Expanding STR business

[Ben Hooper]

I've been a host for a year now and have really enjoyed it. I've recently bought a property specifically to rent out full time and it got me thinking about how a STR business can expand.

It seems like the main avenues are:

1. work with landlords to rent out properties and simply pay them rent

2. co host and manage other people's listings

3. buy properties and run yourself

each has their pros and cons, though #1 seems the most approachable, though would take a good amount of work to find landlords open to allowing it.

What have been ways that you've scaled your business beyond just 1 property?

[Ben Hooper]

it seems as if option #1 allows you to quickly scale with less money (basically furniture and a security deposit) but has the downside of lower margins since you're not building equity.

I've also thought of other ideas such as buying a few properties under a llc with several other investors, where the total cash per person would be the same as if you bought 1 property by yourself but it's diversified across different markets and reduced risk. Also a single software license and team for management could be used. 

This would also have a benefit of having 3+ properties that you could use for vacation during off seasons/empty days while still making you money overall.