All Forum Posts by: Brittany DeWitt

Definitely check the state laws and see what type of lease is in effect. If they're on a month-to-month lease, you can provide notice that you're ending their lease right after you close and they'll have to find new housing. If they have a 12 month lease, you may be bound by that lease even if the last landlord was the one who entered into the lease. I know that in my area (Kansas and Missouri), leases remain in place through a sale.

Hello from KC! We have a few properties near KU in Lawrence. It's a great market to get started in. I love working with college students.

@Account Closed thanks for the encouragement.  My plan right now is to stay as flexible as possible.  Airbnb is definitely just a tool to get to our next multi family property. 

I'm using my own house right now as a short term/vacation rental, and we're not in a tourist destination by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm still averaging over a 50% occupancy rate in Lawrence, KS (at $59/night).  Its a little more work than traditional house hacking, since there's so much turnover, but the cash flow is great.

I guess my point here is you don't necessarily have to go out and buy a vacation rental to do this.  Check out your own area on Airbnb and see if you can rent out an empty guest room in your house.  

I think that Airbnb is a good alternative to to a hotel, especially outside of popular tourist destinations where there are fewer options now.  A lot of the discussion for Airbnb seems to be focused on what its doing with cities that already have a high volume of rent by the night accommodations.  Look outside of those areas, though, and I think there is a lot more potential for Airbnb to fill a need.  

For example, I have an Airbnb listing in Lawrence, KS that it averaging just over a 50% occupancy rate.  Right now, we have a family with 3 young children staying it in for a few days.  They are planning a move and needed somewhere to stay while house hunting and visiting schools.  We're renting them a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and office (with air mattress set up for the kids).  They also have access to a back yard and kitchen.  They would have had trouble in our city finding accommodations for their family that were nearly as comfortable, since we don't have timeshares or many suite-style lodgings in this area.  

@John Lagrimas My boyfriend (marine corps) and I used used a VA loan about two years ago to buy a duplex. Here are a few things I found out when we were doing that deal.

You can use a VA loan for multifamily (up to 4 units), so you could potentially use it to buy several rental properties all at once, if you found the right property.

Also, there is a limit to how much you can borrow using a VA loan. I think the limit is 417k, but it might depend on the year you joined. That means that if you bought a property for 200k using the VA loan, then refinanced so that you could use the VA loan again, you'd have 217k worth of eligibility left. It isn't a loan program that you can continually refinance out of and use again.

@Michaela To I know that as an airbnb host, I can get data about occupancy in my town from Pricelabs.co but I'm not sure if you can use that without providing a specific airbnb listing to start the analysis from.  Its probably worth checking into though.  Pricelabs also provides daily suggested prices for vacation rentals based on demand in the area.  

Podcast 114 has some good info about using airbnb or other vacation rental sites.  We're using our basement as an airbnb rental in Lawrence, KS and it has been a great tool for us! Good luck @Ethan Ard!

I live in Lawrence, KS which is home of the University of Kansas, so we have a lot of student renters.  Providing everything (stove/range, microwave, dishwasher, fridge, and washer/dryer) is a big plus to renters here.  There are occasionally units without the w/d but most do provide a fridge.  I think this just depends on your market and the type of tenant you're likely to attract.  

I had this concern when we bought a duplex using a VA loan about two years ago. If I remember correctly, you can end a tenants lease with either 30 or 60 days notice if you buy a property and intend to/need to owner occupy. That was true in Kansas, but I'm not sure about every state.