All Forum Posts by: Andrew Steffens

Quote from @Anthony Venturini:

I have been on the lookout for a vacation rental management company to purchase for a few months now. I have been looking at listings on bizquest and bizbuysell, but have not found any that are super interesting yet.

One question that I have is, given that I am not a current Airbnb or VRBO host, what will happen to the reviews? I am assuming the companies for sale will be responsible for all of the host reviews on all of their properties. When these properties get transferred to me as the new host, I will have no history, so the properties will lose all of their reviews, right?

I was considering the options that I would have in this scenario. Is there a way for the sellers to add me as a co-host and stay on as a host for a monthly fee? And then later on, replace me as the host?

Also, if anyone knows of someone selling the vacation rental business, please let me know. I love Orlando / Disney, Tampa, Del Ray Beach, and Fort Meyers areas.

 Hey Anthony, we are based in Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, with properties also in NJ, Naples, and now Miami. I will send you a DM now.

We are based in Tampa/Saint Pete but have just expanded into Naples and now South Miami - would love to start working my way back up North ASAP!

Quote from @Jewel B.:

Happy Sunday everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone here is attending the STR Summit next month with Sara and Tony Robinson (Real Estate Rookie podcast, short term rentals) in Orlando, FL on the 20th-22nd. I'm considering going - never been to Florida though because that's where the crazies are 😅 Zeona McIntyre and Sarah Weaver (MTRs/midterm rentals) will also be there along with some other guest speakers.

I believe they also had one recently, so if you attended, how was it?

2023 STR Summit

 Ive never attended one of these seemingly smaller ones.  I do agree with the points made here that all the information you could even imagine of getting there is already here on BP and/or other online sources.  However, networking could provide some invaluable experiences.  However, I imagine you may be a busy person and cannot attend multiple events per year so I would choose wisely.  We have been to VRMA events several times (and IMN investor events) and will say they are large and you can get a lot done in a short period of time.  I would pick what works best for you

We are in Tampa/Clearwater/Saint Petersburg.  What we see if the larger (more expensive) beach houses have seasonality tied to the school calendar.  However our more urban units have increased rates during our high season, occupancy stays fairly consistent throughout the year.  I think you will want to focus on areas that are not super depending on family travel, because then you have school calendar to contend with.

We have had clients still rent their house despite what closing docs say.  Servicers do not care much about what you do as long as payment is on time.  However, this is illegal (mortgage fraud) and perhaps unethical depending on how you feel/look at it.  Let your conscience be your guide here, it is a personal decision.

We use and have had minimal to almost no guest pushback on inputting their email.  The little bit we have had we just give them the standard network credentials so they can log in directly and bypass StayFi

7+ bedroom homes do well in any tourist heavy area (we are in Tampa/Clearwater/St Pete Market) as they can accommodate large groups and simple land demand principles apply as there are many large groups wanting to rent accommodations and there is not enough supply.

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

I worked with an agent that specializes in Florida STR. A 5bed/4bath with pool, 1-2 blocks from the beach was running well over $1 million and projecting $130-$150 gross income. That was during the peak for STR.

if someone has a $1 million STR for sale in Florida that can produce more than $160,000 a year, I would love to hear more.

Not 1-2 blocks from the beach, about a 5-7 min drive. On the beach would do more, but would cost more and ROI would be less

Quote from @Alice Chen:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

We managed for a client (who since moved here and no self manages).  He paid $760,000 in 2020 (now worth in the $1M range) and in the year we managed grossed $260,000.  It is not impossible to still hit those numbers here (Tampa area beaches, FL).

What's the numbers now Andrew? Say still buying < 700K and assume still able to get a STR permit. I also assume you were talking about an SFH. 

The house now would be about $1M (and a more expensive mortgage interest wise).  STR permit no problem in unincorporated Pinellas County.  The rental income was garnered during pea covid time when Florida was booming.  We are still very busy so I would say income is still possible, but take off 10% to be very conservative.

Quote from @Max Armstrong:

@Andrew Steffens

Can you give some insight on how the expenses are affected when the units are mixed like this? Does it hurt cash flow??

 Sure, I think multi unit buildings of like/similar units are fine.  Hotels are an example of this.  Of course things can occasionally go wrong like a loud/drunk guest disturbing other guests but people understand the risks associated in apartment style buildings to a degree.

Our very first STR was a small mansion on the beach that also had a detached 2/1 with a pool between the units. The main house got around $1000-1200 a night and the casita got $2-400 a night. Very often the shared nature was a turn off especially to the larger unit who was paying a lot more. In hindsight we could have had less headaches and did just as well if not better renting it altogether as one unit.