All Forum Posts by: Jake Cohen

@Chip Reed I have been using Adrienne Stroock with Sotheby's for quite a while. She has worked on both buy and sell side for me. She is very familiar with the current state of the market. If you shoot me a PM and your email happy to send her contact info and answer any questions I can.

@Wesley Myers what lender are you using? Would love to find out more.

Thanks!

@Lisa Loesel it is great that you gave Pricelabs a shot even though you have had success without it. I think a lot of people misunderstand how to use a dynamic pricing program. It is not set it and forget it. You have to tweak it to find what works for your market, property and guests. I have been using pricelabs for 6 years. I can’t imagine trying to manage pricing without it. Over the years I have added minimum night changes, % increases on certain days of the week, and seasonal profiles for my listings. I consistently stayed booked at higher rates with great guests. All of this takes effort and is on going. I tweak a lot less now than I did in the beginning but I review prices on a monthly basis at a minimum. Benchmark against your competitors and this can earn you significantly more revenue. Pricelabs has great training on how to use all of the additional features and it is worth your time to learn the ins and outs of the software. If you have any specific questions, happy to help.

@Aaron H. Thanks for reaching out. I look forward to meeting up.

Hey BP,

My name is Jake Cohen. I live in Steamboat Springs, CO and own rentals there. I co host a few others as well. I am looking to network with others in the area and maybe put together a meetup group of like minded owners in the area so we can chat about what’s going on in the area and how are rentals are performing.

For reference:

I have a triplex with a 3 bed/2 bath unit, and 2- 2 bed/ 1 bath units a mile from the base of the resort. I grossed approximately $225K.

I co host a couple 1 bedroom units under 300 sq Ft that gross about 30k.

Hope to compare notes and find other like minded owners to continue to grow with.

Message me to connect up.

Thanks!

Quote from @Palmer Thomas:

Quote from @Jake Cohen:

@Palmer Thomas Steamboat is very seasonal. Most properties operate under 50% occupancy for the year. I find I run about 50% occupancy in low season (April, May, October, November) And we run about 90% the rest of the year. Our occupancy numbers are much higher than larger properties. I do not have a direct contact for a comparable property in the area but have done research through airdna, rankbreeze, etc and feel my revenue would be similar if I owned a single family of the same size. The difference was the purchase price. I was able to buy this multi family property that needed work for $645,000 in 2018. I put about $300,000 in repairs and upgrades into the property. A 7 bed/ 4 bath home would have been about $1.5 million to purchase at that time. Would a 7/4 single family cost the same? If so I would buy the single family. If not, the multi family may be a better deal and offer more cash flow for your purchase price.

 I think a good purchase price is going to be my only hope for this one.  The family is planning on listing for a little over $1.5 million.  If it was a single family house I don't think they'd have any trouble getting that.  Since it's already split up, I think it's only going to get interest from investors like myself and I don't think it makes investment sense at that price.  I need to go ahead and talk with the sellers to be first in line if they get crickets at their asking price.

I would run away even if the higher rental estimates are true at 1.5 million. For rental numbers somewhere between $75,000 and $135,000, don’t get pulled in just because they lower the price. Personally, I wouldn’t even take the time to run detailed numbers until it was less than $750,000. Good luck. 

@Palmer Thomas Steamboat is very seasonal. Most properties operate under 50% occupancy for the year. I find I run about 50% occupancy in low season (April, May, October, November) And we run about 90% the rest of the year. Our occupancy numbers are much higher than larger properties. I do not have a direct contact for a comparable property in the area but have done research through airdna, rankbreeze, etc and feel my revenue would be similar if I owned a single family of the same size. The difference was the purchase price. I was able to buy this multi family property that needed work for $645,000 in 2018. I put about $300,000 in repairs and upgrades into the property. A 7 bed/ 4 bath home would have been about $1.5 million to purchase at that time. Would a 7/4 single family cost the same? If so I would buy the single family. If not, the multi family may be a better deal and offer more cash flow for your purchase price.

@Palmer Thomas I own a 7/4 triplex in Steamboat springs, CO that has the same breakdown of rooms. I have 4 listings, 7/4 whole property, 3/2 alone, and 2- 2/1s separately. It has been a great investment for us. We do approx. $100,000 on the 3/2. $55,000 on 1 2/1 and $65,000 on the other 2/1. The whole property doesn’t rent that much as the units don’t have connected inside access. We run about 78% occupancy even in a seasonal area. I hate the up down setup but it is a solid performer for us.

We bought a side by side duplex in Fort Morgan, Al last year that is 5/3.5 per side and also rent the whole property or the units separately. It is also a great earner for us but we see the whole property rent more for holidays and during the summer high season. The smaller units rent more during the off season and shoulder months. Happy to answer any questions you have.

@Nathan Gesner thanks for the amazing leadership on the forums!

I think the next natural thing you will see is people who did by in the last 6-12 months starting to sell because the numbers aren’t what they expected. For those who are disciplined with good systems in place I think there will be a buying opportunity in vacation markets starting in the spring or summer as prices fall and markets correct. The question mark for me is what will the rates be at that point? Not sure if prices will drop enough to entice me to buy until rates drop but we will see.

There is always opportunity in the market, just have to find the opportunity. Might be buying, selling, lending, commercial, long term, mid term, multi family or single family. Just keeping my eyes and ears open and ready to pounce when the time is right.

Quote from @Bruce Stoffmacher:

Thank you for this. My related question is what About needed boots on tne ground for remote locations. I pay a manager 20% to manage everything. I see value to communication automation, but what about when the internet or the heat is acting up? How is that managed w/out a property manager / host?

Most of us who manage remotely have a cleaner and handyman in the area who can handle a lot of these things. Generally a property manager is not going to the property to deal with those things. They have maintenance go look at it. For me it’s generally easier to call an HVAC company when the heat isn’t working than to mess with a handyman and then still need an HVAC company later. I think managing remote also forces me to fix things so they won’t happen again as opposed to just sending a maintainer guy anytime something isn’t working. I look for the upstream solution. Whether that is a technology solution, better information for the guests to not cause the issue, or adding something to avoid the problem in the future. I am happy to pay a handyman a few thousand dollars a year to not have to give up 20+% of my revenue.