All Forum Posts by: Dev Paul

Thanks @Luke Carl. But I see listings for many beach side condos well below 550 in miramar beach, Santa Rosa beach and even few in Destin. 

Greetings again everyone! After a year of waiting for the right time, it seems time is ripe to buy my first airbnb. Actually I might be already quite late in the party-looking at market explosion in Florida! Last year in March i was so close to buying my first property for airbnb purpose and then covid happened. I instead bought a condo as a primary home.

My budget - up to 550k (preferably under 450 k)- 20% downpayment

Property preference- on the beach/very close to the beach- ideally a townhouse/SFH (If condo, 2bd 2 ba atleast and beach facing with not high HOA)

Ideal Revenue ROI- 13-15% - meaning if i buy for 400k, annual TOTAL rental revenue should be 50-60k (pretty achievable in these markets i think)

Solid year around traffic, no history of airbnb restrictions, good inventory, hybrid property management coompanies available. If the property has an existing airbnb rental history, that will be icing on the cake.

I researched all three markets (PCB, Destin area and Myrtle beach) and it seems most of my above criteria is satisfied while looking at available properties and airbnb rates for different seasons.

In one metric where Destin or PCB are scoring much more is property appreciation. Just compared from last year, certain property values have increased by almost 50-80% in many of the Destin, Miramar beach etc properties! That's insane and it still doesnt look like growth will slow down for foreseeable future. On the other hand, property prices in Myrtle beach are more affordable with comparable airbnb nightly rates.

So I would love to get your thoughts on these three markets based on my criteria above and which one will you choose. If there is any other market which fits the criteria, feel free to recommend!

Thanks guys.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I believe when you first start with no experience and in different state, doing everything on your own could be overwhelming to say the least. But having a full time property management company doing it all will cut the profits significantly and then one wonders if its really worth it. I would ideally start with a mixed model kind of strategy where you can find a property manager with whom you can work collaboratively but still do day to day bookings and  make other key decisions yourself. I remember there is a company who has that kind of model, cant remember its name now.

@Calvin Ozanick will PM you later on. 

Thanks so much.

I know some people here have STR's which they claim to manage remotely. Im trying to understand challenges and costs associated with that model of managing. I mean on an average how many times in a year you need to travel/fly to your STR properties? Do you have some family or friends who live in your STR towns and help at times? Do you have reliable cleaning and maintenance person whom you hired when you first set your STR up? Im particularly interested in those cases where owner lives far away (more than 10 hr drive- need to fly than drive) and where you primarily manage yourself rather than through a management company (may be mixed model?).

Thanks

Thanks guys for your responses. It seems it will take some time to do all this research, but certainly potential seems to be there. 

Thanks a lot for this info. The Shenandoah valley is certainly in my radar. What about the airbnb rules in these places?

Oh sorry i misread your post. Ok, great, well these numbers are very impressive, I must say!

Thanks @Serena Kim. How long is the off season and what would you say is occupancy percentage all through year? Any reason you want to sell soon after getting into contract?