All Forum Posts by: Garrett Brown

@Preston Dean is spot on!  https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/property-manag...


@Andrew Steffens highlighted a good point and something to look into with companies if you truly want someone to handle most of the operations. 

I recommend everyone self-manage their first STR typically and use tools like Hospitable to manage it correctly.
1) you will learn what it takes to manage an STR to know later on if a PM is actually worth it. It's not as daunting as you may think with systems set up and continuous education.
2) Most PM's are expensive and will eat up a significant portion of your revenue and as you have found, often only take listings at certain revenues. 

What is your biggest fear or concern about self-managing? @Arthur Schwartz , Maybe I can help ease your mind or provide a resource. 

Your long-term goals matter the most here and only you can decide that. If you are buying in a non-historical vacation market and are concerned about regulations, I would only buy for a few reasons. 
1) The area has tremendous appreciation rates and you are looking for long-term benefits. 
2) The location could work as an MTR and/or LTR and has the metrics to support this. 
3) It is a fantastic deal with tremendous value add or under-market value purchasing. 

You mention a "million dollar" property and selling in a few years. Appreciation will not be able to truly work if you have to sell in 2-3 years (you still may benefit in a hot market, though).
Is this a million dollar house in Los Angeles? Or in Kentucky? Location matters. Your LTR chances are low for a million houses in a random midwest city. LTR could work on that type of house in areas. 

@Bryant Xavier pretty much gave you all of your possible exits and not it just depends on your goals and location. 

Most STRs do not drain the water after each guest. Hotels and gyms do not. It is debatable how often you need to (I do mine around every 2-4 weeks), but I have times before I had to drain more often, depending on the state it is left in. We charge the guests if the water needs changing due to their fault of not following rules we set out.  Getting a professional to handle the chemicals is the move, or even empowering your cleaners to get hot tub maintenance certified through a program they can take around chemicals from Pool & Hot Tub Alliance. Check with your insurance company about requirements that need to be met. 

Hey Amy! Congrats on getting it started. Do you have any units you manage already? How do you plan on finding leads? Have you told everyone you know that you are starting this venture to see if they know anyone?

Like mentioned above, Local facebook groups are a good start. You can also find STRs listed on places like Airbnb, VRBO, etc. See who has poor reviews or seemingly bad management and use something like PropStream to find the owner based on the cross streets and exterior of the house. Get the owner's contact information through a record-searching website and reach out. If you have prior experience, it will help tremendously to make them switch. If not, you will need to really sharpen your presentation on the benefits you will provide to the owner. I think there are plenty of videos to learn from on YouTube about co-hosting and STR management. Most master classes just repurpose YT videos into the same type of content in the class.

Seaside/Rockaway Beach is the winner on that list based on data and yields. Where did you pull your data from? I'm broadly showing closer to $300 ($299-311) ADR and 59% Occupancy rates on AirDNA research. 

A few questions and I think you'll get your answer.
1) Can you actually rent this out as an STR? Does the city allow it? Does the HOA?
2) Is it furnished? If not, prepare to spend quite a bit furnishing it as in $20,000+ and probably way more
3) Are you wanting to become more active in investing and hosting? STRs demand more time even though alot of things can be automated. you will managing cleaners, damage, guest experience, supplies, and more.
4) Use AirDNA to see what an estimate of revenue can be, check Airbnb in your local neighborhood to see if anyone else if getting higher rates, and use BiggerPockets STR calculator to see what common expenses you may be forgetting. What is your revenue now?
I pulled the AirDNA #'s for you for 4-5 Bedroom homes in Folsom. These are jsut blanket averages though.

$61.3K

+12%

54%

-1%

$376.34

+11%

$201.78

+9%

In this particular situation and the market, I'm going to guess that you are more intelligent as an LTR and trying to figure out how you bring in more income or lower expenses on that side. If the unit is already furnished (or you have a budget to get it ready) and allows STRs, it may change some things.

I would imagine Long Beach is complicated to get into the STR game but I don't personally invest there so not sure. I have some friends who went into Big Bear Lake and Crescent City and did well if you are looking to stay in CA.

Hey Buck, there are no lakeside properties to compare to? Are you allowed to STR in this area? I find it strange that no one has if it's allowed, but if you are first to market, you are essentially the guinea pig. I have launched in markets and have been the unique high end stay. AirDNA would project one thing and we would beat it 3-4x each time. Your best bet is to make sure to stand out with great pictures, competitive pricing, great hostings, and being aware of what your market guest avatar wants. Learn ways to maximize your revenue like mabe additional guest packages to sell on top of the stay.

Another vote for a simple spreadsheet. A great tip someone gave me recently was to put everything that you do in your calendar as well. This will give you two documented forms from now on. I'm not a big "put everything in my calendar" guy, but if you are, the calendar way should be easy to add on. I still only do spreadsheets weekly, though. 

I think on top of goodies like popcorn, Rice Krispy treats, etc., you can also leave things like toothbrush/toothpaste combos, sleeping masks, ear plugs, makeup wipes, and more, all add to the value and usability of the basket. You can buy these in bulk off Amazon, and it becomes very handy when guests forget these small things. Most never use them but it's helpful when they need it.