All Forum Posts by: Bruce Woodruff

You are on the right track....you can look in another market as @Charles Hoyer said, or you can change your search criteria in your own market. I always looked for 'distressed' properties as that is a great way to grab some extra equity appreciation. Also take a chance and look in 'D' areas that you suspect that are heading upward (gentrifying) towards C or maybe even B.

Good answers above ^^^...... I would add this - what are your life goals? What  do you want to do? Also, do you have kids that you want to leave all (or some) of your wealth to?

You can throw that $550k into an annuity (or similar) and get a decent (and very safe) return. Or any of the above options....but what are your goals?

Anyways, good job on being where you are, you are in an enviable position. Good luck and enjoy!

Like they said^^^. Determine who owns the fence. If it is 50/50, then get it replaced and split the cost.....

Quote from @Josh Ball:

We do about 85% of our rentals on AirBNB. I'm surprised by some of the responses here about how people like VRBO more than AirBNB. I find AirBNB from a host stand point much more user friendly & advanced. I'd list them simultaneously & just getting bookings no matter which platform it's from.

I hated ABNB when I had STRs.... true, their platform was more advanced while VRBOs felt kinda 'clunky' (for lack of a better word). But ABNB felt so 'authoritarian' (once again for lack of a better word)....including stuff like removing my SuperHost status for a mistake of their own and not reinstating it once I proved them wrong.

Quote from @Zachary Deal:

Choose neutral safe tones and get nice materials but don't splurge too much on very fancy cabinets, counters, appliances that someone else may not value the same as you.

This is so true. I used to get calls from people that wanted to remodel their homes before selling them. Then the new owner would call and want to remodel again becuase they didn't like the design or colors, Lol.....

I wouldn't worry about it. You're running a business and want to just make money. Yes, I prefer VRBO too, but just list it everywhere and rake in the bucks!

VRBO preceded ABNB by 13 years but they dropped the ball somewhere and fell to a distant second. They are on a big push to get back in the game though, have you seen their recent ads stressing that they only list private homes? Pretty catchy IMO.....

Get rid of them. Your 'friend' is crazy not you. And absolutely go unfurnished. That furniture will be foul after this guy was in there.

If it is a high-end project, I would spend on an actual lIcensed designer. However, most flips are not. I would just go on VRBO (or similar) and look how people design their properties where it really matters (they are trying to rent to daily guests and design/amenities are super important. Also just look online and steal some ideas...I used to Google Luxury Kitchens and then figure out how to do the same for less $$.

You'll be fine with your experience. One thing that I screwed up a few times was this - don't do everything the way YOU like it, try and think like everyman....

@James Hamling Bingo, should be a sticky!

The POWER of Real Estate Investing is:

- Securing an asset via only having to give a capital investment of a fraction of it's price.

- Having other persons pay for that other purchase capitol that you did not spend.

- Getting to keep all the rewards of appreciation over time be it in rents and/or market value.

If you understand the math of it all it should come very clear, the game is NOT best played (1) buying in all cash, (2) buying and sitting on a property for decades on end.

Depends on what you have in the deal and what it cost IMHO.

$200 mo on a $150k house is ok I guess....  but $200 mo on a $1mm property is really bad.