All Forum Posts by: Ramon Romero

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Gulf Shores.

Purchase price: $730,000
Cash invested: $77,000

Gorgeous Duplex with 4 bedrooms. Accommodates up to 12 guests. Phenomenal location! Property is a rental machine with yearly projections of $75k. Every guest has given their stay a 5-star review. Units can be rented out together or individually, giving flexibility during peak and off seasons.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Learning about househacking.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Watched it for a year on the MLS and waited for months before making the offer which coincided with W-2 work opportunities.

How did you finance this deal?

Used HELOC funding from Primary residence.

How did you add value to the deal?

Methodically eliminating every item on the inspection report starting with the safety hazards to cosmetic.

What was the outcome?

Will be experiementing with Mid Term Rental in the slow season and Short Term Rental in the high season.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Patience and negotiation are important... reciprocity works, thanks Chriss Voss!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Candace PFab & Chuck!

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Gulf Shores.

Purchase price: $730,000
Cash invested: $77,000

Gorgeous Duplex with 4 bedrooms. Accommodates up to 12 guests. Phenomenal location! Property is a rental machine with yearly projections of $75k. Every guest has given their stay a 5-star review. Units can be rented out together or individually, giving flexibility during peak and off seasons. Completely refurbished, new HVAC installed 2022. Beautiful finishes including updated kitchens with granite counter tops, stainless appliances, vinyl plank and tile flooring and large balconies on both north and south sides. Decor recently updated and is being sold fully furnished and rent ready. Ample parking, storage, and separate laundry for each side. Almost 1000 sq ft deck in back with 4 picnic tables. Newly installed BBQ's. Just a 2 minute walk to the white sandy beaches of Gulf Shores. Direct beach access with a streetlight for safe crossing. Great location close to local attractions, restaurants and shops. Owner will share with buyer how to self manage the rental including all the processes, automation, etc.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Learning about househacking.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Watched it for a year on the MLS and waited for months before making the offer which coincided with W-2 work opportunities.

How did you finance this deal?

Used HELOC funding from Primary residence.

How did you add value to the deal?

Methodically eliminating every item on the inspection report starting with the safety hazards to cosmetic.

What was the outcome?

Will be experiementing with Mid Term Rental in the slow season and Short Term Rental in the high season.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Patience and negotiation are important... reciprocity works, thanks Chriss Voss!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Candace PFab & Chuck!

Hello Kyle, I'm still learning how these forum work and I agree it's not consistent. I think its because everyone is at their own level of knowledge and initiatives and periodically check in on this forum. Assuming they've already gone through what we're about to go through being in the beginning of the journey. I'll look for you number and start texting away! Thanks for responding!

First off, Happy Veteran's day weekend, thank you to all who have served something greater than themselves and sacrificed. As a Marine Corps veteran and current Recycling executive, my wife and I are looking to connect with some motivated and focused people who are like minded and wanting to create a mastermind, meet up, or simply break some bread. I can add value by sharing our Short term rental journey and self managing properties while working a full time job. Feel free to hit me up. 

https://www.youtube.com/channe...

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $552,000

Colibri Cabin situated perfectly on 3 acres in a secluded pocket of Woods Creek Lake known as "Fisherman's Cove". Access to fishing, kayaking, & boating. Breathtaking views! If you want to explore London, KY a picturesque "heart of America" town, Main street is only a 5 minute drive away.
-10 minutes to great local restaurants
-Boat ramp 3 miles away (w/Parking)
-National Forest 15 minutes away
-Cumberland Falls 45 min away
-Wildcat off-road park with 2,000 acres of riding 3m.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This started out as our dream home, it made us "house poor". We stretched the limits of our budgets, cashed in everything we could, and made our dreams happen.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We didn't think we could afford it and simply went to admire the house. My wife fell in love with it. Without my wife knowing I contacted the bank and previous job's 401K, and wrote the owners the most powerful letter I had ever written on our desire to own that little piece of paradise. My wife had sacrificed a lot leaving her family in South America to move around multiple times while I deployed with the Marines. The owner's father had been a Marine, and the rest is history!

