Six months after setting up your short-term rental, one of the dining chairs breaks.
You remember where you bought it.
Sort of.
It was online. Or maybe you found it locally? You definitely ordered the barstools online.
You search your email for “chair.”
Four hundred and twelve results.
This is precisely the sort of nonsense a Property Reference Guide exists to prevent.
A good Property Reference Guide is essentially the owner’s manual for your short-term rental.
It keeps the practical information about the property in one place: paint colors, furniture sources, appliance information, filters, warranties, contractors, replacement products, shutoffs and all the other details that are very easy to know today and surprisingly difficult to remember a year from now.
It isn’t particularly glamorous.
It is, however, one of those things you will be ridiculously grateful somebody made when you need it.
Start Building It While You’re Setting Up the Property
The best time to create a Property Reference Guide is not six months after your STR opens.
It’s while you’re setting it up.
As furniture arrives, record it.
When paint is chosen, record it.
When an appliance is installed, record it.
When somebody shows you where the water shutoff is, definitely record it.
Trying to reconstruct all of this information later turns a fairly simple organizational project into detective work.
And there are few things more humbling than standing in your own house thinking, I know we bought this somewhere.
Create a Basic Property Overview
Start with the information someone responsible for the property may need quickly.
Property address
Owner contact information
Property manager contact information
Cleaning company/contact
Handyman or maintenance contact
HVAC company
Plumber
Electrician
Landscaping contact
Pest control
Internet provider
Trash/recycling information
Emergency contacts relevant to the property
You don’t need to include information that creates an unnecessary security risk. This guide should be kept somewhere appropriate for the owner, manager or maintenance team—not sitting on the coffee table for every guest to browse.
Think of this section as:
If something happens at the property, who needs to know what?
Document Every Paint Color
Please do this one.
Every painted surface should have a record.
Room
Brand
Color name
Color code
Finish/sheen
And if different trim, doors, ceilings or cabinetry use different paints, document those separately.
“White” is not a paint color.
Neither is “that creamy one we used downstairs.”
If someone damages a wall eighteen months from now, you want to be able to pull out the guide and know exactly what was used.
Better still, keep a small amount of labeled touch-up paint at the property when practical.
Because carrying twelve nearly identical paint chips around the house while squinting at them in different lighting is not how anyone should spend a Tuesday.
Keep the Information for Furniture You May Need to Replace
You do not necessarily need to catalog every decorative object in the house.
Concentrate on things that are expensive, important to the design or reasonably likely to need replacement.
Dining chairs
Barstools
Nightstands
Bed frames
Mattresses
Sofas and chairs
Outdoor furniture
Rugs
Lamps
Window treatments
Mirrors
For each, record whatever information will make replacement easier:
Manufacturer or retailer
Product name
Model or item number
Color/finish
Dimensions
Purchase date
Link, when useful
Photos can help too.
Online product links disappear. Products get renamed. Retailers discontinue things.
A link is useful.
A link plus enough information to identify the actual product is better.
Record the Things Nobody Thinks About Until They Need Them
Some of the most useful information in a Property Reference Guide belongs to the least exciting objects in the house.
Air filters are a perfect example.
Record the filter size and how many the property uses.
Do the same for:
Light bulb types
Smoke detector batteries
Remote batteries
Refrigerator water filters
HVAC filters
Specialty appliance filters
Replacement hardware
Furniture glides
Outdoor bulbs
Any unusual consumable or replacement part
If the hallway fixture takes an obscure little bulb that nobody can identify by looking at it, future you does not need to rediscover that fact every time one burns out.
Write it down once.
Document Appliances and Equipment
Keep the make and model information for the property’s major appliances and equipment.
Refrigerator
Range/oven
Dishwasher
Washer and dryer
Microwave
Coffee maker
Televisions
Grill
Hot tub equipment
Fireplace
Thermostat
Smart locks
Security equipment, where appropriate
Include manuals or warranty information when they’re useful.
