Month-to-Month Renewals? A Major Trap Chinese-Speaking Landlords Can Easily Fall Into!

Airbnb has long become a preferred source for people seeking authentic experiences and good-value vacations.

Today, let us explain a major trap that Chinese-speaking landlords can easily fall into.

In the United States, when a landlord’s lease with a tenant expires and no new lease is signed, it automatically becomes a month-to-month lease. New Chinese-speaking landlords may interpret that literally as renewing each month and think it sounds good: monthly rent continues to come in, while both sides can flexibly decide whether to renew for another month.

If that is what you think, you have fallen into this major trap!

The United States provides particularly strong protection for tenants. Take Seattle, where I live: once a lease becomes month-to-month, the landlord completely loses control.

At that point, a tenant who wants to end the lease in Seattle needs to give only 20 days’ notice.

What if the landlord wants to sell and end the agreement? Sorry, landlords do not have that option. As long as the tenant wants to continue renting, the landlord is legally required to rent to them indefinitely and cannot terminate the tenancy.

A landlord can sell the property with the lease to another buyer, but cannot end the lease first and then sell. The next owner must continue honoring the lease.

A landlord may then think: no problem, I will raise the rent each month until the tenant cannot bear it and leaves.

Sorry, that does not work either! A month-to-month lease is legally treated as a long-term rental. In Seattle, a rent increase requires 6 months’ advance notice, and each increase is capped at 10%.

The law allows a landlord to end a tenancy early in only a few situations, each with preconditions: for example, the number of residents exceeds the legal limit or the home is close to collapsing and needs renovation.

Apart from these cases, landlords cannot end a tenancy early. The only way is to negotiate with the tenant and offer money to see whether they will agree to move out.

Yes: once a rental agreement becomes month-to-month, the landlord is firmly in the trap. Getting out means paying money.

The home is yours in name, but its use and control are no longer in your hands.

How do you avoid this major trap? It is simple: renew the lease and add a definite termination date. For example, if you no longer want an annual lease and want to renew for three months or one month, you must sign a new lease with the tenant and specify an end date.

Landlords, share this information with other new landlords so everyone can stay alert and avoid the trap! As a homeowner, you may now be wondering: my home is quite good, but how much could it earn on Airbnb? Would it earn more than a long-term rental? Would it involve a lot of trouble?

Contact us right away! We will evaluate it for you free of charge.

If you:

Hope to increase rental income through short-term rentals;

Cannot spare a great deal of time to handle the small details;

Occasionally need to use the home yourself, making it unsuitable to empty out the furniture for a long-term rental;

Then:

Snowball Rentals’ management team is your best choice.

From pre-launch vacation-rental styling, big-data analysis and online marketing to tenant screening, dynamic pricing, customer service and sales, cleaning and repairs, Snowball Rentals provides everything as one complete service for your home.

This Week’s Booking Results

Through long-standing relationships with insurers, assignment companies and technology companies, Snowball Rentals rents homes for medium- and long-term durations at short-term rates, then gives owners a rebate of 5% in management fees to maximize their income.

Winter is the low season for Seattle’s short-term rental market, especially in 2023. Some recent large bookings, however, have been like a ray of sunshine, giving us high hopes for Airbnb’s performance this summer!

For the following detached home in Seattle, Zillow shows an estimated long-term monthly rent of about US$5,950.

The owner previously rented the upstairs and downstairs separately on long-term leases. The upstairs, with three bedrooms and one bathroom, reached a maximum rent of US$4,500 per month, or about US$58,500 for 13 months.

When the former tenant did not renew, the owner consulted us and boldly decided to try short-term rentals for the upstairs three-bedroom, one-bathroom space.

The owner placed considerable trust in the Snowball Rentals team and entrusted us with short-term rental operations, with good results arriving repeatedly.

13 Months! Rental Income Rose from US$58,500 to US$94,750!

As shown in the booking screenshot below, the guest booked 395 nights through Airbnb. Almost without noticing, a short-term rental became a long-term rental again.

This booking’s rent plus cleaning fees totaled US$94,750!

In summary, after Snowball Rentals operated this property, rental income for 13 months rose from US$58,500 to US$94,750, an increase of 62%.

More importantly, the owner does not have to worry about regular maintenance or cleaning. When something needs to be discussed with guests, we also help with communication and oversight.

After Airbnb’s downturn in 2023, we at Snowball Rentals hope to help owners regain ground in summer 2024!

Once again, heartfelt thanks to our homeowners for their trust and support. Whether the market is strong or weak, Snowball Rentals will stand with you and look for ways to increase your income!

Some homeowners will surely ask the hard question: was a large booking like this just a stroke of luck? What if the home does not rent? A long-term rental is more stable—even earning less is better than earning nothing!

Our answer is: the outcome depends on what we do.

Vacation-Rental Styling

Competition on Airbnb is becoming increasingly intense. The days of piecing together secondhand furniture, taking phone photos and earning easy money on Airbnb are over. Airbnb hosts have moved toward professional operations.

Careful design and furnishing before launch, followed by professional short-term rental operations, will be the only choice for a rental that continues to generate high income.

Here is another of Snowball Rentals’ core services: vacation-rental styling!

Let us take a look together at how this detached home, which secured a large 13-month booking, changed after our styling work!

If you would also like to make your home more attractive and earn more rent, please contact us at any time!

We also share practical vacation-rental styling plans and creative ideas to help you achieve more with less spending!

Keep rental income growing!

Referral Rewards

If you are already a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$500 referral fee for each referral.

If you are not yet a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$250 shopping voucher for each referral.

Snowball Rentals Management

1. Full service — We provide pre-launch rental design, furniture procurement, furnishing, professional photography, online marketing, copywriting, tenant service and sales, cleaning, supply purchasing and property repairs. You only need to be a hands-off owner; we handle the rest.

2. Multi-platform promotion — We promote the home on Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and other mainstream platforms for maximum exposure.

3. Dynamic pricing — Using big data, we adjust prices every day according to seasonal demand, holidays, last-minute vacancy offers, weekends and local activities, maximizing the owner’s income.

4. Income-improvement SOP — We follow 44 secrets for maximizing short-term rental income, optimizing each property’s online marketing, on-site operations and other aspects to work toward maximum income.

5. Flexible owner stays — Owners can flexibly choose when to stay themselves. This is especially suitable for owners with multiple residences around the world.

6. Terminate at any time — Management does not require an annual commitment. The owner can end the agreement with one month’s advance notice.

7. Corporate housing — In addition to nightly rentals, we work with insurers and assignment companies to provide executives with hotel-style managed accommodation for stays 30 days or more.

8. Transparent fees — For rentals 30 days or more, we charge 15% of accommodation revenue. For nightly rentals 30 days or less, we charge 20% of accommodation revenue.