How did you finance this deal?

Liquidated my previous employer's 401K (taxes came back to haunt me years later!), lunch money, selling stuff on Marketplace, & the VA loan!

How did you add value to the deal?

My wife made it a beautiful home, added a hot tub, updated the HVAC, repaired the boathouse, remodeled the Master bathroom & several other items like emergency generator connection.

What was the outcome?

It was not our intent to become investors or Short Term Rental experts. We researched what we needed to do to offer our home to Veterans & victims (refugees) of war (Afganistan & Ukraine). We didn't know what it meant to "host" people. Then on day we came across an AirBnB ad about supporting people with our homes by learning to become hosts. We set up our home to host people and we've gone from 0 doors to 4 in one year!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We didn't know anything about real estate investing, but quickly learned that what we were doing was called short term rental and is percieved to be risky & difficult. Since we didn't know it was difficult we simply learned it, automated it, and have expanded. This lifestyle has afforded us the ability to dream for Finanicial Independence while making a more immediate and significant impact to our causes then a W-2 could. We are still W-2 but now are walking towards finanical freedom & service!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, throughout our journey we've had great support on our team. Mary Layton in Kentucky, Marg Watson in Fort Morgan, Candace Pfab & Chuck in Gulf Shores. eXp realty has been awesome!

Agree with William, I was able to find a great Portfolio loan and used my Primary Residence HELOC for the down payment. I used First Bank, great people!

Hello Kerry, it really was. We went from 0 doors to now 4 doors in 2 years and really enjoying the process and learning. I hope all is going well for you in Florida!

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $330,000
Cash invested: $39,000

Spectacular views await at this completely renovated gulf front unit! Enjoy resort style amenities including but not limited to boardwalk beach access, outdoor/indoor pools, tennis, golf and on site dining. This one bedroom one bath unit at the Gulf Shores Plantation located on the first floor of building number two. This fully renovated unit is equipped with all new stainless steel appliances, new vinyl plank flooring, and hallway bunk beds.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

It was the official start of our short term rental investment journey. Needed to test the theory and put all knowledge to the test.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS, Local realtor, & all attempts to negotiate anything failed, the market was too hot. Finally offered asking, lost the deal at one point, then after a few days it fell through and came back to us.

How did you finance this deal?

Heloc took too long and we couldn't delay or risk losing earnest money. Took a loan against 401k and made it happen.

How did you add value to the deal?

Cosmetics, interior design investment paid off, and now outperforms similar listings.

What was the outcome?

A beautiful ocean front condo that cash flows over 15K/year after all costs.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It was our first time doing this, we had listed the property on Airbnb and started getting bookings before we closed on the property. Then we lost the deal, we held on to the bookings because we thought bookings could be transferred and fortunately we made a stronger offer and their deal fell through. We ended up with the property and honored all bookings. NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN! Apparently we didn't realize that doing that is not the way!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

The life you live are the lessons you teach others... get out there and shake it up... we thought we overpaid because the market was too hot back in April/May of 2022 but the numbers kept saying it was a greenlight. Thankfully we trusted in the analysis and stuck with it.

Hello Jake, the day to day would involve the following:

-Platform management

-Initial set up of your listing (everything that comes with it & guest book instructions)

-determining all parameters if you haven't already done so (availability, price, cleaners, handling of guest concerns, stocking of supplies, accounting if you don't have a VA/systems, etc).

There's much to it but if done right feels very much part of the routine and hands off if you coordinate these tasks with your regular ones depending on how many listings you have off course. Hope this helps. 

https://www.airbnb.com/users/s...

C

olibri CabinHello Dan, my wife and I look at the local Airbnb sites and combine that with the value we think we bring and plan our pricing out based on weekends, holidays, or length of stay. We charge double what anyone in our area does and stay booked. Since we only have the one property we haven’t found the need for any external software yet but I hear good things about “price labs”… we’ll probably try that when we have multiple sites going. Hope that helps!