You don’t necessarily need to stuff fifty manufacturer’s manuals into a binder. Digital copies can be stored alongside your other property records.
What matters is that when the dishwasher starts flashing E24 at somebody, no one has to begin the investigation with:
What dishwasher do we even own?
Know Where the Important Things Are
This section may be the most important one in the entire guide.
Document the location of:
Main water shutoff
Individual plumbing shutoffs
Electrical panel
Gas shutoff, if applicable
HVAC equipment
Water heater
Internet equipment
Septic access, if applicable
Well equipment, if applicable
Fire extinguishers
Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Photos are particularly useful here.
A written instruction saying “water shutoff behind utility panel” is helpful.
A photograph showing exactly which panel and exactly which valve is considerably better when water is currently heading somewhere water has no business heading.
Create a Room-by-Room Reference
Once the essential property information is documented, organize the rest by room.
This keeps the guide useful instead of becoming one enormous collection of product information.
For example:
Kitchen
Cabinet paint
Countertop material
Backsplash/tile information
Faucet
Sink
Appliances
Pendant lights
Dining furniture
Barstools
Frequently replaced kitchen inventory
Primary Bedroom
Wall paint
Bed/frame
Mattress
Nightstands
Lamps
Rug
Window treatments
Bedding specifications
Primary Bathroom
Wall paint
Vanity
Faucet
Shower fixtures
Tile
Mirror
Lighting
Towel specifications
Continue through the property using whatever level of detail is genuinely useful.
The goal isn’t to document the molecular composition of the nightstand.
The goal is to make maintenance and replacement easier.
Include Your Standard Replacement Items
If you’ve deliberately chosen repeatable products for the property, keep those in the guide too.
Sheets
Towels
Pillows
Glassware
Dishes
Flatware
Coffee supplies
Trash bags
Toiletries
Light bulbs
Batteries
Filters
This is especially helpful when several people are involved in operating the STR.
Instead of someone buying whatever white towel happens to be available that afternoon, they can see which towel belongs in the property and reorder it.
Over time, this is what keeps an STR from slowly becoming a collection of almost-matching things.
RELATED READING → [How Much of Everything Does Your STR Actually Need? — LINK]
Keep Contractor and Maintenance Information Together
When something needs attention, you shouldn’t also have to remember who installed it.
Keep records for the people and companies that have worked on the property.
Painter
Handyman
Plumber
Electrician
HVAC technician
Flooring installer
Appliance service
Landscaping
Pest control
Pool or hot tub service
If applicable, note what they worked on and when.
This becomes increasingly valuable as the property ages.
Three years later, “the guy who fixed that thing behind the upstairs shower” is not actionable information.
Add Photos Where Words Aren’t Enough
A Property Reference Guide doesn’t have to be entirely text.
Use photographs for anything that’s easier to understand visually.
Where the shutoff is.
Which breaker controls something unusual.
How equipment is accessed.
What a replacement item looks like.
Where maintenance supplies are stored.
Photos are also useful when the person dealing with the problem isn’t the owner.
The guide should transfer knowledge, not merely store information.
That’s an important distinction.
Don’t Confuse This With Your Guest Welcome Book
These two documents serve very different people.
Your Guest Welcome Book helps guests use and enjoy the property.
Your Property Reference Guide helps the people responsible for owning, maintaining and managing it.
The guest needs to know how to connect to Wi-Fi.
The property manager may need to know where the router is, what model it is and who provides the internet service.
The guest needs to know how to operate the fireplace.
The owner needs the fireplace model, service information and warranty.
Keeping those purposes separate makes both guides much more useful.
RELATED READING → [What Should Actually Go in an STR Guest Welcome Book? — LINK]
And Don’t Confuse It With Your Turnover Standards
Your Turnover Standards answer:
How should this property be reset between guests?
Your Property Reference Guide answers:
What is this property made of, where did everything come from and how do we maintain it?
There will naturally be some overlap.
