All Forum Posts by: Erica Muller

@Jeff B. I spoke with Matt Curtis (the director of government relations at Homeaway) in May about this in detail. According to him, there is no city exempt or safe from future VR restrictions and bans so nothing is ever guaranteed with vacation rentals and you should always keep that in mind. I will say that there are cities that seems to be more VR friendly than others (such as Sedona and Orlando) and I prefer to invest in those areas vs. areas that are already having issues. 

A couple people mentioned a back up plan, I couldn't agree more. If your heart is set on investing in a location where the future of short term rentals is up in the area, definitely make sure you're prepared to convert is to a long term rental or sell it and move your money into something else more profitable. 

Nobody can guarantee anything but there's truly never been a better time to invest in vacation rentals than right now. It's a huge boom and sites like Airbnb have changed the industry forever. 

@David Rutledge I'm a local Orlando investor and I can honestly say that it's slim pickens. There are definitely opportunities out there but they are really few and far between right now. The market is at it's peak. I buy only wholesale properties not listed on MLS and I don't deal with foreclosures anymore because they're not much better of a deal than anything else on MLS. I'm happy to share my wholesale findings with you as I can't buy them all.

A conventional lease is typically 9-12 months in length. Could be longer but 12 months is the norm. A short term rental is anything under 7 months. It could be two days or it could be 6 months and 27 days but if it's under 7 months it's a short term rental. It's structured that way because it's taxed differently. 

The best way to find accurate data on what vacation rentals are going for is to look up very similar homes in that exact area (not the whole city) on VRBO and Airbnb. Take the average rental income of about the 15 most comparable units to yours and that will give you a safe figure to use as an estimate. The rental income is clearly shown on VRBO and Airbnb. Also look at the calendar's of the other units as well to see how booked they actually are. That will give you a good indicator as to how that area rents. 

Once you have that solid data, I would be happy to plug it into my VR rental performa and see what it all looks like for you. VR research is a bit more daunting than traditional rentals but if you do it right, you can really do well with a VR. It's definitely more work though. 

@Claudio Trevisan I have a spreadsheet that will help you with this. Do you want me to send it to you? It's an excel sheet and will calculate all of this for you. 

Hi @Domingo Santana! Nice to meet you!

Wholesale properties are properties acquired directly from the owners under market value. They're usually acquired by people sending out the "we buy houses" mailers and the ones trying to help people out of their home in bad situations but they're not listed on MLS and they're always under market value. Typically it's an investor putting a house under contract and then quickly assigning it to another investor with a small mark up but the home is still under market value. There's a few ways wholesale properties can be structured but that's the most common. It's important to do your due diligence on anything you're considering buying to make sure it's actually a good deal. Not everyone who calls them selves a "property wholesaler" actually is.

Hi! My name is Erica and I'm a vacation rental investment specialist here in Orlando, FL. My niche has taken me all over the world to property expos and speaking engagements about this industry. I've created an e-course about investing in vacation rentals, it's currently being updated before re-release. 

It's been a rough week here in Orlando with all the awful events that have taken place but I'm happy to be a part of such a strong and loving community of people. I'm also happy to be a part of the BP group here. So far everyone is really helpful and friendly. 

I am also an investor, I'm always looking for wholesale property deals so don't be shy if you have something you think I should look at. If I can't buy it, I probably know people who will. 

If you ever have questions about investing in Vacation Rentals, please feel free to reach out and ask. I'm happy to help! 

Cheers, 

Erica Muller

@Sean B. If you know how many bedrooms and the general area within Gatlinburg I can do some quick research and plug everything into my VR performa for you and send a screen shot of the estimated weeks needed to break even, annual ROI and cash flow but here is what I would need to know:

Are you self managing or hiring a manager? 
How many bedrooms? 
What part of Gatlinburg? 
Estimated property taxes? 

Is there an HOA (probably not but if so about how much?)

Everything else I need I can estimate based on some quick research. 

Congratulations!!! That's such wonderful news! 

vacation rentals ARE a good investment but here is what you need to know. 

They are work. It's more work than a long term rental. You do need to be hands on with the marketing if it's going to be successful otherwise you need to hire a really experienced and ethical property manager. I find that's the Achilles heel of this niche. Property managers. They make the entire component work but there are so few of them that are actually reliable and most people don't know the right questions to ask them when they interview them so they get duped. 

If you don't want to hire a manager you are basically buying a full time job. Just being honest. Nothing wrong with that at all but you should understand the commitment. It's marketing, sales, follow up, management, financial etc. It's a full time job to stay fully booked and there are better ways to earn an income in real estate if you want to be hands off. 

Here are the reasons you should buy one: 

1. Amazing time to get into this niche. I was fortunate enough to be one of the workshop leaders at the very first VRSS in Canada last month and wow, the amount of growth this niche is seeing is HUGE. I talked to hundreds of owners and they all told me the same thing, they want more. They won't stop until they have a fleet of homes and some of the marketing ideas that were shared are genius. It's truly the tip of the ice burg with this niche. I highly recommend getting in on it before everyone is doing it. 

2. It's a lifestyle investment. There is NO OTHER investment that allows you to actually enjoy it's fruits (other than jet charters and yacht charters) and it pays for you to do so. If you want to be a real estate investor and also travel I can't think of a better investment. 

Do know the facts though, unless you hire management, it's not a hands off investment. And that's okay but everyone has a different idea of what "passive income" means to them. 

Good luck and welcome to the VR family!

@Tobey Porter My pleasure and best of luck!!