All Forum Posts by: Chris Bluem

Hi,

I am a few days away from furnishing and finishing 2 of our short term rentals, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I would like to get a third opinion on revenue and occupancy from someone experienced. I don't mind paying a fee for some help, its worth the second set of eyes to me.

I have plugged into AirDNA site (free quick calc), I had a local STR PM take a look, I did enemy method via AirBNB. But, I still get cautious, especially around occupancy because some of my neighbor properties dont look like like they are fully booked.

I will probably move forward with STR vs just selling because I want to give it a try and own long term, but would appreciate some experienced help.

Please respond or PM if interested, thanks!

I'm no expert but will provide some thoughts as I am looking to contribute to this forum more as I am about to stand up my first 3 vacation rentals, and this place has been very motivating and helpful.

1) Your primary is not related to your second home, so remove it from the equation and solve that problem.

First I would ask if your loan holder if you can get an appraisal to remove your PMI. That would make things easy.

I would actually probably skip that and go straight to a no cash out refinance. You will go from 4.0% to ~2.8%, and lose PMI in the process. So cash flow will be more than the 300-400 you expect and it will cost you less than the $20K you are talking about, and pay dividends for the remainder of the loan. I would actually consider shortening the term of the loan, say to a 15 years. youl'l get a lower interest rate and guaranteed cartwheels 15yrs from now.

I would then go take a HELOC on the property if you wanted to tap the equity at low rates since you only have to pay on what you use.

Thats really the only problem you have to solve. Your other problem is going to find a good investment, in FL or anywhere. And most of us have that problem. But I did hear your second home can be 10% down, starting to look into that now, just make sure it's a cashcow.

Hope that helps.

@Luke Carl

Thanks for reply. Here it shows as $1500 which seems crazy, but I’m sure they like their fees!

But yeah, it’s really paint floors counters etc, all cosmetic no moving walls.

Was curious if these folks get nosey or just get in and get out.

Will continue to research thanks again!

Hi!

I am about to launch my first STR in south Florida. We just got done doing a full renovation. Our city requires a STR license and city inspection.

I was reading through the list of requirements and nothing too bad (although the land line and wired smoke alarms in every bedroom is a pain in the)

Then at the very end, it said the following:

“Work without a permit will be forwarded to the building construction enforcement for investigation “

The place is pristine and completely done. I’m curious if they are going to walk through and pick it apart or dig further when they see how brand new it is. Anyone ever have an issue here?

I am wondering this same question, I was in the middle of capital improvements for one of my short term rentals and this whole situation has thrown everything off. I am looking to finish my capital improvements and get back generating revenue on the property asap.

What are your thoughts around "working capital" for landlords and short term rentals. To me, capital upgrades are part of normal business, i certainly don't wait years to keep my places looking sharp, thats how I make money. 

Any thoughts? Thanks!

I am looking to refinance personal residence into a investment property. It would be a cash out refi and I am looking to turn it into a STR so I will not have a long term lease in place (I could maybe get one from the property manager if they were comfortable there).

My guess I will need a portfolio lender for this, but I am curious what the best route would be to go down: Conventional, Credit Union, Local Banks, a mtg lender who does both, and if you have any contacts you leverage that would be greatly appreciated

Thanks.

@John Underwood @Glenna Wood @Neil Henderson Thank you all for the input it is greatly appreciated. I think when I crunch the numbers, it is very advantageous to split the property into two, refinance the house, and hold as an AirBNB. This provides the cash I just put into the property back, 20% equity in the home, and ~$40K profit a year.

The biggest risk to that is the AirBNB current market. I will move forward with looking at AirDNA data, and continue to research the competition via both websites. Are there any other methods to try and gauge occupancy out there? This is the really only factor that matters that I get right and everything else should work as planned.

Thanks!

Hi all and thanks in advance for any advice or help

I am currently in the South Florida market. I have a property in a (pre-Covid) great STR area in Fort Lauderdale/Broward County. The property is a duplex but is acts more like 2 townhouses. Each two stories, 2 bed, 3 bath, private entrance, large patio / outdoor space and is just finishing up getting fully renovated. I have a few issues I could use advice on please.

I recently looked at "my enemies" on VRBO and AirBNB, but I am still having trouble coming up with a vacancy assumption. Some places are wide open, while others have July booked but not much after that. Is it worth paying an AirDNA to grab local data for a month? Or any suggestions or help here?

I spoke with a PM or two and they both think my property can do well (~50K of rev before booking and cleaning fees each side), They seem to have connections with corps and travel teams and just reputation/websites that can help drive this traffic. Is this something that might have some merit to it, or something that I could still achieve as a self manager without those "connections". And not asking if I can hit that figure, but more so, do good PMs normally bring clients or is that just fluff and I could pretty easily drive the same traffic myself?

Lastly, to make things more complicated, I think I could turn this unit into a legal 2 unit townhouse, unlocking a lot a value in this area. Lets say, if I hit 100K in revenue, I could prob net 40K a year, assuming I am a good operator. If you could sell and exit with $150K, which route would you take? I would probably take the 40K, if it were true, but that drives me back to my first issue and trying to prove what it can do. Vicious cycle!

Thanks very much for your time and help. Cheers

Hey  @Julee Felsman, I wanted to ask your advice please on the question above, I am guessing that a portfolio lender may be the best option to go here as well? Or is it possible to jump into a conventional product? Thanks!

I wanted to bump this and see if I could get some thoughts or advice. Thanks!