All Forum Posts by: Dave Stokley

Agree with @James Maradits on all of the above. If you're worried about the legality just call Lakewood's building department. They have good people who are really helpful.

How much would the permit cost, or the rehab? I'm not a contractor so it's difficult for me to estimate, but you'll be adding insulation, electric, plumbing, etc., plus building a kithenette and bathroom so... not cheap. $15-20k at least?

No. Lakewood will nail you for it. All rentals need to be registered. Get a permit for the rehab.

Check out Airnda. I pay for it but I'm pretty sure the free version should still give you some projections. It depends on so many factors that it's going to be hard for anyone to give you an answer in a forum. Also depends on your goals: are you simply trying to maximize revenue, or do you need to get $x/night to make it worth your time? If the former, you will be more aggressive with your pricing and can probably get close to 80% occupancy (if available 100% of the time). If the latter, I'd assume you'd charge more and accept a higher level of vacancy.

Go to the board and ask for clarification. I would not consider an STR a residential use. And even if you can twist the language, if the board doesn't like it they're just going to change the rules to explicitly ban it.

You definitely need some kind of boots on the ground in case something happens. Seems like your best bet is to find an independent house cleaner who will bill you hourly for the cleaning (so if they have to do all the dishes they get paid for it) and is willing to help out as needed with other stuff (re-stock supplies, take emergency calls, etc.). Maybe you pay someone $50/month to be on call (a retainer basically) plus an hourly rate whenever they actually have to do something.

We don't do C-areas but if you end up with something nicer I'd love to have a chat about STRs. Good luck!

Unless you have a specific reason for focusing on MB and other vacation spots (other than your existing familiarity) I'd encourage you to expand your focus from "vacation" rentals to "short-term" rentals. I operate 20+ STRs in the Cleveland market and we've been > 80% booked all year... and the property is a lot cheaper than in vacation hot spots! We do a lot for out of state investors. Good luck!

Remotely, no less! 

OP, it would be helpful to get more details about exactly how you plan to do this. Opening a remote hosting business with no infrastructure is a bold move. I don't see how you can do it without going there and interviewing some people to work for you and checking out the properties to make sure they're up to standards and suitable for airbnb. Onboarding a single unit when you're onsite is a lot of work. I can't imagine doing multiple units, remotely, as my first units. Maybe you have some experience that isn't coming through in your post.

Hard to imagine that any lender is going to lend to an LLC with no history and no assets, so you'll probably have to do it like they say. If you're paying your mortgage it's pretty unlikely that the bank would call the loan - although I suppose if you get a really good rate and rates skyrocket at some point in the future then maybe they'd have a reason, but still, not something I'd worry about. As for your last question, if there's a due on sale clause and you do something to trigger it it's probably not going to matter if the bank knew, unless you get some sort of written waiver from them.