All Forum Posts by: Debbie James

Quote from @Mike Downey:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Love the "north of 98 is the death zone for STR"! We had a realtor pretty much tell us the same thing. Unfortunately, everything south of 98 in PCB is usually a condo or townhouse but usually they are a short ride or walk to the beach, which does makes them book quicker. Beware that most condos are non-warrantable, so be prepared for that if you choose to go the condo route.

 Hey Sarah,

Is the major downside to "non-warrantable" that lenders do not want to finance, so it will be difficult getting a loan? I am not very familiar with this concept. Thank you. 

Most condos in our area are non-warrantable. Basically, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Gov't entities) aren't buying the loans so the banks have to keep them in-house...which is called a portfolio loan. Not all banks will do condo loans. And interest rates are higher then SFR.

Quote from @Mike Downey:

Quote from @Debbie James:

I am a Realtor in the area, my husband and I own a SFR in Laguna Beach, and we owned and operated a vacation rental company along 30A and the west end of PCB for about 10 years (Sold the company last year). That being said, there are some differences in SFR and Condos.

In general, figure 24-26 weeks per year for rentals. Northside of 98 won't rent short term. Too far to the beach. There is way to much competition. Ideally you want to be less then 1/3 of a mile to the beach. Ideally around 1/4. 

Keep in mind that you can't be all things to all people. Those wanting to be beach front, a home won't do. Those that don't want to deal with elevators and want their own space, a condo won't do. Regarding condos, definitely get onto VRBO.com and read reviews. Some complain that they had to wait 30 minutes to get an elevator, other complexes are fine. The larger the condo, the higher the association fees. There are now new laws in place, due to the collapse of the south Florida condo building, regarding the reserves the condo needs to have and getting maintenance completed. Make sure to ask if there are any special assessments.

For a SFR, the 'trifecta' for rentals is, pet friendly (dogs only), fenced yard and private heated pool. When we had our company, about half of the rentals were pet friendly. It is very hard for people to find 'nice' pet friendly homes. Condos do not allow guests to bring pets, only owners. Our rental is not a large home, 3/2 plus bunks (sleeps 8) and about 1,100 SF. Huge backyard, screened porch and updated. We are completely booked from now till early Sept and then about 3 weeks in the fall.

When looking at SFR in PCB, make sure the street allows short term rentals as some streets don't. All in all, it's going to be a personal preference as to whether you buy a condo vs. home. Do you want to use the property? If so, what fits your families needs?

I will also mention that we are purchasing a 1-bedroom condo in Port St. Joe. New construction, great location and that condo complex will allow guests to bring pets. I'm not against condos, but you need to decide what's right for you.

Hope this all makes sense and helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Thank you Debbie. That is great information. We will definitely do solid research on the reviews for Condominiums. Is that your SFR in Laguna that is fully booked out through September? That sounds like a great occupancy rate. How close is that rental to the beach?

 Yes, it's our personal rental. We have a management company handling the rentals as when we sold our company, my Husband didn't want to deal with it :-). He gives them his thoughts on pricing as well. Earlier this year he had them reduce the rates as they had them too high. 

The home is about 6 homes from the beach. Here's a link: Leo's Hideaway

Quote from @Joe Lopez:

I switched to a bigger outfit from a individual who only listed on Airbnb.  I needed some work done and the bigger outfit had a whole maintenance team.  Also, the bigger company lists on their own website as well as AirBnb, VRBO, Booking.com and everywhere else.  The old property manger just did Airbnb.  So far I am down from where I was last year.   I had read that Airbnb changed their algorithm to discourage property management companies from pushing people to their websites.  I don't know what to do.  Maybe short term rentals are just down this season or maybe I made a bad move switching companies.  What do you think? 

 Along the Emerald Coast a lot of rentals are down...so much more inventory then pre-pandemic and people traveling again. That being said, it may not be about the switch. How does the company handle revenue management? How far to the beach is your property? What is the condition? There are a lot of factors....

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

My personal opionion....it's the property management company. In that area you should at least be holding even, not going down.

 Not so in our area....all rentals are down. Much more inventory and many people back to traveling internationally. 

I am a Realtor in the area, my husband and I own a SFR in Laguna Beach, and we owned and operated a vacation rental company along 30A and the west end of PCB for about 10 years (Sold the company last year). That being said, there are some differences in SFR and Condos.

In general, figure 24-26 weeks per year for rentals. Northside of 98 won't rent short term. Too far to the beach. There is way to much competition. Ideally you want to be less then 1/3 of a mile to the beach. Ideally around 1/4. 

Keep in mind that you can't be all things to all people. Those wanting to be beach front, a home won't do. Those that don't want to deal with elevators and want their own space, a condo won't do. Regarding condos, definitely get onto VRBO.com and read reviews. Some complain that they had to wait 30 minutes to get an elevator, other complexes are fine. The larger the condo, the higher the association fees. There are now new laws in place, due to the collapse of the south Florida condo building, regarding the reserves the condo needs to have and getting maintenance completed. Make sure to ask if there are any special assessments.

