All Forum Posts by: Dustin Sanders

@Michael Hamby it's great to hear from you. Maybe we can meet up sometime as I'm local to the Pensacola area near downtown. Feel free to DM me.

@Michael Weigum I suspect the same thing when it considering gas prices being reduced. I am closely monitoring the situation as I love the properties & they have traditionally outperformed what AirDNA though it's slowing down lately quite a bit

@John Underwood I'm doing what you recommend on the advertising front though I'll check into the competition to see if they're booked up

@John Underwood I was in Helen this past weekend and there are still quite a few travels visiting so I'm left scratching my head as to why it's not already booking up fast. Same for the Pensacola & St Pete properties in Florida since we're starting to reach peak season for travel

@Quinn Olivarez I have the 3 markets I'm in listed below:

- Pensacola, FL

- St Petersburg, FL (technically Gulfport, FL)

- Helen, GA

@John Underwood Where are you located? I don't understand why mine aren't filled up since I have competitive rates and pretty much 5 stars across the board with my properties.

Is anyone else experiencing slow bookings? I am in 3 different vacation heavy markets and my April & May calendars are at about 25% occupancy.

@Matthew Ranucci I just went through this process last summer! Celebrity Home Loans helped me with the 10% down vacation home loan (I believe they offer 15% down as well). Great market to be in right now!

If you're looking into doing STR as your mentioned, then I recommend Gulfport, FL located 5-10 minutes away from Downtown St Pete. It is not regulated like much of Tampa/St Pete and it great cash flow for either STR or LTR & it a fun, quaint area that draws a lot of tourism. Don Yerks was my lender for my Gulfport property search & Troy Nowak of Mangrove Bay Realty was my realtor.

For context, I am from Pensacola, FL so I knew very little of the Tampa Bay area and where to invest. The advice I received from both Troy & Don has been invaluable & I will use them again for the next purchase!

I would consider selling my STR since my property is valued under $500K as you mentioned. Feel free to DM me if you are interested.

@Joe Splitrock

You bring up a lot of valid points that are troublesome for STRs. I like that you did because I have a few STRs and these are the topics that concern me moving forward.

What are you strategically doing (or planning to do) with your future real estate portfolio?

Hey Collin,

Thanks for your reply. I've heard similar feedback from other STR hosts.

I also read the article (link below) which gave me a better perspective on the topic. It sounds as though Skift's research found that roughly 60% of the people surveyed said that gas prices are going to impact their vacation plans & of that 60% there is roughly 1/3 also said that it will greatly impact their decision on vacation plans.

It goes into saying that rural areas & small "quaint" type towns will be the biggest benefactor as vacationers are looking for closer, drivable vacation spots. It also mentions that vacationers are more likely to carpool to split the travel cost vs. driving separately.

https://skift.com/2022/03/08/u...

Dustin

Has inflation, increased gas prices, and overall travel expenses impacted your bookings or future bookings?