Curious about people's cash flow numbers on STR's...

[K F.]

If you have purchased an STR in the past couple years (2020, 2021), how much cash flow are you making yearly? We are searching to invest in a short term rental, but the numbers are not high enough for us. We're seeing about 10K-15K yearly cash flow after running all the numbers at a safe occupancy rate (could be more but we calculate with the lowest numbers). We would use a property management company, it would be too difficult for us to manage it ourselves. This eats up a lot of cash flow.

Is this "good" cash flow? We were aiming for more around 30K per year, but maybe that's unrealistic. Would love everyone's thoughts.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Both of mine are doing about $2000- $2500 a month, but I'm in ny first year at STRs. According to what I see on BP, people expect to get 3-5 x the rent they would get for a LTR, and I think that is a reasonable expectation once you are fully established and bringing in private listings in addition to AIR and VRBO.

How are you running your numbers? The best way is to do it yourself by pulling similar properties off of AIR or VRBO sites. Check their rates AND their bookings (how full are they?) Then just do the math.

Of course, for a STR, location is huge, even more so than a typical rental.

And remember, you can always get a house try the STR thang for a while, and if it doesn't work out, turn it into a LTR. You can't always do the reverse....