All Forum Posts by: Gururaj Iyer

I can tell you which definitely not to use -  Evolve :)  and I am sure the reasons which prompt me to say that are going to be similar for someone like Vacasa .. I have heard horror stories about Vacasa & personally been burnt terribly from Evolve...a lot of folks in this forum are huge proponents of self managing ( and rightly so ) however if you decide to still outsource that task, I highly reccomend find someone local (  I self manage all of my 5 STRs ) and recently terminated Evolve.

Questions to ask-

1) Commission Fee

2) If it is completely hands off 

3) Termination process if it ever were to come to that .

4) Responsible party for Restocking & maintaining STR

Good luck ! 

I operate 2 in the Poconos. You are right about it being "healthy" however what I do see also happening is a whole load of STRs - especially in Arrowhead Lake added on to the inventory , I am quite familiar with the area hence I would suggest to be extremely wary of that fact , also as others have mentioned - stay clear of property management companies ( especially the likes of evolve etc ) - their proposition & value add in the Poconos is just to grab a % of income. Get a good cleaner & handyman to operate and maintain your house. Just pay them well enough for them to go beyond the typical cleaning stuff. Lake Fronts & houses super close to ski resorts tend to do pretty well.. everything else is a hit and a miss especially with the rising purchase prices. Arrowhead especially has some turnkey lakefronts available ( last I checked ) - they are more like recent purchases ,decided to dabble into STR & eventually gave in & resisted with a much higher list price. This has been the primary reason why I have chosen not to invest into buying another one in the area.

Good Luck ! 

They had my lakefront priced super low at one point ( mid 200s ADR attracting worst guests ) and next month at 1200 - 1700$ ( attracting no guests ) .. inspite of repeated messages they just gave some crappy reason and refused to lower rates.. I started owner blocking & self manage my own listing .. way way much better ..

depending on which region you are looking at - stay absolutely away :) , I and quite others I know learnt the hard way.. they are absolutely a waste of money.. although I would say that there are some in AZ who seem to be liking them.. by and far they have terrible ratings & its a complete waste of 10% imo... if you cant really self manage.. get a good local cleaner( pay them well ! ) and a decent handyman..

Very useful insights in these forums for STRs, my 2 cents- LTR is always an option at any point of time. One thing the pandemic has irrefutably changed is the way a lot of people are traveling and vacationing .there is always a demand for people to go to drive down to places which are a couple of hours away , If I were you - I would run numbers on existing listings in the area you seek to invest, see how far their calendars are booked.. run a few reports out of mash visor or airdna.. ROI on LTRs are no where even close to LTRs , there are regulations to convert LTRs-STRs however I have never heard the other way round :) - so might as well give it a try . Have 5 STRs so far & all are managed remotely, 100% true - they are a hassle on days but it is expected when I have new tenants every 4 days.

my 2 cents - even though its a saturated zone for Airbnbs , you can certainly spruce up your property to cater to both BNB & Airbnb. Essentially it need not be one or another . If the numbers are good and there is constant flow of tourists- I would totally stick to STR( BNB + listing on major STR sites ) . The biggest risk in STR is already mitigated in your case with zoning exclusion.