All Forum Posts by: Bob Willis

Just make sure you have someone who can change the batteries in the locks when needed. They will need to be changed every 6 months or so, at least that was my experience.

BCC refers to an email option where you can copy someone (BCC) who will not be seen by the other recipient(s) of the email. Say you are sending an email to your bank, but you also want to copy someone else, perhaps a partner, without the bank knowing (not sure why you would want to do that, but this is just a scenario), you would BCC your partner. The email would go to both, but the bank would not see that the partner was also copied. Another scenario, perhaps you are sending the same email to a bunch of potential investors, but the investors wished to remain anonymous from each other, you would BCC all of them, so no one would know who all were included on the email. It would save you from having to send multiple emails while protecting individual identities and contact information.  Make sense?

Are you managing the STR yourself, or have you shopped that out?

Scottsdale is very saturated, unless you have a house that is a significant differentiator you will be one of 6,000 STR there.

Location, location, location... As @Scott E. mentioned above the market is saturated in some places (like the Phoenix metro where he is located). I believe AirBnb and its ilk will be the go to platform for families traveling in the future. Those who say they would rather just go to a hotel are people who have not traveled with kids for an extended stay at a destination (imo). I recently changed co-hosts on my STR and that made a big difference. I had been with the same PM for six years and they had grown too big too fast. I found someone smaller and hungrier, my monthly revenues have seen significant improvement. Families are traveling, there is a business case to be made for investing in STR, but you got to buy right.

I think you have made a great and relevant observation. You have built substantial wealth with real estate (on paper) but there are limited ways to really get to it and enjoy it on a day to day basis. You want cash flow. The best way to enjoy and get to my equity has been a question I have been asking myself for about of a year now. I remember someone once posting, "You can't eat equity." I've pivoted some of my investing from real estate to, what I hope, are higher returning investments. These investments have better cash-flow, but less appreciation. But that's what I want at this point. I don't think it's a coincidence that some of the individuals with big "brands" here on BP have published books and built out their wealth in other, ancillary ways. What @Randy Rodenhouse says above is a more passive strategy to get better returns. It is something I've considered, but losing control is a limiter for me. Good luck and let us know if you pivot.

You see people living in places like this all across rural America. 

You have a very small chance of collecting anything. Unless you know where they work and are sure you can get a garnishment on a judgement I would just walk away. But if you are sure you can collect, knock yourself out. How much more time and effort do you want to commit to this?

I once rented a STR in Vancouver. We did not realize when we rented it that it had no TVs. Unfortunately when we arrived both my wife and I got very sick with the flu. Our entire three day stay was in the STR with no TV. It sucked. Unless you are in Tulum (or some equally exotic place) you should have TVs.

Tim Farris posted this today, I think it's apropos.
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process, is its own reward.”​— Amelia Earhart