it to cool or make ice.....
Then You showed up and the already struggling fridge is opened again while you load up your now lukewarm food into it and wonder why there is no ice and its not holding temps...give it 24 hrs and it should come back up.

Lastly I will touch on management companies. In the last 5 years many of the smaller companies that were very good at property management have been gobbled up by larger companies and they are doing a terrible job. ( Vacasa comes to the forefront of that discussion) They literally don't have enough people to work and don't care when they are called to action. They ignore the homeowners just as bad as they ignore the renters.
The owners can make the house a great experience but it takes a great cleaner and a few maintenance people to make that happen.
I will say that in our home when we come down for 2 weeks in the spring probably a good 1/2 of my vacation is repairing or lining up service calls for maintenance or repairs.

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LLC's

I’m thinking ANY homeowner that has their cottage in any rental program anywhere runs it under the “protection” of an LLC?

If one “runs” their rental, “wide open” (no LLC) the risk of renter “JimmyBob” falling off your porch after consuming a 30 pack, and then filing suit because the railing was “loose” is real. You might end up caring for JimmyBob the remainder of his life.

I am guessing but I see a lot of houses here for sale and have sold dozens and I would say maybe 30% of the time the owner uses an LLC or forms one after the purchase. Some do, most don't. Most PM's require the owner to have an umbrella policy, maybe that helps.

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I will say that in our home when we come down for 2 weeks in the spring probably a good 1/2 of my vacation is repairing or lining up service calls for maintenance or repairs.

I owned a vacation home in the mountains of Va. for 30 years. I say "vacation home" because my wife and I were the only ones that vacationed there. We spent a couple of weeks and 15-20 weekends a year there. Almost every... single... time we went up there, there was something to fix. It was non-stop.

I can't begin to imagine the upkeep required of a house that is a) at the coast and b) occupied ??% of the year by people with "not my house don't care" attitude.

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I will say that in our home when we come down for 2 weeks in the spring probably a good 1/2 of my vacation is repairing or lining up service calls for maintenance or repairs.

I owned a vacation home in the mountains of Va. for 30 years. I say "vacation home" because my wife and I were the only ones that vacationed there. We spent a couple of weeks and 15-20 weekends a year there. Almost every... single... time we went up there, there was something to fix. It was non-stop.

I can't begin to imagine the upkeep required of a house that is a) at the coast and b) occupied ??% of the year by people with "not my house don't care" attitude.

It’s work but it’s worth the effort. We self manage and rent through. VRBO.
We don’t accept every rental request and also reward repeat renters who follow the rules. It has taken a few years but it works out.

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I will say that in our home when we come down for 2 weeks in the spring probably a good 1/2 of my vacation is repairing or lining up service calls for maintenance or repairs.

I owned a vacation home in the mountains of Va. for 30 years. I say "vacation home" because my wife and I were the only ones that vacationed there. We spent a couple of weeks and 15-20 weekends a year there. Almost every... single... time we went up there, there was something to fix. It was non-stop.

I can't begin to imagine the upkeep required of a house that is a) at the coast and b) occupied ??% of the year by people with "not my house don't care" attitude.

It’s work but it’s worth the effort. We self manage and rent through. VRBO.
We don’t accept every rental request and also reward repeat renters who follow the rules. It has taken a few years but it works out.

I think that is the way to go and much more personal. When we rented our home, we had the renters phone number and we had back up companies that we had contacted to do work in case something went awry. The PM would contact us about the problem and we would call our back up company and discuss what needed to be done. We always stayed on top of it and didn't want the renter to be put out. I think with VRBO, you can just forget the PM business and get down to business with the vendors that you know and get the problems settled. And not have to pay the 20 percent or so for the PM. We're not idiots and can handle it ourselves. Wish we had done the VRBO the whole time since we were so much into it and practically handled it ourselves. I just hated it when the PM charged us for bee spraying at $75.00 a shot in September when the guests complained about the bees when we didn't even rent it in September. We only rented June, July and August. Hmmmmmmn


Edit: and the $200.00 "covid" fee in April of 2020. We never had our place for rent then. They said it was for the extra calls made then. We never got that credited back to us even though I ranted about it. That was our last summer renting forever.

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I misspoke. When I mentioned a LLC I was thinking about a multi owner investment property, not an individually owned property. Although single owners can be a problem. An oceanfront owner asked me for advice on his property 6 bedroom- they were angry because they bought in the height of the market (2006 maybe), overpaid and even though the house rented nearly every week for years so they were making money back they would not put a penny into the house. The house was very beaten down to say the least.The PM kept asking them to update/fix but it was a no go from the owner. The PM finally got the owner to buy a new couch. Just a couch when I tell you much more was needed.I will point out that the weekly rental rate was cheap for a 6 bed oceanfront with pool-so you got what you paid for. The owner sold after that season.

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Welcome to the world of VACASA dominantion, at least on HI.

