All Forum Posts by: Doug H.

To let you know where I am, I am not expanding in California.  I went to Scottsdale.  Now, I’m looking for a gulf coast market. 

You need to research each one individually, but several Southern California cities are either banning or effectively banning with various tactics. 

There are a number of recent posts up in this forum about California cities. Airbnb has a great resource page, but hosts in the area can talk to you about what kind of pressure they get froM the cities and neighbors. For example, I wouldn't advise anyone to boot up an STR in San Diego until this latest attempt plays itself out. Plus the rates vs property prices don't make very attractive CoCs right now.

Another example, while it’s still allowed in Palm Springs with permits, a number of hosts have posted recently about how difficult it is to work with that city. There is a story behind just the regulations. I believe I saw another recent post about Big Bear. The local hosts can tell you best. 

@Christopher Anderson

I have a lot of exposure to the Southern California STR market, and my best piece of advice is to be very aware of the regulatory pressure and momentum happening in Southern California.

We are under attack from the hotel lobby funding NIMBY neighborhood groups everywhere. San Diego even passed code this year which will limit STRs to 1 per owner, defined as any person with an ownership interest to keep LLCs from dodging. They just aren’t taking action until they find out if the California Coastal Commission is going to veto them in the coastal zone.

The same trend is starting to happen in Scottsdale.

I always make sure that my STRs would work as decent cash flow LTRs to cover the worst case regulatory scenario.  

@Nancy Bachety

I had so many problems with YourPorter at scale that I had to switch to Hospitable about 6 months ago. Hospitable has been worth it.

@Sophia Bahena

Something that hasn’t been said, is that there can be tremendous advantages to having a network of others who are already operators in real estate.

Some property management firms can be deceptive, in that they are just a self management arms of real estate developers. Some little 10 person office might control billions of real estate. I can give you countless examples of “family offices”.

Depending on who these people are, you could jumpstart your investing career by bringing them the right syndication and walking away with a percentage of something much larger than you would be able to afford for years.



What's the STR market like in Tallahasee?

@Rosemary Saleeba

I think it depends on where you are in relation to your goal. If you have reached the ‘first turn’ where your RE income has surpassed your annual needs and a buffer for growth, then LTRs are much more scalable with less effort.

STRs are an actively managed business. It can be fun. It's certainly a ‘doable' amount of work in addition to a normal 9-to-5, especially at a low number of STRs. But, the right STR can be a significantly higher CoC. So, if you are still accelerating toward the ‘first turn', then a STR might be the play.

Prior to Covid, we were just putting out bowls of Hershey’s nuggets. You buy the variety bag. It has three different flavors, and they’re all individually wrapped. So it turned out to be a fairly inexpensive welcome gift, like $3/stay. But people loved it.

With covid protocols, we would be required to spray and clean individual Hershey’s nuggets. Interestingly, I haven’t seen a difference in reviews without them.

Wow, that post was 6 years ago, and It has been quite a ride.  Now, there are 50+ STRs in multiple states, multifamily and self-storage.  I'm not sure how different I really feel since back then, but I no longer feel like an imposter.  I guess I feel like it is just a big part of my identity now.