STR- daufuskie island

[Kaitlin Mallory]

New STR investor here. Interested in Daufuskie island, anyone have an experience in this area? AirDNA seems to overestimate d/t some outliers and low supply overall. I've searched the forums for others looking in the area but no luck!

[Levi Bennett]

I've always loved Daufuskie but admitedly, I don't have experience there yet. I had some clients that were interested in going in on a property there, but they didn't get organized. Are you using a paid or free version of AirDna? The paid version will show you the actual comps they're using, as well as performance on each of those so you can see if the algorithm is skewed with some ridiculous performing one that isn't comparable to the one you're considering purchasing. 

My instinct tells me that you would want either a very small cabin, or a very large house to perform well. 2-3 bedrooms will likely underperform there from my experience, although I could be wrong. Since it's ferry-only, you want it to be self-sufficient and may want to offer more amenities than a regular bnb (like stocked pantry, etc..) and you may crush there. I typically warn people about beach properties being a first investment, but if you do it right, you can certainly do well. There are other markets that are more consistent tho and more beginner-friendly. 

Sorry if this isn't super helpful, but I thought it was an interesting post and I hope you find someone (preferably an agent that KNOWS STR and knows how to research and get real performance) to help you out!