All Forum Posts by: Ashley Brooks

If you are looking at gaining some additional income through arbitrage it could work, but as other people have mentioned, it can be risky and not worth it. My husband and I had 2 in San Antonio that did really well until COVID. March - May were brutal. Thankfully we found a LTR to take over the remainder of the lease for one of them, but we were stuck paying rent and utilities through November with hardly any business for the second one. It hurt. However, when it was good, it was easy to maintain. My husband managed rates, adjusted them a few times a week. He's a Director of Revenue of a hotel, so it was easy and quick for him. I had messages I copy and pasted at check in and check out. The only item I would change is the keypad code because we would update it for guests. Every Sunday I would write my reviews of guests for the week. I coordinated with our cleaner who cleaned those houses and 1 we owned and rented. He was our cleaner/handyman/landscaper. Then shopping for cleaning supplies was done ever month to every other month. Automating ourselves like that helped. We really didn't spend very much time "working" on that side business.

As far as where to start, here are a few things to consider - 1. When looking at properties, confirm if you have to get a permit and if you will have to pay taxes. Do the math with those taxes. When San Antonio started charging us 11% in taxes, it significantly cut into our profits. That could potentially make it not worth it. 2. Find a cleaner/handyman. You may be able to do it yourself, but then it's more of a job for you and not worth it. It's just easier to have someone else do it. 3. Figure out how much it's going to cost to fill the house (furniture, linens, kitchen supplies, tvs, etc.). I have a spreadsheet with basic costs for some of those items. We created that when we were considering getting more houses. I'm happy to share it with you if you'd like. 

If you can get people relocating or groups that need a place to stay for weeks or months at a time, those are ideal, but not easy to get. We only have 1 rental now, and we've had a family in it since Oct because they had damage to their house and no hotel would allow their dogs. They take care of our house like it's their own, and because they've been there so long, we don't have to pay taxes. 

My suggestion would be to save up to buy your own house and rent out a room. We had a 2 story near downtown and we would rent out the upstairs. It was super low maintenance and helped with our mortgage. 

Hope this helps. 

Have you considered AirBNB? I know that could take more of your time, but my husband and I had 3 near downtown that all did well. One was a 2/2 in Government Hill and it had one side that faced 35 and even with that, it did well. If that is ever an option, feel free to reach out. We live in Houston now and only have 1 rental in SA, but have an amazing person who manages it for us. 

Great job on already making positive steps to grow your wealth! I agree you should start in your own backyard. There's going to be so many learning lessons in the beginning and it will be less stressful to be close by. Also, house-hacking is a great way to get started. My husband and I did that with our first property. We bought a 2 story and rented out the top floor on Airbnb. We had also considered renting it to a college kid, but we made more money via Aribnb. If you need any tips to do a short term rental, please don't hesitate to reach out.   

I agree that Austin would be the better choice. People are moving to Texas like crazy. I'm a Realtor in Houston, and the majority of my clients over the past year have been from out of state. With so many companies moving to Texas, the demand for rentals will be there for a while.