All Forum Posts by: Brian Ross

Hi Gail, I'm in Lusaka. Happy to discuss if this is still on the table. 

@Kurt Phillips - this is definitely true in my limited experience. Given that I live overseas, move around relatively frequently and work for non-US companies (and thus don't get W2s), I've found that the big banks have little interest in working with me despite a great credit history, good, stable income, roots in the US, etc. etc. Attempting to fill out online mortgage applications always dead-ends as my life simply doesn't fit the standard boxes. Even smaller community banks in smaller towns struggle to wrap their head around my circumstances. 

Helpful, thanks. I've hit a couple walls with one local bank and a credit union who originally financed the property I'm looking to finance. One of my particular challenges is that I'm investing from overseas, so the face-to-face that can be helpful in explaining the particular nuances of my income, financing needs, etc. can be a bit trickier. But, will keep exploring options! Thanks again...

@Kurt Phillips - did you ever get this sorted out? I'm now in the same boat. I work for foreign companies on long-term contracts for which there isn't a great IRS income classification. I'm finding it really difficult to find a lender to refinance at the moment on a small multifamily even with excellent credit, strong verifiable income (though no W2s), etc. etc. Would be keen to hear more from you if you found a way...

Message sent!

Are you confident on your rental estimates? Of all the areas I'm familiar with in SD, $700 for a 1br/1ba is really high.

@Paul Kessenich - not yet, but it's still early days. We're in the research and planning phase - talking with potential developers and real estate people to see what might be possible. As things progress, I do hope to keep BP community informed. There is very little on agrihoods in the forums, so hopefully I'll be able to contribute as things continue to develop.

So many great thoughts and advice - thanks everyone! (Even those who hadn't yet had their coffee - @Jon Crosby!)

I must say that my question was far more narrowly described than the scope of the actual project, which in reality is a new-build "anchor" house for an agrihood development. My parents live on a small farm just outside this university town and have transformed it from a run-down place into a beautiful, organic veg-growing hub for community/regional events (weddings, reunions, etc.). The longer term vision is to develop the farm into a well-designed agrihood but this new-build would be the "main house" while agrihood plans get drawn up.

We're totally missing out on great income (and the added marketing opportunities for the farm itself) by not currently having on-farm STRs for all the visitors to the farm, much less those coming to university events during the year. So this is where my original question comes from. The concept at this stage - now that my parents are ready to downsize - is to build what would essentially be a 4-plex, with three of the units being STRs and one - my parent's - as more normal sized main floor and upstairs.

Likely clients will indeed be parents/families in town for university events, visiting academics and artists, tourists, etc.

@Julie McCoy - your comments about closets and kitchen storage space are spot on. Hadn't yet even got to that level of detail yet - but I absolutely have done so now!

@Paul Kessenich - absolutely, this place definitely needs to be more "homey" than "hotel-y." It sounds like we very much have the same target clients. I think long weekend-ers will be my bread and butter, but I'd like to attract weekly or monthly tenants as well, so the more comfortable, the better.

@Andrew Johnson - excellent advice for me. I've always had a pretty good idea of who likely clients would be, but I think it would be valuable to really give it some more thought and put together a written profile of the most likely tenants and think about plans from their vantage point.  

@Bill Cereske - very helpful input. The vision of my parent's farm is very much organic, eco-concious, natural materials, etc. We're already planning for this place to be passive, if at all possible.

Hi all, 

I'm starting to look at designs for a new build in a small college town, but with a reasonably large student body that drives a lot of traffic in/out of town throughout the year. My family has been in student rentals for a long time, but there are very few short-term rentals in town, and I'm confident that there would be a great market given the continuing growth of the university. I've started researching floorplans, but thought to ask if anyone would have thoughts on designing floorplans specifically for STRs versus standard LTR units. Any experience or insight into this?

Thanks,

Brian

David - yes, I suspect that agrihoods will continue to fill an interesting real estate niche as there are a lot of very interesting development opportunities that cater to a wide variety of potential customer segments from tiny home enthusiasts all the way to more retirement-age types. I'm actively looking for input from those who have been involved in agrihood development as I have a few irons in the fire on potential developments.