Mastering all of the nuts and bolts of excellent hosting and property management might take years. It takes time to develop into a superb property manager and vacation rental business. While you may speed up the process by listening to podcasts and following industry-related blogs on the web and social media, reading a book is still the best way to learn. That said, you can also learn many skills by diving straight in and doing the job yourself; investing in a property management tool is a great way of learning and managing all the different aspects of the rental process while streamlining and simplifying tasks.
One of the key benefits is that it compiles all important information into a single comprehensive guide. This means you won’t have to go from one site to the next to learn more about a certain subject.
We’ve produced a selection of the best property management books to help you find the perfect book quicker. Take a look at the list below.
What Should a Good Property Management Book Include?
You have a vast list of obligations as a property manager. Marketing, screening visitors, handling check-ins and checkouts, turnovers, and upkeep are just a few of them. You’ll be able to de-escalate the issue and prevent a poor review this way. Plus, you’ll need good interpersonal skills if there’s a demanding visitor (which, thankfully, doesn’t happen very frequently).
As a result, a good property management book should cover various topics related to vacation rental management. These include finding a rental property, creating a listing, marketing it, and keeping track of the finances. Because so many regulations and laws may make or destroy your company, it’s equally important to consider the legal elements.
While not all of the books on the list go into great length on these topics, they are all simple to read and filled with useful information and advice.
1. Odessa Christiana’s No Vacancy: A No-BS Guide To Killing It In The Vacation Rental Business
Odessa Christiana, a top specialist in the vacation rental sector, has written a book that will show you how to transform your vacation rental business into a full-time profession, just as she has. Her advice will assist readers in building a strong business by working intelligently. If you’re looking for something a little lighter and funnier, this is the book for you.
She demonstrates how these critical duties do not have to be difficult, from choosing the ideal home to outfitting and maintaining it. Then, to guarantee that you get the most out of your efforts, she reveals marketing tactics (which are equally useful for novices) and how to consistently deliver a great visitor experience.
2. Daniel Vroman Rusteen’s Optimize Your Airbnb: The Definitive Guide to Ranking #1 in Airbnb Search
This book is the most rated and highlighted book for Airbnb hosts, written by Daniel Vroman Rusteen, a former Airbnb employee and current Airbnb Superhost and the owner of a property management firm. He discusses how to improve your search ranking on the platform by customizing your listing and enhancing your visitor experience.
Daniel gives insider tips on everything from picking a title for your Airbnb to taking high-quality images with your smartphone. Former Airbnb strategy counsel Chip Conley rates this book as “the most helpful, professional guidance book.”
Optimize Your Airbnb: The Definitive Guide to Ranking #1 in Airbnb Search is available for purchase.
3. Brandon and Heather Turner’s book, Managing Rental Properties
In this book, Heather and Brandon Turner, a husband-and-wife duo, provide tips on how hosts may properly manage renters in their rental homes. Brandon is also the co-host of the popular BiggerPockets podcast and has published several other books on rental property investment.
Whether you’re new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner, their accounts of their ups and downs will change the way you think about property management. It discusses the sorts of renters to avoid, low-cost marketing techniques, and the stipulations that should be included in your rental agreement.
It’s available for purchase here: A Proven System for Finding, Screening, and Managing Tenants with Fewer Headaches and Maximum Profits is the book about managing rental properties.
4. Jasper Ribbers and Huzefa Kapadia’s Get Paid For Your Pad: How to Maximize Profit From Your Airbnb Listing
Although one of the industry’s oldest publications, Get Paid For Your Pad is still one of the greatest books that hosts should read. In this step-by-step tutorial, Jasper Ribbers explains how he rented out his Amsterdam flat and more than quadrupled his income in a year.
The two writers also walk you through how to arrange your Airbnb listing so that it can compete with hotel lodging, as well as provide tips on guest communication and pricing strategy. This book will help you improve your listing for profit maximization and repeat visitors since communication and price are two of the most difficult parts of vacation rentals.
It’s available for purchase here: How to Get Paid for Your Apartment: How to Make the Most of Your Airbnb Listing.
5. Brandon Turner’s The Book on Rental Property Investing
Brandon Turner created this book before collaborating with his wife on The Book on Managing Rental Properties. He discusses tactics tailored to real estate investors in this best-seller.
This 356-page book will guide investors through spotting great real estate assets, analyzing properties, assembling a team, financing rents, and generating considerable cash flow. Anyone interested in becoming a successful real estate investor should read this book.
It’s available for purchase here: How to Create Wealth and Passive Income Through Smart Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing is a book on rental property investing.
6. Stephen Fishman’s Every Airbnb Host’s Tax Guide, Third Edition
This is the first book of its kind, written by Stephen Fishman, an attorney, and expert in taxes. It will show you how to maximize your short-term rental company while staying within IRS guidelines.
