All Forum Posts by: Charlie Claxton

Hey all!

I thought it would be fun to start a conversation for those currently involved in the corporate housing (short term) business. Would love to hear from anyone who is already in the business- their experience (good and bad), challenges, what is working, etc. - would also love to hear from those that are thinking of investing, learning, getting involved, etc.

Since the family got involved in investing in short-term housing a couple years ago (www.SpaceShareAmerica.com), I have found that the learning NEVER stops.. Our business is a cross between a hospitality, concierge , and corporate housing company.  We specialize in providing housing to the film and television production industry- and through this we are able to achieve rents that are 2X-5X the average monthly rental. But with the good, comes the bad- there is a ton of work and turn over that comes with operating these kind of properties. In the last two years, this division has grown to have access to over 150 units here in Atlanta (with plans to expand to our hometown of Savannah),we have full time house keeping and maintenance crews...even with all of this, I sometimes find that me and the staff are busier than a one legged man in A butt kicking contest on the days that we have productions come into units. --We always try to keep our units 90%+ occupied (so that our returns to the investors stay robust)... But sometimes keeping these holes filled, we have had to partner with 17 different platforms ontop of our existing marketing to keep us full. Airbnb is at the bottom of our list for sure---I would love to hear about other's experience on this platform.

I would LOVE to hear what is working for everyone else-- exchange some ideas, etc etc..

 Hi Prachel,

I happened across your posting- Our company has access to over 150 units in midtown and Buckhead areas of Atlanta that we use for film production housing. When we have holes in our schedule we sometimes use Airbnb to fill them, but frankly this is not our favorite way to keep our units full as a good 35% of time our units experience damage to the units or their furnishing..Usually to the linens or else they smoke (lots of weed for some reason?!)..We obviously charge a lot for these damages as part of our house rules, and we charge a $250.00 smoke removal fee, but yet they continue to do it. The one good thing is that the Airbnb insurance will pay for the damages despite if the guests refuses.

Short term, corporate housing Is a wonderful market segment for us- we deliver 10% return on investments to our partners, but it is a lot of work and takes a great deal of marketing to the right customer base. I would say that if you're looking into corporate housing- make sure that Airbnb isn't your only source of property booking, and make sure you have a good calendaring system to keep track of reservations across different properties, etc.

Hi Ernie, Sounds like you have invested in lots of different kinds of property types- Have you ever invested in skilled care nursing ,assisted living, or corporate housing? these are the three areas that we are doing very well in here in Georgia. I wondered if you had any experiences.

I'm from Savannah- Coastal Georgia is a great place to invest! our family has done very well there!

Hi! We have done very well in partnerships in residential and commercial property arenas. For my family it has always come down to trust. We have actually broken the old rule -don't mix business and family/friends- and we have done well with it. I think trust is half the battle in this business, So if you have that with your south bend buddy- I saw look into it, but still put EVERYTHING in writing via a partnership agreement.

Hi Paul- I will certainly PM you. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Hey Bigger Pockets,

I am writing because I was hoping that someone could steer me in the right direction on a development my family and another Savannah family are working on. We are in the process of developing a12.6mil,  68 bed skilled care/ Assisted living facility in South Georgia. The town where the project is located has agreed to issue revenue bonds to finance the construction of the facility. We are building an green version of the "Eden Alternative" kind of housing, where our residents live in small clusters of small private rooms (baths) gathered around common living and eating space. This has proven to be a much healthier way of our senior citizens to live out their golden years as opposed to going to a facility to wait to pass.

Up until two weeks ago we were planning to use the USDA to guarantee the bonds. But we recently found out that it would take at least six months to gain this guarantee. Which would put our plan drastically behind schedule in terms of construction and the operator's schedule. This isn't something that we can deal with.

Our bond council and underwriter (top 5 firms) suggested that we gather a group of private investors to back the bonds through the construction and fill up period (first 18 months). After the first 18 months, the guarantee expires. The way we see it, the facility will be fully bonded against construction overruns and problems due to the construction bond from construction firm, and the project has a two year capital reserve account from the bond proceeds- So we see the private bond guarantee as relatively protected. 

So we are offering 20% equity in the facility to the backer, and offering 2%-5% to the securing party (our banker thinks she has a short list of partners here in Atlanta, but she will of course want something privately for her services in the deal).

My question to the BP community is , how would you guys pitch this to the other families that are interested in backing the bonds with us? Obviously the project has all of the usual plans, sketches, profit statements, etc- But our bond guy says that he likes the deal and it should be an easy sale, I am more interested how this deal should be approached?? I think the financing deal we have worked out with the city is too wonderful to let a timing issue mess with. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts. All advice welcome.

Phil,

I know the court will side with our firm, but frankly this broker is a nice guy whom I enjoy doing business with thus far. I would indeed like him to release (free of charge) OR refund the amount the prorated amount I outlined above.

But all of that is pointless , if the broker will no longer communicate with me. I find that disturbing honestly. we have no said anything forceful in regards to this situation to him other than asking him to make it right for us, he has done nothing.  I would like for us to not turn to the courts to settle such a small matter- but this is more principal at the moment for us.

Again I REALLY appreciate everyone's time , thoughts and advice!

Hi. Thanks for the thoughts Wayne and Dave. Yes there is a short form agreement, and the agent put into writing that if the tenant broke the lease they would refund...However this was put into writing via an email conversation that he had with our firm.