All Forum Posts by: Bruno C.

Fan Bi I’ll send you a PM.

@Lance Peterson as for HOAs I dealt with one in my Airbnb in Boston. Ultimately, as HOAs look to regulate, this concern will come up more and more. 

Having said that - HOAs are already trying to be profitable! It's their job to maintain a surplus, so the HOA can pay for maintaining the building, upgrading as needed, etc. My HOA considered this but we never made a decision before I left. However, I would consider 5-10% of profits to be reasonable. I think the ADA concern is excessive and this person sounds like they don't know what they're talking about - someone call me out here if I'm way off base!

Of course - you need to make sure you look out for the best interests of the HOA - keeping a safe and secure place for other neighbors in the building.

@Kellen King You may want to use Everbooked, which will also show occupancy levels, pricing, and comparable properties with their estimated occupancies as well. I found it very powerful in my experience and gave me just the level of granularity I wanted for the right price. 

Couldn't agree more with @Frankie Woods That's the easiest way to see if an investment makes sense. Just be conservative in your numbers when putting it together - any property can look good in there if you make it so...

@Dev Paul Depends where you're talking I guess...

So LA could get you close to the 'hood or further out towards the inland empire - but I doubt that's what you want. In NYC, I'd say it's pretty much out of reach, unless you're looking in NJ, where there might be some good finds next to a NJT stop. But that's based on my little knowledge in each area - I'd imagine the locals would know better. In general, if your mind is set on investing in those areas, returns will likely be lower due to more competition. 

@Dev Paul Lots of clarity now from your long response - thanks for that! Based on those returns you want, you could definitely focus on LA/NYC but again you'll be paying a pretty penny, and based on your budget it sounds more challenging - but would gladly like to see someone on this thread prove me wrong. More bang for your buck in the southeast, or in general areas which have 6-10 month high seasons and more consistent demand. 

Everything you mentioned about your endgame makes sense - get 1 @ 2.5k, minimize your burn rate and allow you to pursue your true passion - becoming a filmmaker. Get 2 @ 2.5k, and you could focus on becoming a filmmaker for a long time with minimal STR work. Best of luck!

Oh - and with regards to candidates - I think Southeastern cities have a lot of potential right now (Charleston/Savannah/Asheville/Nashville). Look for long periods of demand, and a broad economy that attracts people year-round or close to it.

Dev Paul I think in general yes you’ll definitely want higher end occupancy rates - I shoot for about 85% in my rentals. This gives some wiggle room for a maintenance fix or something similar. Usually, if you’re looking for higher than that, you can get it by offering discount on the gap days. With regards to the price point, it’s really dependent on your market, seasonality, and your fundamentals (purchase price, rehab costs, etc) to make sure it’s worth your while. Every market is different when it comes to Airbnb. If you want to see the real numbers on 1 Airbnb you can look at my profile here on BP. But, to answer your question on full time gigs, I’d really need to know what would be “worth it” to you to self-manage. Is that 2k, 4K, 8k, or +12k a month? What’s the tipping point for you? No doubt though, even with 1 very good Airbnb, it’s likely not enough for a full time gig. I would expect 3-4 strong Airbnb VRs with strong cash flow would put you in a good place to make a decent living (6-10k/month). Even then, it likely won’t consume your time if done in a scalable fashion.

Fan Bi meeting the appraiser is critical. I do it either myself or have my realtor do it on every refi. You can always do a second opinion but at the end of the day if you can bring comps and build rapport with the appraiser (in an honest way) that will go way longer towards getting your price than it should. As Jason Lee mentions the comps you provide (in hand, printed) will help give the appraiser confidence that the price they’re giving isn’t unrealistic, and hence they won’t get questioned about it by supervisors or homeowners

Jacob Gelinas lots of factors to consider here and the previous posters have given good advice. Remember that there’s a lot of other things that can happen - as a new investor you’ll want to account for vacancies, repairs, and a lot of those repairs could be expensive - water heater, burners, plumbing stacks etc. The costs add up quick. As a side note - what’s the endgame for this property in your mind? Keep it in mind, as you can self manage it (practically) forever but that time is money, and you should account for that - nobody wants to work for free. At the end of the day if you’re confident in the fundamental numbers of what this asset will return, then you’ll be fine.