For a SFR, the 'trifecta' for rentals is, pet friendly (dogs only), fenced yard and private heated pool. When we had our company, about half of the rentals were pet friendly. It is very hard for people to find 'nice' pet friendly homes. Condos do not allow guests to bring pets, only owners. Our rental is not a large home, 3/2 plus bunks (sleeps 8) and about 1,100 SF. Huge backyard, screened porch and updated. We are completely booked from now till early Sept and then about 3 weeks in the fall.

When looking at SFR in PCB, make sure the street allows short term rentals as some streets don't. All in all, it's going to be a personal preference as to whether you buy a condo vs. home. Do you want to use the property? If so, what fits your families needs?

I will also mention that we are purchasing a 1-bedroom condo in Port St. Joe. New construction, great location and that condo complex will allow guests to bring pets. I'm not against condos, but you need to decide what's right for you.

Hope this all makes sense and helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Quote from @Martin M.:

@Davin Manfredi

Hi Davin, it's good that you're thinking about an LLC... stay on that path. However, what's more important than an LLC, if you're going to be a landlord, is having a solid insurance policy. You want both... an LLC and insurance, but if you had to select just one of the two, it'd be the insurance. That's where the real protection is. Good luck!

I agree with @Martin M. You can also get an additional umbrella policy. They are not expensive and definitely worth having. 

Quote from @Matt Smith:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

Hey Matt - Im a PM based primarily in the Tampa/CLW/St Pete area.  I am representing current clients acquire two new properties next week.  One is in Clearwater 13 mins from the beach.  $850k value and insurance was quoted at $17,000 initially but we got it down to $11,000 by mixing and matching.  Another one $700k value in Seminole, FL 7 mins from beach (3 miles) and they are paying just under $10k.  Neither of these are with flood insurance because they are not in flood zones.  The problem is 3 fold:

1. Not a lot of carriers currently in the market, so fewer competition is raising prices.

2. Wind coverage is whats driving this up in the wake of Ian.

3. Carriers charging more for STR on the hazard side. I think they are cashing in the rise of STR but they are claiming risk is so much higher, which I do not buy.

Unfortunately it is what it is now.  I think it will get better eventually.

Thanks Andrew! Since many of the homeowners quotes are giving us a huge discount for the wind mitigation inspection we have, would it make sense to get a homeowners to specifically cover Wind/Flood damage, and a separate STR policy to only cover fires and other general tenant damage? Is that even possible to do 2 separate policies like that and roll into escrow?

For Wind/Flood, it doesn't really matter that it's an STR right since those are natural disasters and not tenant related?

That sounds really high to me. I know insurance costs have gone up, but geez! Dm me your cell and I’ll share a couple of Insurance people to call.  

Quote from @Amanda Swanson:

Hi all - I currently have 2 STRs, looking at numbers and trying to narrow down a FL/AL beach location for the third. Is there any where in FL where the numbers still make sense to buy? Thanks for any insight.

Are you going to use the property at all? If so find and area where you also want to be. Panama City Beach has some great opportunities. My husband and I own a rental there and it’s doing amazing. About 6 houses from the beach. We are also buying a condo (pre construction right now) in port st. Joe. Lots of upside potential there in my opinion. We owned and operated a vacation rental company on 30A so know some tips and and what guests want. 

Happy to help. 

Hi Katie,

I think you have done a great job with your listings and giving great info. I like the bullet list in the 2nd one. Makes it quick to read. Some people like the longer descriptions and others just want the facts, lol. Maybe consider that in the first one. (Let me see if I can find an example of what I did).

You also may want floor plans. That really helped us a lot. There are photographers that will shoot Matterport where you click thru the property and you can do a 360 in a room. 

Since our beaches are so beautiful you may want to consider some additional drone shots. But ONLY on a sunny day where the gulf looks its' best. Your properties are in great proximity to the beach so you want to showcase that.

In the first property, you may want to consider a king bed in the master. And larger TVs. I know it's crazy, but the size of the TVs was one of our top 5 questions! So much so, we had the sizes in all our listings. Also, on VRBO a guest can filter by a king bed!

My husband was running our rental company and it was 24/7. While we had some great employees, we didn't have someone who could run it and take him out of the day to day stuff. And I was doing all the accounting. We were managing 40 properties when we sold, so during certain times of the year, there would be quite a bit of money in the account. I didn't trust anyone with our Escrow account. It just got really stressful for both of us. It was to a point where it was not healthy for either of us. Our goal had been to find someone to run the company and then it would have been great residual income for us. So plan B it was...

@Mariah Myers something else I thought of…you can offer 3 to 4 night stays and increase the nightly rate. It is hard to find rentals in our area that offer this. People will pay a higher nightly rate.