My First STR/LTR in one unit

[Jonathan Avellaneda]

Hi BP!

I am under contract for my first rental property. It is a 4 bedroom 3 bath home that has 2 units. The top floor unit is a 3/2 and downstairs is a 1/1. Both units have full kitchens and are rent ready. The total square footage of the house is just under 3k.

My original plan was to LTR the top and do a STR for the bottom. Now i am second guessing myself and thinking maybe I should do the reverse? i am thinking the bigger unit would bring in more, but i don't know how to look into this.

I am new to STR and have not learned a lot about it so my concern is that if I go with the STR for the top and aren't able to rent it out consistently that I will be losing money on the deal because I will have to furnish the top, which is a lot, and will lose out on the larger chunk of the LTR rent for the home.

Any and all advice and suggestions would be appreciated! Also if i missed any details needed feel free to ask!

[Dan Johnson]

You won't know until you try. STR is hot right now. I would encourage you to go ahead and STR the top unit. If it doesn't perform well then you can turn it into a long term rental anytime you like. Don't go crazy with buying expensive furniture-it's not necessary for STR. Buy clean, comfortable affordable furniture to keep your costs down.

If you do STR, you can switch at anytime to long term rental. But if you start long term rental first and it doesn't work out, you will have to wait a long time until the lease is finished until you can convert it to an STR.

I have a quadplex where I STR 3 units and my tentant/housekeeper lives in the 4th unit. She is an awesome housekeeper/tenant. But I got lucky. I first brought her on as a tenant with a month to month lease. Then it turned out that she lost her job and she became my housekeeper.

That's the cool thing about a duplex. You can do it however you like. 2 long terms, 2 short terms, or one of each.

Make sure to check short term rental ordinances in your city. See what you need to do to comply. Most of the time you just have to apply for a business license and pay a yearly fee.