All Forum Posts by: Patrick O'Shea

If your concerned about rental agreements, you can get "estoppel agreements" signed by the tenants. Search for it on BP and you can get details. It sounds like you have SFH property management experience, but if you don't I found Brandon Turners "Managing Rental Properties" book helpful to get me up to speed. If you got that down and are looking for a multi-family buying focus, his "The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume I: Achieve Financial Freedom by Investing in Small Multifamily Real Estate" also is good.

Totally agree. You want a quality tenant and not the first one that can sign on the dotted line. Maybe you could ask if you could advertise and sign their lease to get it filled? That could be a win/win with you getting it filled with a quality tenant and they get the extra income/unit filled? Worse case the closing doesn't happen and they have it leased with no effort?

I started 2 months ago renting out two units for mid-term rentals in my 6-unit building. So far so good. I live in Pittsburgh and there are plenty of hospitals in the area. Here's what I have learned so far.

* I bought Al Williamson's course and it was helpful, but not required in my opinion. If you search YouTube / podcasts you can find channels dedicated to this niche.
* Being near hospitals and universities are great for traveling nurses, patients undergoing therapy, grad students, and/or remote professionals.
* Having extended stay hotels in the area are a good indicator there is demand for mid-term rentals.
* I furnished both units using Cort furniture to buy solid, matching, used furniture at a discount. You can finance the purchase if you don't want to lay out the cash up front. You can decorate a 1 bedroom apartment (living, dining, bedroom, TVs, art, desk, etc) for under $2000 delivered. I probably spend another $2k on kitchen appliances/essentials, linens, smart devices, etc. 
* I've added wifi and smart devices (thermostat, keyless locks) to help manage and be touchless.
* Items like wifi, desks, smart TVs, blackout curtains are important to those interested in my units.
* I get interest from furnished finder but all my bookings so far are via Airbnb. I understand 1/3 of Airbnb bookings are 30+ days. My minimum stay is 30 days to avoid taxes for STR and extra work involved in a turnover.
* I am booked pretty solid thru the end of the year. YMMV, but I expect 10-20% vacancy max in my area.
* My rent is 50% more than LTR units and I'm looking to increase it since I'm not having any issue keeping them full. Professional photos definitely help.
* I'm probably going to convert more units next year if the strength in mid-term rentals persist.

Hope that helps those interested in this niche.

I'm in Pittsburgh, PA and be happy to connect online too.

If its value is under a million I'd look to local/regional banks and/or credit unions. Details on the size of the property will help give you better answers.

@Jay Hinrichs base price for RWD is 39k and Dual motor AWD is 49k right? I believe the Tri motor is 69k.

@Dennis M. Given the surprising positive reaction, I'm expect a couple years of backlog. One would think used Model 3s would be cheaper, but buyers are highly satisfied with them. These cars/trucks update like your phone. There is less reason to buy the latest one as they get better with time. My Tesla was the first new car I've ever bought because I held your same belief. Before deciding just consider the opportunity cost of waiting vs buying sooner/new.

@Jay Hinrichs I have a RWD Model 3 in Pittsburgh (hills + crappy weather). I thought I might regret 2 wheel drive, but the traction control is amazing and the tires rarely lose traction in any condition. Off-roading might be different.

@Jay Hinrichs it's same or smaller dimensions of a F-150 by design.