All Forum Posts by: Anna Strausbaugh

We did mostly stuff off of Facebook Marketplace for our place, which was much more time intensive, BUT we got higher quality stuff doing it that way. We have a log cabin so we were doing a lot of log furniture and that stuff is so heavy that no one wants to move it, so we got it for really inexpensive. We took the advice from others about having nice, new mattresses and linens, but also having higher quality furniture so that you don't have to replace it as often. People will not be kind to your stuff so you definitely don't want cheap stuff that will break easily. It will cost you more in the long run. We got around this by doing high quality, but not brand new. Good luck!

Hi! I've worked with Tom Kirchmeyer at Fulcrum Home Loans in Eagle and he offers DSCR loans and usually has some of the best rates. Google him or you can direct message me and I'll send you his contact info. Good luck!

@Tyler Wagner Thanks for letting me know, I had not heard that. That is super surprising considering the state laws in regard to being able to rent your property. Ketchum and McCall were the only ones I had heard of previously having any regulation on STR's. I wonder what had gotten so bad in Sandpoint with them that they felt the need to regulate them so severely?

We have a cabin we rent in McCall, Idaho and April and May are super slow (but that is normal for a seasonal destination), but we are almost fully booked for summer and we didn't lower our rates. We don't have our calendar open any further out than September so we'll see how the rest of the year goes.

@Kori Keller Hi! Are you representing yourself or do you have an agent helping you? I do both commercial and residential and commercial is definitely a different beast. Once you are under contract and in your due diligence period, I recommend having a Phase 1 environmental study done (I've seen first hand what can happen when you skip this step), getting estopple certificates from each tenant and making sure you study the leases closely so you know what you are getting into, especially if they are gross leases and not NNN. If you need help with Idaho properties I would be happy to help out. Good luck!

I'm pretty sure the reason the Realtors Association is backing this is because they feel they have a really strong case. No city or county in Idaho has been successful at banning someone from having a short term rental. There are some HOA's that ban them, but I've even heard stories of property owners winning cases against HOA's that try to regulate them too. It's true that you can put some restrictions on them like McCall does and Boise is starting to do, but you can't outright ban someone from renting their home. This will be interesting to follow, thanks for sharing!

I agree with everyone above, definitely get the AC! We went through this with our cabin in McCall, Idaho last summer and even though the previous owners never had it, we learned that they had a system in place of keeping doors open in the morning and closing things up in the afternoon to keep it cool. As an STR no one is going to go through that trouble and if they are, it won't be a fun experience for them. We didn't like the price tag on it either, so we actually were able to find a great HVAC company that was a small business and talked to the owner and brokered a trade with him for time at the cabin to cover his labor costs and we only paid for the unit itself. It worked out great because he stayed there before we even had the property live on Airbnb so we didn't lose any income. Just an idea to make it a more affordable upgrade!

Hi Jon, I would definitely say you are correct that you should be underwriting based on current market values because it could be reassessed at any time. Take a the low tax amount while you can, but just plan on that going up. One reason taxes are looking extra low this year is because they gave everyone a tax break with some of the surplus money so taxes on all my properties went down. 

As for your other question, it is not the easiest to get previous years tax info, but at least for Ada county you can go to the assessors website and look up that specific property and see previous years. Hope this helps!

@Josh Edelson, the deposit is definitely a consideration and it varies considerably depending on the builder. I'm not opposed to even the $10k down if it's a nice property and I'm getting good enough pricing on it I feel comfortable that I'd get that $10k back and more if I just complete construction. But there are other builders who want 10% deposits which is insane and I wouldn't do for something like this.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $690,000
Cash invested: $175,000

We purchased this cabin in McCall as a second home and have been running it as a short term rental. We found a great property manager, local cleaner and handyman. It's been renting very consistently and has had great cash flow so far!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We have been wanting a cabin of our own for years and once we found the right one we decided to rent it out when we aren't using it.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

On the MLS. I am an agent so I handled the negotiations.

How did you finance this deal?

2nd home loan

How did you add value to the deal?

We turned a windowless storage/bonus room in the garage (that wasn't even counted in the square footage of the house when we bought it) into an arcade and game room, which has been a huge selling point as an Airbnb because it's really cold in McCall in the winter and not a lot of night life in the town so it gives kids and adults something fun to do in the evenings.