A lake town condo closing in five weeks with a seven night summer minimum and two co-host proposals

Start with the definition, because it decides everything else. Ask each of them to write down, in the agreement, exactly what the percentage is calculated on and to attach a sample statement for one made up month. Three different figures get called gross: total booking value including the guest paid cleaning fee and taxes, booking value less taxes, and the net payout that actually hits the bank after the platform takes its cut. The spread between the first and the last is commonly 12 to 18 percent of the number. On the two quotes, with the minimum stay working in your favor. Take 120 nights with a seven night floor in summer and three the rest of the year and you get maybe 22 to 28 turnovers a year rather than 50. So B's $45 coordination fee is $990 to $1,260. B in total is 15 percent of $28,800 plus about $1,100 plus the $1,200 setup, so roughly $6,620 in year one and $5,420 after. A is $5,760 flat, unless A's gross includes the guest cleaning fees, in which case A is charging 20 percent on money that goes straight back out to the cleaner and A is the more expensive of the two. Ask both who holds the cleaner contract and who pays if a guest cancels inside the cleaning window. Then ask what happens to the calendar if you want the place for two weeks in July.

Dumb question but who is actually on the Airbnb account, you or them? That answer changes what happens when the relationship ends.

The seven night minimum is a bigger deal than the fee structures, and it deserves thought before you pick a co-host at all. Longer minimums cut your turnover cost and your wear and tear, and they also cut how many booking windows you can fill. A lot of lake demand is three and four night weekends. If your summer calendar can only take seven night blocks, you either get families booking full weeks in July or you get gaps that nothing can fill, because someone looking for a Thursday to Sunday cannot book you at any price. So ask both co-hosts a specific question: in this HOA, in this building, what did seven night minimum listings actually book last July and August, and how many nights sat empty between weeks. If they cannot answer that, they do not know your submarket. The one who says they set a Saturday to Saturday changeover and price the shoulder weeks down is telling you they have run into this before. Also get the HOA rule in writing from the association, current version, and check whether it sits in the bylaws or in a board resolution. A rule a board can change with a vote is a different risk from one sitting in the recorded documents, and how amendments work varies by state.

Month to month after 90 days is worth real money to you. A 12 month lock on your first co-host is how you spend a whole season stuck.

Two things off your closing that nobody has raised yet. First, tell your lender what the use is going to be before you close, and do it in writing. Loan terms treat second homes and investment properties differently, and some second home notes include occupancy language that touches rental use. Whether it matters in your case depends on the actual note, so ask the lender to confirm current terms in writing rather than taking a phone answer. Second, insurance. A standard homeowners policy in most cases is not written for nightly rental use, and the HOA master policy covers the building while leaving your unit's contents and your liability to a guest on you. Get a quote for a short-term rental policy before you sign a management agreement, because the premium difference can run from several hundred to a couple thousand a year and it comes straight off your $28,800. Read whose name the co-host wants added to your policy as well. Some ask to be an additional insured, which is normal, and some ask you to carry limits you would otherwise never buy. The fee question you're asking is a $1,200 argument. These two are bigger.

Your $28,800 is the assumption everything else rests on, and 120 nights at $240 is a specific claim about a specific building. Where did the $240 come from? If it's from listings that take three night weekends all summer, it's the wrong comp set for you, because a seven night minimum listing usually has to price under the flexible ones to fill the week.

I'd ask both co-hosts for their number with the workings, separately, without telling either what the other said. Nights, average rate, and the months. Then compare. If one says 145 nights at $260 and the other says 105 at $215, you have learned something about both of them.

On the fees, run the two structures at three revenue levels, not one. At $22,000 gross, A costs $4,400 and B costs about $4,400 including turnovers. At $34,000 A costs $6,800 and B costs about $6,300. B gets better as the place does better, which is backwards from how you'd want a co-host incentivized, so ask B whether the coordination fee comes off if you're happy to pay a straight percentage instead.

Also confirm the town allows it, separately from the HOA. Those are two different permissions and people conflate them constantly.

Put the number through the whole stack, because the fee comparison is the small end of this. Start with $28,800 of gross booking value. A platform host fee at roughly 3 percent takes it to about $27,900 before anything else, and that assumes the standard split rather than a plan where the guest pays less and the host pays more. Cleaning is guest-paid so it mostly washes, until a guest books six nights and the cleaning fee you set does not cover a deep clean. Operating costs on a 1,050 square foot lake condo should be carried at: HOA dues, taxes, insurance at short-term rental rates, utilities including internet and streaming, supplies and consumables at $15 to $25 per stay, linens replacement, and a furnishing depreciation line, because a nightly rental burns through a sofa in four years where a long-term tenant takes fifteen. Call the controllable operating side $9,000 to $12,000 before HOA and taxes. The dues are the unknown here, and they matter more than any of this. Management at 20 percent is $5,760. So on the high cost case you are at $27,900 less $12,000 less $5,760 less dues and taxes and debt service. That can be a fine number or a negative one entirely depending on the dues. Before closing, get the actual HOA dues and any special assessment history on one page, with the property tax bill and one real insurance quote beside them. Then the fee question answers itself, because if the deal only works at 15 percent it does not work.

Following this because I'm looking at almost the same thing. Did either co-host tell you how many other units they run in that building?