House rent or not outside Atlanta

[Felicia Jenkins]

Good morning. I need a little advice. I currently own my home in the Lithonia, GA area. I got married and im moving back to CA. I need to rent my house out but thinking about going the untraditional route ie Airbnb, Padsplit etc. Need some honest input and insight on if I should go that route or just go the traditional route. Thank you in advance.

[Josh Bowser]

Hey Felicia - I might be able to help with highest and best use between Padsplit vs. Long Term Rental.

Please feel free to reach out in my dms - I'll need property address along with your debt / equity/ monthly payment information!

[Peter Mckernan]

Hey! Congrats on getting married! You can get more money on either of those avenues.. You will be doing more work on them on a daily and monthly standpoint, but overall.. You need to do the research too if your area would be bringing in more money as an STR, some areas would do better as a long term rental as well.

How to run the numbers, LTR, MTR and then STR.. Your baseline to rentals is the safest (LTR) to the least safest (STR) on numbers. I mean by safest is on the volatility, for example STRs have many different factors, seasons of the year, local government regs and much more. LTRs do not face those types of situations.

[Laura Stayton]

Quote from @Felicia Jenkins:

Good morning. I need a little advice. I currently own my home in the Lithonia, GA area. I got married and im moving back to CA. I need to rent my house out but thinking about going the untraditional route ie Airbnb, Padsplit etc. Need some honest input and insight on if I should go that route or just go the traditional route. Thank you in advance.

I am not familiar with Padsplit.  But generally Airbnb homes are in resort areas (not sure if that's the case here)

[Felicia Jenkins]

Thank you for that information. I live about 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta so I'm not sure that a STL is good for my situation. But I could be wrong.

[Bill Hampton]

@Felicia Jenkins

I recommend going with a long term rental. I own a long-term rental in Lithonia. 

There may not be much demand for a short term rental that far from Atlanta. Check AirDNA for demand, pricing, etc.

The Dekalb Board of Commissioners has proposed regulations for short-term rentals. https://engagedekalb.dekalbcountyga.gov/airbnb-dekalb-county

Short term rentals require you or your property manager to be hands-on and come with more risk. The same goes for Padsplit. 

Padsplit residents can cause problems with neighbors and other residents because many have substance abuse and/or criminal histories. 

If your padsplit residents have vehicles that can cause parking issues. If they don't have vehicles your property will have to be near bus lines or Marta. 

Long term rentals are easier to manage and come with less risk. This is important for first time landlords. 

Good luck and let me know if I can be of assistance. 

[Karen Oduok]

Hey Felicia!

I think you can't go wrong with a long term rental, but don't count yourself out of STRs because of your location. There are many STRs that do quite well in the suburbs of major cityies Off the top of my head, I can think of one of the STRs we manage that is 40 mins outside of Dallas and it has a great occupancy rate. With that home we see a lot of family visits. People coming into town to visit family, reunions, weddings or professionals on contracts.

All that to say, don't count yourself out. Use softwares like AirDNA and Pricelabs to get an estimate of what you could be making and see if it's worth it. I will say, short term rentals require a bit more work, and if you are moving out of state, you may want to take a look into getting a property manager ( take that cost into account when running the numbers ).

I hope that helps, reach out if you have any more questions.

[Bill Hampton]

@Felicia Jenkins

Also, Padsplit will want you to eliminate any dining room, den, etc to add more bedrooms. 

Once you do this conversion you can't change it back to a traditional long-term rental. 

If you decide to sell it after a Padsplit conversion, you can't sell to traditional homebuyers or long-term rental landlords. You can only sell it to landlords using the rent by room strategy. This could lower your resale value. 

Good luck. 

[Arvand Sabetian]

Hi Felicia,

I'd definitely recommend taking your time to consider your options.

Lithonia sees a lot of squatters and trespassers. It's possible to find great tenants with thorough screening, but also be mindful if you're considering short-term (e.g., AirBnB) as it will expose your property to bad actors.

Law enforcement and the legal system seem to operate quite slowly out there. Note, this is from direct experience.

It might be wise to also consider selling since home prices are slightly up in the past 2 years.

[Michael Smythe]

@Felicia Jenkins the shorter the term of the lease and the more tenants there are, the more challenges you'll face - especially if you plan to manage remotely.

Who will be your boots on the ground, do showings, maintenance, etc.?

[Felicia Jenkins]

Quote from @Michael Smythe:

@Felicia Jenkins the shorter the term of the lease and the more tenants there are, the more challenges you'll face - especially if you plan to manage remotely.

Who will be your boots on the ground, do showings, maintenance, etc.?

Hi Michael,

My realtor who sold me the house is going to manage it for me. 

[Felicia Jenkins]

Quote from @Peter Mckernan:

Hey! Congrats on getting married! You can get more money on either of those avenues.. You will be doing more work on them on a daily and monthly standpoint, but overall.. You need to do the research too if your area would be bringing in more money as an STR, some areas would do better as a long term rental as well.

How to run the numbers, LTR, MTR and then STR.. Your baseline to rentals is the safest (LTR) to the least safest (STR) on numbers. I mean by safest is on the volatility, for example STRs have many different factors, seasons of the year, local government regs and much more. LTRs do not face those types of situations.

 Thank you for that information Peter.

[Felicia Jenkins]

Quote from @Arvand Sabetian:

Hi Felicia,

I'd definitely recommend taking your time to consider your options.

Lithonia sees a lot of squatters and trespassers. It's possible to find great tenants with thorough screening, but also be mindful if you're considering short-term (e.g., AirBnB) as it will expose your property to bad actors.

Law enforcement and the legal system seem to operate quite slowly out there. Note, this is from direct experience.

It might be wise to also consider selling since home prices are slightly up in the past 2 years.

 Hi Arvand.

I was thinking about selling at first but I decided to keep it just in case. Thank you for the information. 

[Felicia Jenkins]

Quote from @Karen Oduok:

Hey Felicia!

I think you can't go wrong with a long term rental, but don't count yourself out of STRs because of your location. There are many STRs that do quite well in the suburbs of major cityies Off the top of my head, I can think of one of the STRs we manage that is 40 mins outside of Dallas and it has a great occupancy rate. With that home we see a lot of family visits. People coming into town to visit family, reunions, weddings or professionals on contracts.

All that to say, don't count yourself out. Use softwares like AirDNA and Pricelabs to get an estimate of what you could be making and see if it's worth it. I will say, short term rentals require a bit more work, and if you are moving out of state, you may want to take a look into getting a property manager ( take that cost into account when running the numbers ).

I hope that helps, reach out if you have any more questions.

Thank you Karen. I will have a property manager to manage my property while I out of state. I just don't know if my property will do well as a STR. I could be wrong though.

[Felicia Jenkins]

Quote from @Bill Hampton:

@Felicia Jenkins

Also, Padsplit will want you to eliminate any dining room, den, etc to add more bedrooms. 

Once you do this conversion you can't change it back to a traditional long-term rental. 

If you decide to sell it after a Padsplit conversion, you can't sell to traditional homebuyers or long-term rental landlords. You can only sell it to landlords using the rent by room strategy. This could lower your resale value. 

Good luck. 

 Hi Bill

I seen that and I am not trying to do all that. Thank you for more information on Padsplit.