All Forum Posts by: Ben Weatherhead

Thanks @Brenden Mitchum for the positive reenforcement! I'll be sure to check out datausa and bestplaces, getting well rounded information is important when making a decision!

If you are like me you are eager to get into real estate investing in one form or another. For me the short term vacation rental market was the niche I wanted to play in. I have worked in the hotel industry for many years and still to this day my favorite job was working at Disney. It was not because Disney was a great company (it was, don't get me wrong) but it was seeing families who had saved up their money come down to this magical place to relax, unwind and reconnect with their families. Being able to help create such positive life memories for these families was so rewarding and is something I want to do full time.

The next step was to take this pie in the sky idea and manifest it into reality. I was struggling to find a market analysis for my location - I was looking to understand over the last 5-10 years what has the occupancy been like, what have the average rates looked like and then using this information to understand roughly how many nights I can anticipate renting my unit out for and what the average rate would need and could be to see if this would be a good fit. Of course there are many other considerations like where in the town you are located, how many bedrooms, local ordinances, association rules etc but I was looking to get a 20,000 foot view of the area first then dive deeper.

For me the most successful way to understand the market was to connect with local realtors and property managers. I reached out to two or three and after sharing what my goals were with the property managers they were able to help me understand the market a little better. In addition to understanding the market better I was able to work with the property managers and get a feel for who I believe can take care of and sell my unit the best.

If you are like me and the struggle was performing a market analysis on your desired location I recommend reaching out to realtors and properties managers in your desired area and I recommend chatting with a few to get a well rounded outlook.

How about you BiggerPockets do you have any other recommendations on how to understand an area's occupancy history, average rent, etc?

Hope it was helpful!  

Hi! My name is Ben Weatherhead and I feel so fortune I have found Bigger Pockets with the great resources available and of course the community!

I am reaching out to see if anyone might be able to connect me or point me in the right direction. Over the last 12+ years I have worked in the hotel industry covering nearly every aspect of the day to day operations and the goal I had when I graduated college was to own and operate my own hotel. I now understand this takes a lot of equity to get a venture like this off the ground. I have since decided to pivot and concentrate on rentals (both long and short term) with concentrating on short term rentals in the beginning. The immediate future is to run these properties as a 'side hustle' until I can build my portfolio large enough to jump into it full time.

I have put together a business plan and my goal is start with two properties and expand from there. My two properties will be in different seasons, one will be in Northern Michigan and the other I am looking at South West Florida. With my background I am connected in Northern Michigan and have successfully connected with a team and performed a market analysis. All my ducks are in a row and now looking to purchase. Now I am looking to do the same work in Florida.

I am looking to see if there is anyone on Bigger Pockets who might be able to get me in contact with a realtor, or short term vacation rental manager to understand the following:

• - Local Rules and Regulations
• - Various Association Dues
• - Tax Information
• - Connections to cleaning crews, maintenance team or a full service property management
• - Resources in area to perform market analysis - occ rate, adr, etc

Thank you in advance for the direction you may be able to point me in. Look forward to connecting and engaging in the community!!

Best,

Ben Weatherhead