All Forum Posts by: Brandi Scharrer

Nice to meet another nomad! Good luck on the Vegas front and making that a homebase. We've lived here full time about 8+ years before becoming nomads and have always liked it. One of the reasons we return every year since being nomadic. The STR rules do vary here based on area so be sure to do some research. If there is a REI meetup in town let me know. I haven't made it to a one yet and would like to check it out.

STR = short term rental. If you hover over some of the acronyms it should show you a tooltip on what it means. Best of luck to you! 

Thanks Cara, will do! We were just in Michigan a few weeks ago for the summer. We'll be back again next year, I'll look you up then! I'm hoping to have a STR there by then too so we can stop renting from others. Good luck to you on yours!

*hello* BP Community!

I'm a newbie poster, experienced BP forum stalker, BP podcast(s) subscriber and future real estate investor.

Quick intro on us. My husband, myself and our pups are digital nomads and have been living full time out of STRs for the past 3+ years all over the country while we work full time remotely. Several years ago we decided instead of working out of the same home office everyday in Las Vegas why not work out of different ones across the country. At the time buying multiple properties just didn't occur to us. When our lease expired we moved out and got rid most of our stuff. 

We love this travel lifestyle and are constantly tweaking it but are looking to change up the "how" we do it. It was a fun experiment and we have learned a TON! We are looking to transition from living in 8-11 different homes we pay to rent, to owning 3-5 stable places we can return to every year and that we can STR while we are not there. Our home locations vary somewhere between Las Vegas, NV and Michigan. As guests that have lived full time out of lots of STRs I definitely think we have an interesting perspective.

We both really like what we do and are not looking to replace our careers, at least not anytime soon. Instead we are looking for a better way of living this lifestyle while a.) being more comfortable in the homes we live in b.) reducing our monthly costs c.) increasing our net worth and d.) if we can create cash flow great!

As a nomad that literally hasn't had any homeowner type of responsibility in years it is a bit of a mental hurdle to get over pulling the trigger on purchasing and renting several properties. But the BP community has been great thus far and I'll keeping analyzing deals until I find a good deal to start this next phase for us. Looking forward to continuing to learn from this community. 

Ah, @Michael Baum good point. I'll be sure to get with my accountant on this. Thanks

Thanks everyone for the feedback! All great input I'll need to keep in mind. 

I was caught up in if a STR would qualify for "rent" during the "refinance" step of the BRRRR method I didn't even think about just seeing if I could refinance off my strength as a borrower and not worrying about the rental income. That may work for now but I'm sure as acquire more properties I won't be able to do this.

@Jerry Padilla - tell me more please. :) I don't own a "first" home, but my state of residence is Nevada and this home is in Michigan. If we live in the property can we claim it as a second home vs a rental or investment property? And if yes, how many months do we have to live there and can we have multiple homes? Thanks in advance.

When using the Brrr method and it comes time to refinance do you have to show any rental history of the property being rented? Is that something the lenders take into consideration? If so, how much?

Found a property that looks like a good opportunity to Brrr in Michigan, the difference is I don't want to rent to a longer term tenant but instead want to do a STR. The property is out of state, but in the area we grew up in and that we return to every year to visit family and friends. We normally stay for 3-4 mos and stay in another STR. I'd like to stay in our own property moving forward when in town but then STR it the other months of the year. Will I need to show proof of any renting history to the lender when I refinance? Thanks in advance!

Wonderful, VERY detailed feedback by all! Right down to thread count, thank you. We've been keeping a list of items we have really liked while staying in various STRs. Ran into the makeup wash cloths a couple of times and love them! Same with bed topper. A terrible nights sleep can ruin a stay. @Dan Bunker agree about the simpler appliances, some of those things are so complicated.  One item I always bring with us are kitchen knives. If you tend to cook terrible knives can really make this challenging. 

@Jake Cohen I love the hunt of finding refurnished items but agree it does/can increase timeline. This will be something I have to experiment with. Our properties will be out of state so finding and picking these items up might be more challenging. 

Curious, how long these bigger ticket items (furniture, appliances) are lasting for everyone.

I know there are a couple of threads on the cost of furnishing a STR and they do appear to vary greatly (size, market, target audience etc.) and I'd still love to hear about cost but some of my other questions for the group are:

1 - If you are starting from scratch how long does it take you to furnish your STR? (ie 3BD, 2BA 1500sq ft)

2 - If you have multiple STRs do you buy similar household items for all of them?  

3 - Are there items that are a must to buy new?

4 - Is anyone working off a checklist? Must have vs luxury items?

Thanks! 

Thanks everyone for your advice! 

@Avery Carl - market is still TBD. Right now the net is wide, basically somewhere between Las Vegas and Michigan. But you're right about regulations, that will definitely be a huge factor.

@Michael Baum, agreed - love @Valerie Rogers' idea! Thanks Valarie for those suggestions! I think getting the long term renter "invested" in the STR will definitely help. They'd have more eyes on the property than a property manager. Would definitely require the right kind of person. After posting this I saw another similar thread and was recommended to do a month-to-month with the longer term renter just in case they found it wasn't for them. I suppose that is a possibility but I think that may not be as huge of a deal if you get them involved and they benefit in some way.

@Justin V. - I've tossed that idea around too. I think that is a possibility but I do like the above concepts where the long term renter becomes part of your team and your eyes on the ground. Might be a good way to start. Plus this would be an out of state rental.