Is it just getting posted more or are there more rentals that people are having major issues with this year - refrigerators not working, pool unusable, AC not working etc.
If i rented an already grossly overpriced rental for the week & had major stuff going on that doesn't get resolved, I would be freaking out.
Sorry, but a PM sort of shrugging it off & ignoring it would not be acceptable. And if they can't have enough staff to handle the problems, they shouldn't be taking on so many properties
Most people work hard all year to enjoy a week off. It shouldn't be ruined by a bad Property Mgmt co.

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Social changed the game. Years ago, renters had no avenue to vent other than a call to the PM. Now its multiple FB groups, this board et al to vent and shame.

No more broken fridges than in years past, just more visible to the masses.

PE is creating equilibrium in the world purchasing everything that can be purchased - vacation homes, medical practices, storage facilities, etc. Having young finance bros running PE groups owning many homes to consolidate expenses has a cost. The lack of care is one of those costs. Renters can vote with their feet and move on the Cape Cod, DE, SC, or FL.

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Social changed the game. Years ago, renters had no avenue to vent other than a call to the PM. Now its multiple FB groups, this board et al to vent and shame.

No more broken fridges than in years past, just more visible to the masses.

PE is creating equilibrium in the world purchasing everything that can be purchased - vacation homes, medical practices, storage facilities, etc. Having young finance bros running PE groups owning many homes to consolidate expenses has a cost. The lack of care is one of those costs. Renters can vote with their feet and move on the Cape Cod, DE, SC, or FL.

What the bros are doing on the Cape is beyond comprehension....so if anyone thinks they can save money vs OBX, it's not happening. Heck, one place we know just hit $100K for a week.

As to LLCs and the "protection" afforded vs "not"...it's not just a "big corp" thing...a single cottage owner can get wiped out financially when the "wrong renter" enters your place, injures them selves (through your "fault") and sues ya.

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"they are not calling Manteo furniture and getting a service call in a day or two"

Or a new unit delivered and installed the next day like our friends in Ocracoke. The renters called the PM who got it okayed and the new one was in the next day. They knew it would fit because it's what they already had from Manteo Furniture.


"GE Electric Stacked Laundry Center with 3.8-cu ft Washer and 5.9-cu ft Dryer" (26.75" W)

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IDK... people complaining about homes has been steady for decades down here... about at the same volume as people complaining about tourists... go figure. No data to back it up... but it wouldn't surprise me if those dots connect more often than not.

Tim is right though.... most homes get compliments... and I would say most tourists great as well.

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"they are not calling Manteo furniture and getting a service call in a day or two"

Or a new unit delivered and installed the next day like our friends in Ocracoke. The renters called the PM who got it okayed and the new one was in the next day. They knew it would fit because it's what they already had from Manteo Furniture.


"GE Electric Stacked Laundry Center with 3.8-cu ft Washer and 5.9-cu ft Dryer" (26.75" W)

EXACTLY.
We had a refrigerator that had a front water/ice dispenser that would just rust under the dispenser. We refinished it every year for a few years and finally the wife got tired of looking at at and we bought a new stainless steel fridge from Manteo and when it was delivered they had already put notes that due to the width of the upper door into the house from the under stairs they would have to remove the doors and hinges to get it into the house. They had put the notes in for the service call from back in 2008 when that fridge had been delivered. I do not complain about the price when you get service like that.

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Another kudo to buying from a local appliance dealer - our new dishwasher developed a leak in the tub while under warranty from an overtightened screw. The manufacturer help line said just replace the tub. Local dealer said nope, brought us a new dishwasher and sent the old one back to the mfgr. The swap took less than an hour. Removing all the workings from the old dishwasher and putting everything onto a new tub would have taken multiple hours.

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"they are not calling Manteo furniture and getting a service call in a day or two"

Or a new unit delivered and installed the next day like our friends in Ocracoke. The renters called the PM who got it okayed and the new one was in the next day. They knew it would fit because it's what they already had from Manteo Furniture.


"GE Electric Stacked Laundry Center with 3.8-cu ft Washer and 5.9-cu ft Dryer" (26.75" W)

EXACTLY.
We had a refrigerator that had a front water/ice dispenser that would just rust under the dispenser. We refinished it every year for a few years and finally the wife got tired of looking at at and we bought a new stainless steel fridge from Manteo and when it was delivered they had already put notes that due to the width of the upper door into the house from the under stairs they would have to remove the doors and hinges to get it into the house. They had put the notes in for the service call from back in 2008 when that fridge had been delivered. I do not complain about the price when you get service like that.

Shhh, Alexy. Next thing you know private equity will buy up Manteo Furniture.

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"Welcome to the world of VACASA dominantion, at least on HI."

Remember the end of 2021 when VACASA stock was around $200 per share?

Vacasa (NASDAQ: VCSA)
$4.46
(-0.7%)
-$0.03
Price as of July 12, 2024

52wk Range $3.82 - $16.74

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