The turnover guide may identify which sheets belong on the king bed.
The Property Reference Guide records the exact sheets, where they came from and what should be purchased when they need replacing.
Different job. Different document.
RELATED READING → [How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR — LINK]
Keep It Somewhere People Will Actually Use It
A beautiful Property Reference Guide that nobody can find is mostly decoration.
Decide who needs access.
The owner.
The property manager.
The maintenance person.
Possibly the cleaner, depending on how responsibilities are divided.
We like having an organized physical reference at the property and maintaining the important information digitally so it isn’t dependent on one binder remaining in one place forever.
And update it.
If you replace the coffee maker, change the record.
If the living room gets repainted, change the paint information.
If you replace six dining chairs with something else, retire the old information.
A Property Reference Guide should reflect the property that exists now, not the property that existed when you first opened.
A Good Property Reference Guide Is Mostly a Gift to Your Future Self
You can absolutely operate a short-term rental without one.
People do it every day.
They keep information in emails, receipts, text messages, browser histories, screenshots, Notes app entries and that one folder they’re almost certain is somewhere in the office.
It works.
Until you actually need something.
A well-built Property Reference Guide takes all of that scattered knowledge and gives the property a memory.
When something breaks, you know what it is.
When something needs repainting, you know the color.
When something needs servicing, you know who to call.
When something needs replacing, you know what to buy.
And when somebody besides you needs to handle the problem, they don’t need everything that’s currently stored in your head.
That’s the real value of it.
The property can keep operating without requiring you to personally remember every little thing about it.
Because eventually something will need to be repaired, reordered or replaced.
And when it does, the best possible answer to “Do you know what this is?” is not:
Give me a minute. I think I have a screenshot somewhere.
It’s:
Check the Property Reference Guide.
KEEP READING
[What Actually Needs to Be Done Before Your STR Is Ready for Guests? → LINK]
[How Much of Everything Does Your STR Actually Need? → LINK]
[How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR → LINK]
Six months after setting up your short-term rental, one of the dining chairs breaks.
You remember where you bought it.
Sort of.
It was online. Or maybe you found it locally? You definitely ordered the barstools online.
You search your email for “chair.”
Four hundred and twelve results.
This is precisely the sort of nonsense a Property Reference Guide exists to prevent.
A good Property Reference Guide is essentially the owner’s manual for your short-term rental.
It keeps the practical information about the property in one place: paint colors, furniture sources, appliance information, filters, warranties, contractors, replacement products, shutoffs and all the other details that are very easy to know today and surprisingly difficult to remember a year from now.
It isn’t particularly glamorous.
It is, however, one of those things you will be ridiculously grateful somebody made when you need it.
Start Building It While You’re Setting Up the Property
The best time to create a Property Reference Guide is not six months after your STR opens.
It’s while you’re setting it up.
As furniture arrives, record it.
When paint is chosen, record it.
When an appliance is installed, record it.
When somebody shows you where the water shutoff is, definitely record it.
Trying to reconstruct all of this information later turns a fairly simple organizational project into detective work.
And there are few things more humbling than standing in your own house thinking, I know we bought this somewhere.
Create a Basic Property Overview
Start with the information someone responsible for the property may need quickly.
Property address
Owner contact information
Property manager contact information
Cleaning company/contact
Handyman or maintenance contact
HVAC company
Plumber
Electrician
Landscaping contact
Pest control
Internet provider
Trash/recycling information
Emergency contacts relevant to the property
You don’t need to include information that creates an unnecessary security risk. This guide should be kept somewhere appropriate for the owner, manager or maintenance team—not sitting on the coffee table for every guest to browse.
Think of this section as:
If something happens at the property, who needs to know what?
Document Every Paint Color
Please do this one.
Every painted surface should have a record.
Room
Brand
Color name
Color code
Finish/sheen
And if different trim, doors, ceilings or cabinetry use different paints, document those separately.
“White” is not a paint color.
