All Forum Posts by: Cole Bossert

Hi everyone,

I’m Cole, and I’m exploring the world of short-term rental management. I live in a popular vacation town in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It’s an area filled with short-term rental properties owned by a mix of out-of-town hosts and locals, but I know the advice here can apply to hosts and managers across the country!

I’m looking to manage a few short-term rentals in the area and would love to hear from experienced hosts or managers about what it takes to excel in this space.

Here are a few questions I’d love to get your thoughts on:

1. What skills or qualities make a great property manager?
2. What challenges do you face with your short-term rentals, and how can a manager help?
3. If you’re not local to your property, what are the most important things you need from a local manager?
4. How can I best connect with hosts who might need my help?

Thank you for your time and insights!

Best,
Cole

Hey Y'all!

This is my first post here in the BiggerPockets forums. I have been listening to the podcasts and reading some of the books and am excited to finally feel comfortable enough in my vision to post here. 

For a quick backstory, I'm a senior in college, graduating in December. I will be graduating with a degree in Digital Marketing and have been applying to jobs for a while with not much luck. I had a friend suggest the Real Estate Rookie podcast to me and I really found interest in the opportunities investing in real estate could have for me. I began to share ideas with 2 of my closest friends about we could become partners and start together. They have degrees and interests in different segments of what I think are important facets of the real estate game, one will be graduating with a degree in construction management and the other in accounting. All 3 of us are very passionate now about getting started when we make it out of college. I will be the first to graduate with them following in May. We also have an alumni friend who is a few years older than us who is actively investing in real estate in our market. He is really open to giving advice and would even help with inspecting properties we find. 

We are currently thinking about and researching student housing opportunities. As we first hand see the demand for student housing with a low supply of affordable options in the area. We have some savings put together, around $15k, and are really looking to get started as soon as we can. 

A few questions:

Have any of you been in a similar situation where multiple partners were involved? What are some common issues you faced, and how did you resolve them?

For those of you who’ve invested in student housing, what are some things you wish you had known before diving in? Any tips on managing properties rented by students?

We’re primarily focused on long-term buy-and-hold properties, but we don’t want to miss opportunities to flip for a quick profit. How do you balance these strategies, and what signals do you look for in deciding to hold or flip a property?

If you were in my shoes, what would you prioritize at this stage of the journey?

Thanks in advance for any insights! We’re eager to learn from those who’ve been down this road already.