All Forum Posts by: Geoff Husa

I'm looking for peeps who do short term rental in the Phoenix metro area, specifically the East Valley. I'd love to hear from you about what that market is like, and what your experience has been with your investments. Am a native to the area, looking at investing in there. Still researching and formulating our strategy and what we want to focus on. Mostly looking at long term rentals up to this point, but as I research a bit, my interest is piqued regarding STR. I'd love to know the following info, if you're willing to share...

Have your revenues taken a hit with the pandemic?

What kind of seasonal fluctuation do you experience?

How much vacancy is realistic to plan for?

Care to drop any hints about good locations for such rentals? Anywhere you definitely want to stay away from?

Anyone having any luck using a property with an Attached Dwelling Unit as their short term rental?

What kind of tenants do you cater to? Generally what are they coming to Phoenix area for?

Are you currently considering getting out of STR? Why?

Any really good peeps or resources to point me to for a good understanding of STR investing?

Any other thoughts you might have if you were to want to convince someone else why going the STR route in this particular area is worth considering?

Looking forward to hearing from some of the BP community on this!

Thanks in advance!

@Wade Kulesa I have had the same question, and a bit of nervousness about the prospect of leveraging debt after following Dave Ramsey's advice for many years. However I've come to disagree with some of his stances. His general wisdom is still greatly appreciated, but I think there are some exceptions to his strict black and white take on debt. I hope it's OK to post a link to a video here. But Graham Stephen did a video explaining why Dave's real estate ventures failed. There's a big difference between what Dave was doing and what I read many of you all doing. Check it out. Graham's video here

@Brian G. how is your cash flow affected by COVID for your str properties? I guess as I consider that route, one concern that comes to mind is the seasonal fluctuations as well as other big factors that can affect the travel industry, compared to long term rentals. Any thoughts on that?

@Brian G. I've heard that vacation rentals are pretty hot in the Phoenix metro area. I have a friend who invests that way there. An investing realtor friend also mentioned the possibility. Will have to read up on that and get some insights into how that works and whether it would be a good fit for us. Will DM you with some questions as I have them. Thanks!

Thanks @Ben Zimmerman, good to hear from you. Just to clarify I was thinking of an emergency reserve fund as a separate thing from capex savings. But maybe just having all that wrapped into one is the way to think of it.

Excited to hear from others on this too!

Thanks @Account Closed. Just followed your tip and signed up!

Hey everyone I'm curious how many of you maintain a separate reserve fund for your properties so as to handle longer vacancies, or other things that come up like with COVID where tenants/payments might get a little scarce. I'd love to hear your numbers on how many months' expenses you keep in reserve, if any.

Also did you start out with the reserves on hand when you purchased, or did you accumulate it over time?

If you maintain several properties, do you maintain one fund to cover them all, or do you maintain one fund for each property?

Also do you have any wisdom for folks as to why they should keep a reserve? Or if you don't keep one, what are your reasons?

@Jake Kain and @Jonathan Soto thanks for the warm welcome! Appreciate it!

@Jake Kain, yeah would love to pick your brain about the area with investing in mind. Like I said, I grew up there. It's my home town, but I've never contemplated too much the idea of investing there. So it's a whole new area of research for us. Will take you up on your offer and send a few questions your way sometime soon!

@Randy Smith thanks for the input! Yeah as we do property analyses on things our realtor is sending on the MLS we're seeing that it's hard to make the numbers work without making extreme lowball offers. Our situation has us needing a primary residence for a year (we a missionaries in Papua New Guinea and are only home for a year or so every few years) in the Phoenix metro area. So this first house we're looking at has that constraint. So what our plan will be after that (or maybe we should rent for the year home, and invest our REI capital elsewhere?) is up in the air and we're still trying to determine what will be best for us and our situation living overseas and only being home intermittently. The plus side is that since I was born and raised in the area I'm more comfortable with what's where and who's who. So the thought of investing somewhere else, trying to find the right peeps for the various helps needed like contracting, property management, plumbing, elec, etc is kind of scary.

So anyway, it looks like a bit of a slow start for us, unless as we learn about more options and methods we can move things a little quicker. Anyway, it's good to connect with you! Appreciate your insight!

Hey @Randy Smith, greetings from another Phoenician! Curious what was behind the decision to invest out of state? Looking at investing in Phoenix area ourselves, in the East Valley. But curious what other investors think of the area from an investor's standpoint. We'd be looking at buy and hold, and eventually moving to BRRRR when we can get enough capital to put more of our own cash (or even hard money loan) into a cash deal. Anyway would love to hear why it seems you're not investing right there in Phoenix. Anything to help me understand what mindset and strategy would be best in the area.

My guess, as I've begun looking into it myself is maybe because the market there is a little bit expensive, and so cash flow is a little lower, and one is hoping/depending more on appreciation. But I also know Phoenix is fairly active with flippers and other investors too so maybe I'm missing something?