Neither is “that creamy one we used downstairs.”
If someone damages a wall eighteen months from now, you want to be able to pull out the guide and know exactly what was used.
Better still, keep a small amount of labeled touch-up paint at the property when practical.
Because carrying twelve nearly identical paint chips around the house while squinting at them in different lighting is not how anyone should spend a Tuesday.
Keep the Information for Furniture You May Need to Replace
You do not necessarily need to catalog every decorative object in the house.
Concentrate on things that are expensive, important to the design or reasonably likely to need replacement.
Dining chairs
Barstools
Nightstands
Bed frames
Mattresses
Sofas and chairs
Outdoor furniture
Rugs
Lamps
Window treatments
Mirrors
For each, record whatever information will make replacement easier:
Manufacturer or retailer
Product name
Model or item number
Color/finish
Dimensions
Purchase date
Link, when useful
Photos can help too.
Online product links disappear. Products get renamed. Retailers discontinue things.
A link is useful.
A link plus enough information to identify the actual product is better.
Record the Things Nobody Thinks About Until They Need Them
Some of the most useful information in a Property Reference Guide belongs to the least exciting objects in the house.
Air filters are a perfect example.
Record the filter size and how many the property uses.
Do the same for:
Light bulb types
Smoke detector batteries
Remote batteries
Refrigerator water filters
HVAC filters
Specialty appliance filters
Replacement hardware
Furniture glides
Outdoor bulbs
Any unusual consumable or replacement part
If the hallway fixture takes an obscure little bulb that nobody can identify by looking at it, future you does not need to rediscover that fact every time one burns out.
Write it down once.
Document Appliances and Equipment
Keep the make and model information for the property’s major appliances and equipment.
Refrigerator
Range/oven
Dishwasher
Washer and dryer
Microwave
Coffee maker
Televisions
Grill
Hot tub equipment
Fireplace
Thermostat
Smart locks
Security equipment, where appropriate
Include manuals or warranty information when they’re useful.
You don’t necessarily need to stuff fifty manufacturer’s manuals into a binder. Digital copies can be stored alongside your other property records.
What matters is that when the dishwasher starts flashing E24 at somebody, no one has to begin the investigation with:
What dishwasher do we even own?
Know Where the Important Things Are
This section may be the most important one in the entire guide.
Document the location of:
Main water shutoff
Individual plumbing shutoffs
Electrical panel
Gas shutoff, if applicable
HVAC equipment
Water heater
Internet equipment
Septic access, if applicable
Well equipment, if applicable
Fire extinguishers
Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Photos are particularly useful here.
A written instruction saying “water shutoff behind utility panel” is helpful.
A photograph showing exactly which panel and exactly which valve is considerably better when water is currently heading somewhere water has no business heading.
Create a Room-by-Room Reference
Once the essential property information is documented, organize the rest by room.
This keeps the guide useful instead of becoming one enormous collection of product information.
For example:
Kitchen
Cabinet paint
Countertop material
Backsplash/tile information
Faucet
Sink
Appliances
Pendant lights
Dining furniture
Barstools
Frequently replaced kitchen inventory
Primary Bedroom
Wall paint
Bed/frame
Mattress
Nightstands
Lamps
Rug
Window treatments
Bedding specifications
Primary Bathroom
Wall paint
Vanity
Faucet
Shower fixtures
Tile
Mirror
Lighting
Towel specifications
Continue through the property using whatever level of detail is genuinely useful.
The goal isn’t to document the molecular composition of the nightstand.
The goal is to make maintenance and replacement easier.
Include Your Standard Replacement Items
If you’ve deliberately chosen repeatable products for the property, keep those in the guide too.
Sheets
Towels
Pillows
Glassware
Dishes
Flatware
Coffee supplies
Trash bags
Toiletries
Light bulbs
Batteries
Filters
This is especially helpful when several people are involved in operating the STR.
Instead of someone buying whatever white towel happens to be available that afternoon, they can see which towel belongs in the property and reorder it.
