Another newbie. Best areas to buy my first STR

[Joseph Amaturo]

I am new to investing and looking for the best area to start. I am in NY BUT looking to move to either NC, SC or FL in a year. I was looking for either a home or condo by the beach because they seem more easy to rent weekly. I would need a mgt company to watch over it but don’t know the best percentage to look for.
Any wisdom from you seasoned investors is greatly appreciated!  Thanks in advance and taking time to reply. 
Blessings. 

[Levi Bennett]

Hey Joseph, welcome to the community! I'm a broker in NC, investor and have been doing STR and investment real estate for clients and myself for 9 years in North Carolina and Florida.

The beach can certainly be a good investment, but comparing it to the mountains it will be hard to make a case. Seasonality at the beach is dramatic, and weeks or month long contracts are easy to obtain almost anywhere in the South because of housing demand shortages, particularly in places like Charlotte (8000 listed homes, and 60,000 applications for those homes for medium term rentals). You can definately do well at the beach but keep in mind a few things.. one is the homestead exemption for SC is dramatic. Most investors pay 6-10x more in taxes per year for an investment home there, and that can kill ROI. The other thing, back to seasonality, is that peak season in obviously summer, but in the mountains you have 2-3 peak seasons. Summer, Leaf, and holidays (and ski season if you're close to a ski area). Cash flow tends to be more consistent in the mountains. If you're set on a beach area, I would allocate more money for at least a 4 bedroom (big revenue jump for multi-family stays..) and focus on Florida since the seasonality is significantly longer than even Georgia or SC.

Finally, do NOT fall into the newbie trap of thinking location is everything. If your goal is ROI, then don't make your goal location, make it acquisition and ROI. There are several layers to acquiring an STR/MTR and one of them is location, but if you leave out the other 6 layers, you could be stuck holding the bag and doing marginal, or worse, losing money because the other factors weren't considered. Definately work with an experienced STR agent wherever you go and use someone who not only knows how to underwrite STRs and has paid data to help you do that, but also someone who understands the fundamentals of what makes a successful STR/MTR and give you the best chance at succeeding and being in the top 10% of property listings.

I hope this is helpful, best of luck, and feel free to reach out if you need anything.