All Forum Posts by: Alex Scattareggia

More cash flow

Less wear and tear on our properties

Larger margin for error on purchase

Allowed me to scale the fastest (definitely market dependent)

+1 to the mandatory mid week cleanings.  During the pandemic we pivoted to a much longer average stay and having the maid come twice a month was a great way to check in on the guest without them feeling intruded upon and adding value to their stay.  We had one bad experience where the guest was smoking cigarettes in the home which was flagged immediately by the maid.  We reached out to the guest and reminded them of the rules of our lease and they understood and turned out to be model guests for their remaining stay. 

Overall the positives outweigh the negatives in my experience and what you lose in nightly rate you make up in occupancy/overall income and ease of management.  Cheers, good luck 

Side note on the hot tub vs. pool conversation.  All of my listings are in 365/year warm weather destinations so we never considered a hot tub.  We bought a rental that came with one, and were shocked at how frequently it got used even in the summer.  We started really advertising it and found that it was a big draw even in a hot weather destination (we were also the only listing within our price point that had a private hot tub).  That being said the downsides of management are listed above, it is more turnover intensive than any other single part of the house.  Cheers, and good luck. 

FWIW I still believe as do a lot of experienced operators that two things are still true with all of the info above. 

1. The best operators will continue to mop up the most market share in any financial environment and 

2. The fact that there is a huge influx of listings that are underperforming means that there will be opportunities for us as investors on the buy side of the business in the months and years to come.  A lot of these underperforming listings were undoubtedly purchased with pie in the sky analysis and now that reality is setting in I would assume that there are going to be deals to be had as people move to other asset classes or markets.  

Cheers!

I am surprised to see that this article is still gaining traction.  

Someone showed the math on this better than I am going to now but here are the cliffnotes. 

Revpal is a just measuring the revenue per listing in those locations. If we look at the numbers before the decline, almost every market listed in that story also saw massive LISTING growth over the same period of time. Meaning the market is not necessarily shrinking, it is an oversaturation of particular markets that is causing a decline in individual revenue per listing. Again, I am paraphrasing, but from anecdotal evidence in my own markets I have found this to be the case. The STR market itself has not necessarily shrunk but in particular markets the influx of listings has caused a decline in revenue for individual hosts.

Quote from @Collin Hays:

Another instance where Airbnb is a noun, verb, and adjective, all in the same article. I’ve been renting out vacation homes for 18 years and never accepted a single reservation from Airbnb.

The term has become synonymous with STR. I wouldn´t let it bother me, more general awareness of the market means greater acceptance and ultimately a bigger market for everyone regardless of where they are choosing to list their properties.

We have used both Schlage and Yale keyless options and liked them both and all of our properties are at beach locations.  Good luck!

Quote from @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. 

Hi Joesph, if you are looking to move to the target market anyway why dive in with a property manager? 

In my experience there is very little that you can do as valuable as self managing in the beginning.  If for no other reason than to learn the process and know what you expect from your future PM.  If you are out of market there are a variety of ways to manage but especially if you are going to live in the market where you buy I would recommend a few months minimum of self management and learning how to do it from valuable resources like this and others.  Best of luck!

Quote from @Dan Slaughter:

I partnered with a local company to provide a discount code to the guests should they chose to rent one.  I didn’t want the overhead or the liability with providing one as part of the rental. 

We have done this with a variety of items and it has worked out wonderfully.

Deena, we have a 4 unit and a 5 unit both of which are run 100% STR.

The 4 unit has a pool and we let people know up front that the pool is shared by 4 apartments so please be respectful to all guests. In over 5 years there we have had one issue with a stolen phone but beyond that it has been smooth sailing. 

One cool option that this creates (not sure on the size of your individual units) but we list all individually, and also have separate listings that combine the individual units to be marketed as larger units.  We make it very clear that each group will have their own private entrance etc. but we have had some success with this strategy.  For example, our 4 unit is, 3 studios with in-suite baths, and one large 2 bedroom.  Accordingly we market them all individually and then have a separate listing as a ¨Unique 5 bedroom with individual suites¨.  It is rarely available because it requires unbooked nights across all 4 units but we have gotten some awesome bookings that way from parts of the market that we never would have touched otherwise. The key is being very transparent about the setup of the rooms when people are booking. But what we have found is that there is actually a market for people that are traveling with a bigger group but like the privacy of everyone having their own space. The more units the more available combinations there are for you to play with.  

As far as ease of management I would say it doesn't add any additional stress to the process having multiple units at one location. If anything it makes it a little bit easier having everything in one spot. Feel free and reach out if you want a little more insight and I am happy to help. Good luck!