Over time, this is what keeps an STR from slowly becoming a collection of almost-matching things.
RELATED READING → [How Much of Everything Does Your STR Actually Need? — LINK]
Keep Contractor and Maintenance Information Together
When something needs attention, you shouldn’t also have to remember who installed it.
Keep records for the people and companies that have worked on the property.
Painter
Handyman
Plumber
Electrician
HVAC technician
Flooring installer
Appliance service
Landscaping
Pest control
Pool or hot tub service
If applicable, note what they worked on and when.
This becomes increasingly valuable as the property ages.
Three years later, “the guy who fixed that thing behind the upstairs shower” is not actionable information.
Add Photos Where Words Aren’t Enough
A Property Reference Guide doesn’t have to be entirely text.
Use photographs for anything that’s easier to understand visually.
Where the shutoff is.
Which breaker controls something unusual.
How equipment is accessed.
What a replacement item looks like.
Where maintenance supplies are stored.
Photos are also useful when the person dealing with the problem isn’t the owner.
The guide should transfer knowledge, not merely store information.
That’s an important distinction.
Don’t Confuse This With Your Guest Welcome Book
These two documents serve very different people.
Your Guest Welcome Book helps guests use and enjoy the property.
Your Property Reference Guide helps the people responsible for owning, maintaining and managing it.
The guest needs to know how to connect to Wi-Fi.
The property manager may need to know where the router is, what model it is and who provides the internet service.
The guest needs to know how to operate the fireplace.
The owner needs the fireplace model, service information and warranty.
Keeping those purposes separate makes both guides much more useful.
RELATED READING → [What Should Actually Go in an STR Guest Welcome Book? — LINK]
And Don’t Confuse It With Your Turnover Standards
Your Turnover Standards answer:
How should this property be reset between guests?
Your Property Reference Guide answers:
What is this property made of, where did everything come from and how do we maintain it?
There will naturally be some overlap.
The turnover guide may identify which sheets belong on the king bed.
The Property Reference Guide records the exact sheets, where they came from and what should be purchased when they need replacing.
Different job. Different document.
RELATED READING → [How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR — LINK]
Keep It Somewhere People Will Actually Use It
A beautiful Property Reference Guide that nobody can find is mostly decoration.
Decide who needs access.
The owner.
The property manager.
The maintenance person.
Possibly the cleaner, depending on how responsibilities are divided.
We like having an organized physical reference at the property and maintaining the important information digitally so it isn’t dependent on one binder remaining in one place forever.
And update it.
If you replace the coffee maker, change the record.
If the living room gets repainted, change the paint information.
If you replace six dining chairs with something else, retire the old information.
A Property Reference Guide should reflect the property that exists now, not the property that existed when you first opened.
A Good Property Reference Guide Is Mostly a Gift to Your Future Self
You can absolutely operate a short-term rental without one.
People do it every day.
They keep information in emails, receipts, text messages, browser histories, screenshots, Notes app entries and that one folder they’re almost certain is somewhere in the office.
It works.
Until you actually need something.
A well-built Property Reference Guide takes all of that scattered knowledge and gives the property a memory.
When something breaks, you know what it is.
When something needs repainting, you know the color.
When something needs servicing, you know who to call.
When something needs replacing, you know what to buy.
And when somebody besides you needs to handle the problem, they don’t need everything that’s currently stored in your head.
That’s the real value of it.
The property can keep operating without requiring you to personally remember every little thing about it.
Because eventually something will need to be repaired, reordered or replaced.
And when it does, the best possible answer to “Do you know what this is?” is not:
Give me a minute. I think I have a screenshot somewhere.
It’s:
Check the Property Reference Guide.
KEEP READING
[What Actually Needs to Be Done Before Your STR Is Ready for Guests? → LINK]
[How Much of Everything Does Your STR Actually Need? → LINK]
[How to Create Clear Turnover Standards for Your STR → LINK]