Kissimmee FL STR insight

[Brett Erickson]

I'm looking at purchasing a STR in Kissimmee FL. I've been viewing a lot of properties and getting it narrowed down to 2-3 properties. One is a townhome in more of a resort style HOA community with a lazy river and bigger community pool. The other is also in a HOA community but doesn't seem as busy and maybe a little more quiet. It also has a very nice screened in pool area. Both are in great location close to airport and theme parks and fully furnished

Do you think a maybe little lower quality unit but has the lazy river/community pool type amenities would bring in more rental income then a higher quality unit with its own screened in pool/ entertainment area that would be more private. Also just wondering what STR is looking like as a whole in the area.

[Alex F.]

@Gregory Cudzilo  Sure.  We purchased the house in end of February and took about 2 months to repaint/fix a few items/decorate/and get furniture delivered.  We began opening it up for guests in the end of May.  It has been profitable right away starting in June.  July was our best month so far.  Oct we pretty much broke even, but the hurricane Ian scared a few guests. Here's our listing:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6...

I think it turned out well.  We really like going there and so do the kids. The area is SUPER competitive.  

Few recommendations:

*Theme the house and make it a solid listing.  We spent quite a bit of time down in Kissimmee getting the place ready.  My wife is a huge Disney fan, so it wasn't an issue staying often.

*Pricing Engine - We use wheelhouse.com and are still tweaking the rules a bit.

*Wear and tear - This is probably the house that gets the most beating.  Budget $100-200/month on avg for repairs ? 

*Competition - During the slow season I think I saw over 1000 listings available.....do all the tricks to be listed in pages 1..3

*Location - I think this is also one of the key items....being within 15 minutes of the Disney parks is a huge plus.

When looking around and examining the other properties there are TONs of well themed and decorated houses.  But there are also a high number of very mediocre listings......and the area will ALWAYS have tons of tourists.  Disney parks seem to be close to capacity all the time.   Universal is in the process of building a massive new park which should draw even more people.

If I were to get a second property, I would either get one again very close to Disney again OR planning ahead find a location near the the new epic universal park - https://www.floridatix.com/blo...

Good luck.