All Forum Posts by: Henry Chan

Can you give some more details on who and what are harassing you? Most permits and PA hotel tax certificate are pretty quick to acquire in the Poconos/PA.

I have 2 properties in the area [a small one in the Mt Poconos area and a 3-BR with amenities in a community near Delaware water gap]. 

Base on what I have seen in the last 2 years, my small, no amenity lodge has a booking rate of about 85 to 95%. 

The 3-BR I just started last month, and booking rate so far is about 70 to 80% occupancy.

Both places are competitively priced based on size, area, etc.

Peak months are the summer and winter months, with random/specific events near by in between that bring in a wave of renters [Valentine's week, Christmas, events in Pocono raceway, etc].

Both properties bring in about 5% income for me, but I am not sure if a unit 3x more expensive and 3x nicer as my 3-BR will bring in 3x the income. There's a diminishing return after some point.

I actively manage them. If you are outsourcing you need to calculate cleaning and management fees.

Hey Ron, welcome.

I used to work a self-employed job in NYC that was also very unpredictable with ups and downs, and in 2015 [and years leading up to it] moved to Poconos specifically for airbnb, starting with a small tiny cabin, and it worked out since.

I don't even know how to swing a hammer [I know how to swing a 2-hand sword though]. So don't worry about your perceived weakness. Like they said on the BP podcast all the time, there are many ways to make money in real estate, so pick one and focus on it.

I am a local Poconos airbnb host [2 houses] for about 2+ years. Just sent you a message. I might be able to help you with some of the resources. 

I am in the Poconos and I do vacation rentals here.
1) Anyone have experience with Pocono vacation rentals? What type of occupancy have you seen?

It's mostly people from nearby cities, for a "boring" house most likely you'll get 6 very busy months and 6 "pays the bill and a little bit extra" months. And if you make it very unique you can get a very busy 12 month period.

2) Is the idea of running a vacation home from afar (about 2 hour drive) nuts? (Vacation rentals are really possible where we live).

You will need cleaner and handy person times 2, or 3. The most stressful and expensive will be the cleaner. If he/she gets sick in the morning and didn't want to go clean that day, do you have back up? 

If you are 2 hours away, it is not fun to deal with this. In your situation, you will need a cleaner who can wash your linens as well and that’ll be extra. Expect the first few months to really test the water.

Expect 30% of your gross to go to cleaner/handy person, per house. There are some management companies out here that will take a percentage of the gross and “manages” it for you, but cleaning is extra.

So if you can take care of this [plus a handy person to call when things break], you can do this remotely.

I had people who "cleaned" for me but in fact, never did, except to just change the linens. As you can imagine, I got a lot of dings on "cleanliness" review. So it doesn't hurt to call the 2nd cleaner to go in once in a while to do a check up.

3) Our website is run under an LLC and is profitable. Could the LLC buy the property?

If you have an out of state LLC, I think you can buy it, but I am not lawyer. I would think it make sense to make a new LLC in PA and buy local.

Insurance is about the same for rental [LLC] or individual around here.

One last point, there are some small towns here that banned Airbnb outright. A few towns that tried lost the case in PA state court. 

Mt Poconos and Stroudsburg are 2 that were lost such cases to ban Airbnb. So when you buy, make sure you ask or read the town’s ordinances. If it sounded not very Airbnb friendly, than it’s risky. The towns that already lost the case against home owners are safer bets.

I had 2 properties in the Poconos general area, and recently had to close 1 due to newly passed, but sure to be defeated, anti-Airbnb laws by a local township. 

There are a few townships that tried to ban it, but failed when the owner[s] took them all the way to the PA Commonwealth court, so PA state court so far are on the side of the home owners. 

Mt Pocono township and Strouds township are 2 of the few towns that failed the ban, so basically 100% legal to do [have to pay a fee].

I am adding another 1 hopefully in the next few months. Airbnb here is great, but it's very labor intensive unless you contract out the management side of things.

Most people say Tobyhana [Pocono Country Place community] is a place you want to stay from if you want to move there, for vacations, the Pocono Country Place community seems to have quite a few spot and renters seem to be pretty happy. 

In my experience the down months are the times between summer and winter.

Winter brings in a good number of skiers, and summer is pretty busy for hikers and people who wanted to get out of town [NY, NJ, Philly, etc]. The other times [sept to november, etc], tends to be slower. 

Hey buddy. 

I moved to the area after living in Brooklyn for 14+ years.

ES has a lot of opportunities because it's so close to the vacation spots and downtown/university/hospitals. I don't know much about MF however, I run 2 airbnb cabins in the area, and so far it's been keeping me busy. If you have any question regarding the area feel free to ask.

Wow, that's great, very nice job with the interior. That address is about 10 minutes from my place!

I see, of course the 15% doesn't take basic repairs into considerations? So I am looking at a 35% [20 % for repair + 15% management]. 

That should bring the highly optimistic numbers down a bit to planet earth; thanks!