All Forum Posts by: Brian Eilering

 We always have considered it the cost of doing business but their terrible policies continue to rear their ugly heads time and time again.  So massively frustrating we are almost willing to pull them off entirely.  Hoping someone here has an idea or two that has served them well they might be able to share with the group.

Those seem to be great marketing ideas for your scenario, ours is a little more widespread though.  We have guests from many different walks of life and several different industries.  Not sure if I can be quite as direct as you but love the ideas!

As everyone is rushing to get into the Airbnb market, we have been in it long enough to want to get off of their platform altogether.

We still want to do short-term rentals just not on Airbnb due to their guest-friendly company policies.

We are not in a vacation area so VRBO produced next to nothing.  We actually cater to workers coming in and out of our area.  We love the aspect of the 30-90 day guest.  We have our units on Furnished Finder and it fills some of our calendars, just not all of them.  

Does anyone have experience with other sites or strategies doing short-term rentals....not on Airbnb?

This is a great thread with a lot of useful information. As of today, Wells is not currently doing HELOC's but I do understand this post started many years ago. I am following up with a couple of the others mentioned here, I will provide an update as I go.

I think this is a good evergreen thread outside of a few minor details pertaining to the current situation when you are reading this.

Hey @Winn Merwin good to hear from you.

I thought this one was a dud from the start.  My wife and I gave it a second look and realized, it should be priced more like a duplex due to the layout.  As you are aware, basements are kind of hard to find in Augusta.  This gave us the opportunity to capitalize on this home.  

I know you guys are killing it in Augusta, need to hook up again and have a drink and some dinner!

 Great post, you literally just talked me into giving it a try.  Thank you so much for your review!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Augusta.

Purchase price: $245,000
Cash invested: $50,000

This single-family home sits close to the Medical District near Downtown Augusta, Ga. The basement was already finished, we just needed to add a small kitchen to make it a fully independent unit from the upstairs. We now rent both the upstairs main house as well as the basement apartment. We are marketing the whole house for Masters Week for 2023. For 2022, we rented the units out separately. This is great cash-flowing property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The ability to make two units out of the single-family residence.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found it on Zillow, I am a real estate agent so I negotiated the deal myself.

How did you finance this deal?

20% conventional loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

Adding the kitchen to the finished basement making two separate units.

What was the outcome?

Two separate units which have both been fully booked since purchase. We are using Furnished Finder as well as Airbnb to fill our vacancies.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We first looked at this home as a SFR and almost passed. When breezing through the images, I realized the opportunity with the basement. There was already ample parking, the potential for this house was great!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, a great lender (Jon Bodan w/The Perpetual) who has financed many of my deals for us.

We have 7 units so nowhere near $50K a month.  Curious if there are any recommendations for someone with fewer units?  There are so many to choose from, any edge would be great!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $265,000
Cash invested: $50,000

We live roughly 45 minutes away from Athens, Ga, the home of the University of Georgia. With two kids aspiring to attend UGA in their college years, the time was right for us to pull the trigger.

Off-campus housing currently generates $500/room rent for a home in this location/condition. By adding a 5th bedroom and raising rents to the current rates, we will be increasing our monthly cash greatly with just a few fixes.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We were inspired by the college town podcast featuring the investor from the University of Oregon. Episode #140 with Bill Syrios.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Using Zillow we were able to located a dozen homes I was able to drive by. We narrowed it down to a couple of homes and offered on this one. The market was strong at the time of purchase so little room was available in terms of negotiating.

How did you finance this deal?

We used money from a 1031 exchange as our down payment and used a conventional loan for the balance.

How did you add value to the deal?

Increasing rents to match current market conditions and adding a 5th bedroom. Together, we were able to greatly increase our monthly cash flow.

What was the outcome?

So far, so good. Tenants in place through July of 2021 and we already have potential tenants inquiring for the next school year at our increased rent rates.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Simple challenge: we need to make repairs including adding a 5th bedroom in a short period of time. Existing students lease ends in late July, new students would like to move in Aug 1.

Purchasing during COVID was a challenge as all of the banks had tightened up their processes. We would have sailed through the process a few months prior. In this case, we actually had to extend closing twice due to loan underwriting.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am an agent so I was able to benefit by managing the process on the buy side while also getting the commission from the sale.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $265,000
Cash invested: $50,000

We live roughly 45 minutes away from Athens, Ga, the home of the University of Georgia. With two kids aspiring to attend UGA in their college years, the time was right for us to pull the trigger. Currently set up as a 4 bedroom, our goal is to add a 5th bedroom when the current students move out this summer.

Off-campus housing currently generates $500/room rent for a home in this location/condition. By adding a 5th bedroom and raising rents to the current rates, we will be increasing our monthly cash flow by $1000 with just a few fixes.

We are excited about our most recent purchase with hopes of both of our kids being able to live in the home when they attend school.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We were inspired by the college town podcast featuring the investor from the University of Oregon. Episode #140 with Bill Syrios.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Using Zillow we were able to located a dozen homes I was able to drive by. We narrowed it down to a couple of homes and offered on this one. The market was strong at the time of purchase so little room was available in terms of negotiating.

How did you finance this deal?

We used money from a 1031 exchange as our down payment and used a conventional loan for the balance.

How did you add value to the deal?

Increasing rents to match current market conditions and adding a 5th bedroom. Together, we were able to greatly increase our monthly cash flow.

What was the outcome?

So far, so good. Tenants in place through July of 2021 and we already have potential tenants inquiring for the next school year at our increased rent rates.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Simple challenge: we need to make repairs including adding a 5th bedroom in a short period of time. Existing students lease ends in late July, new students would like to move in Aug 1.

Purchasing during COVID was a challenge as all of the banks had tightened up their processes. We would have sailed through the process a few months prior. In this case, we actually had to extend closing twice due to loan underwriting.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am an agent so I was able to benefit by managing the process on the buy side while also getting the commission from the sale.