Looking to Expand into STR from LTR

[Jason Clemens]

New to the forums thanks for the input everyone...

I've had a long term rental in Minneapolis the last 11 years that we do good on (make roughly $600/month) but always seem to struggle with renters. We have well over $100k in equity in the house. We've talked about wanting to get into STR's and other rental properties ever since we started renting that house but have let other factors (kids, work, etc) stop us from getting more properties but am serious and ambitious to want to start down the road.

Does it make sense to keep that house and potentially tap into the equity of it to get down payment money for STR's that can make "potentially" a lot more on an annual basis while also building equity in multiple places or does it make sense to sell and cash out and go all in on STR's?  Our renters lease is up end of May so it's a perfect time for us to be exploring what to do with the house. 

Still trying to teach myself on so many sides of the industry that I haven't ventured into much. I had used hard money loans when I flipped a different house about 6 years ago but I'm assuming that you aren't doing that as much for STR's because you aren't increasing your value that much to do the "No Money Down" BRRR type approach deals. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the input!

[Adam Tafel]

@Jason Clemens - I've been running STRs in St. Paul for the past 7 years. You can approach a STR deal like any other - if you can BRRRR or add sweat equity why not, at the end of the day the goal is to build wealth. Post closing (or refi) analysis will change. Roughly 20% of deals that we analyze make sense from a STR perspective, many times the juice ain't worth the squeeze. Knowing how to predict income and expenses is the most important aspect.

The commenter above is correct - management fees for STRs will kill you, making the additional risk pretty much worthless. A perfect candidate for a professionally managed STR purchase is a wealthy person who wants the property for personal use and convenience, not someone who's goal is to build wealth.

I don't think anyone should go "all in" on STRs. I typically advise investors to give Airbnb/VRBO a shot with an existing property, see if you like it. We've had a lot of success buying modest (and mostly turn-key) SF homes in and around the Twin Cities and renting them on a monthly basis, we normally double market rent. After the additional expenses we might profit 20-35% above a typical LTR. The cost is our time and energy.