First STR Need Advice!

[Josh Harbert]

I just graduated high school, class of 2023, and I chose to get into real estate instead of commit to a college degree. I live about an hour east out of Pittsburgh. Being so young (literally just turned 18) I don't have a lot of steady income and don't even have a credit score yet, although building good credit, making it very difficult to try and buy a property at the moment.

I plan to open an LLC to arbitrage properties and list onto airbnb. This keeps a very low out of pocket expense and is professional because I would be renting as a business not as an individual in order to sublease onto airbnb. I'm aware of all the legal documents and contracts needed to be completely transparent with landlords so that they know exactly what I'm doing with their property.

I am stuck on what market to start in and how far away I would be able to be from the first property. I plan to self manage the listing and outsource cleaners from care.com/other freelance platforms.

Any advice is helpful and appreciated.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Josh Harbert, most folks who want to do arbitrage are like you. No assets, no money etc etc.

Frankly this sets you up for failure. You need to get some cash going in order to do anything. You will need cash to setup the place after the deposits plus you will need a contingency budget setup.

It sounds like you are trying to put the cart before the horse. Go get a job, work you a$$ off and save every penny. Start there.

Arbitrage isn't investing, it is creating a job for yourself.

Now, regarding the LLC, it has been discussed a lot in this thread. Seeing as you are 18, having an LLC doesn't really lend any credibility to your pitch. Most owners are pretty savvy and will see that you most likely don't have any assets to cover things if they go south.

You have to ask yourself why would anyone rent to you to do this? You have zero experience in this area (or any area really) so it would be a huge risk for the owner.

What you might want to try is go to a couple of REI group meetings and ask around if anyone needs someone to do stuff for them. Get some experience from folks doing the job by shadowing them, running reports, etc. Whatever it takes to get some experience.