All Forum Posts by: Dan L.

We received a ~$750 payout on April 17th for 3 reservations that were covered by the policy. I emailed support last week about 6 additional reservations that should have been covered and they replied that those reservations should receive the 25% payout, but it's still unclear when that payment will be made.

Worth double-checking all of your reservations Mar-May and see if they may have missed some!

The property is in the City of Sonoma but a very similar situation to Napa with a limited number of permits. I saw the Napa house today as well @Mike Bolen - if we use that one as an example, you have to assume that revenue will be down ~75% for the next few months and then I think it's anyone's guess how things look in late summer and into high-season in the fall. My best guess is that Bottlerock is cancelled again in October and who knows if it happens in 2021. You have to assume out-of-state visitors drop but will that be made up by people coming up from the Bay Area who don't want to get on a plane themselves? Also, you have to assume that the buyer pool that existed previously has shrunk as people start to feel the pain themselves.

@Jon Crosby is dead on that the long-term value here is the key but how do you weigh that against the short-term headwinds? Clearly the price shouldn't be the same as it was in February but how much of a margin of safety would you put into your offer if you had to put one in today?

I invest in a county that has a limited number of permitted vacation rentals - these properties trade at a premium and only make sense to purchase if you are going to run it full-time as a vacation rental so you aren't competing against "regular" buyers who may use it as a second home or only rent part-time.

I had a broker bring me an off-market deal this week and I struggled with what to offer given all the uncertainty regarding Covid. I ran the numbers assuming pre-Covid performance and came up with what I would have offered on the property in February, but obviously some discount to that price is needed now.

If you are making an offer on a vacation/STR rental today, how much lower would your offer price be than on the exact same property in a world where Covid didn't exist?

Dan

It might be worth seeing if the seller would be more willing to negotiate the interest rate rather than the sale price. Sometimes people get fixated on the headline price but are willing to move elsewhere. You may be able to offer more than you would otherwise if you can get the rate down a 1/4th of a point (or more).

Good luck!

Hey David, what did this duplex end up selling for? What's the address?

Hey BP! A search of the forums didn't turn up any information on the topic so I thought I would start a new thread. I am researching vacation properties in the Lake Tahoe region and am interested in the growth that other owners have seen in their vacation properties in the first few years of operation. It makes sense to me that the first 12-18 months would be more challenging due to lack of awareness and reviews, and I am interested in hearing about other owner's experiences in the first few years of renting a property.

A few questions:

• What did revenues/occupancy %/# of reviews look like after being in operation for 12 months? How did that grow in Year 2 and Year 3 (and beyond)?
• How long did it take your property to reach steady-state occupancy?
• Any difference in expenses in the first few years?

Thanks in advance for your feedback. Trying to model out what the returns on a vacation property would be looking at the first 5 years of operation and trying to make sure that my assumptions are realistic.