It’s the complete tax reference for hosts who use Airbnb, FlipKey, TripAdvisor, or Vrbo, covering everything from which deductions you may and should use to how to record your short-term rental revenue. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the new 20% pass-through deduction are included in this version. However, on January 25, 2022, this game will be re-released. So, before you tackle tax, you may want to start with one of the other 11 novels on our list.
Every Airbnb Host’s Tax Guide, Third Edition, is available for purchase here.
7. Millionaire Host Julie George wrote this article.
Julie George, the author, is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on Airbnb. She has amassed a portfolio of over 130 properties. Furthermore, she could produce an income of over $8 million in less than three years.
This 134-page book chronicles how she transformed her passion into a lucrative company. As an entrepreneur, she saw that many Airbnb homeowners were not fully using the platform.
Even if you are not a property owner, you will discover several ways in this book how to profit from the platform. It will also assist you in identifying new properties that you can manage to expand your company once you have optimized your listing and utilized her shortcuts to set your listing distinct.
It’s available for purchase here: Million Dollar Host: Julie’s Airbnb Portfolio Earned Over a Million Dollars in Her First Year.
Yours, too, can do it!
8. Symon He and James Svetec’s Airbnb For Dummies
There is no need to introduce the “For Dummies” book series. It was a worldwide hit, with editions in a variety of languages. There is now a book devoted entirely to Airbnb in this popular series.
Symon He and James Svetec, the team behind LearnBNB.com, a go-to resource for hosts, wrote Airbnb For Dummies, published in 2020. Svec has also developed the BNB Mastery Program, while Symon has published another book.
They reveal strategies for: – writing interesting listings – using photographs to tell your property’s narrative – perfecting your price – mastering the visitor experience in this book.
Overall, this book is an excellent resource for learning how to make your visitors feel more pampered while also increasing your hosting earnings.
Airbnb For Dummies is available for purchase here.
9. Gaston Gilbert’s Short-Term/Vacation Rental Investments Made Simple
This book is one of the newest short-term rental books on the market, written by Gaston Gilbert, author of How Not to Kill Your Business in 10 Steps. He explains how to start a lucrative vacation rental company and avoid typical problems in his book, published in 2021.
One of the things that distinguish this book from many others is that it emphasizes how to assist hosts in keeping expenses down. It will, for example, tell you about some of the costs associated with holiday rentals that hosts should be aware of. It also includes suggestions for lowering costs. Check it out if you’re having trouble with cash flow in particular.
10. Mark Ferguson’s Build a Rental Property Empire (Book 1 of the InvestFourMore Investor Series).
For over two decades, Mark Ferguson has worked as a realtor. He flips up to 30 houses every year in addition to owning both residential and commercial rental properties.
He teaches readers how to find, fund, and manage rental properties in his book. It also identifies possible hazards so you can get into the market with your eyes wide open. This book covers both ways, whether you wish to handle your rentals on your own or hire a property manager (including best exit strategies). This book has been rewritten many times to reflect current market circumstances and changes in Mark’s approach.
It’s available for purchase here: Build a Rental Property Empire is a no-nonsense guide to discovering bargains, getting the correct financing, and managing your properties properly. (InvestFourMore Investor Series, Book 1)
11. Leigh Gallagher’s The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions…and Created a Lot of Controversies
The first detailed analysis of the life of Brian Chesky, the young CEO of Airbnb, was published in 2017 by Leigh Gallagher, an editor at Fortune. It’s also being billed as the first book devoted only to investigating the Airbnb phenomenon.
This book will be helpful if you want to create a profitable business in the home-sharing sector. Although the book does not specifically address property management, it does provide the fascinating behind-the-scenes narrative of how Airbnb came to be and has now become a household brand. Its fascinating narrative will inspire you to pursue your goals.
It’s available for purchase here: The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions. and Sparked a Firestorm.
12. Dave Mencel’s Vacation Rental Bible.
If you’re a first-time vacation rental property investor, Dave Mencel, the owner of Valentine State Properties LLC, has produced The Vacation Rental Bible. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is to start a tiny vacation rental company or grow it into a large corporation; his book will walk you through every stage of the process.
The author explains how to examine financial performance, explore competitors, and improve guest interactions in his 143-page book. You may also obtain Excel budgeting worksheets from the site. You may create a budget for any home you’re thinking about purchasing with the aid of these useful digital tools. To avoid buyer’s remorse, you may estimate how the property will perform financially in this manner.
It’s available for purchase here: The Vacation Rental Bible: Proven Strategies for Finding, Managing, and Marketing Profitable Vacation Rental Properties.
Automation may help you improve your property management skills.
The proof of the pudding, as the expression goes, is in the eating. It is critical for property managers and hosts to use the information they gain from these publications. So, if you use these hacks and tips, you’ll be able to see the true worth of these books.
As many of these materials suggest, you should consider using automation technologies to simplify your normal activities to take things a step further and enhance your property management. For instance, Lodgable can assist property managers and hosts increase revenue and growing their business.Â
