Taking the leap into STR

[Sam Deacon]

Hi all, this is my first ever post and I am exited to start my STR journey. I have owned a LTR in the past but am intrigued by the possibilities of owning a STR. I cannot seem to wrap my head around good locations and where to find STR's without being overwhelmed by many listings and different information in regards to occupancy and predicted ROI.

I am looking for decent monthly cash flow and would probably hire a management company to deal with cleaning etc as I am looking to invest outside of CA. 

Any information on where to start would be hugely helpful. 

[Juan V Lopez]

Hey Sam, good on you for getting started. If you don't know specifically where you want to invest right now, a good place to gather data is AirDNA. They provide in-depth stats on average rates, vacancies, listing types, etc.

Now, once you do have a location in mind, then dig into the local STR laws there. Some places are strict, others are more open, others have weird STR rules. Don't buy somewhere before looking at local STR policies.

As far as STR locations, the best cities are good vacation markets with year-long appeal, strong occupancy rates and good CoC returns. I just wrapped up a STR project in Big Bear CA that I was working on for about 4 months. It fit what I was looking for, plus my family and I will use it for ourselves. Hope this helps in your search.