All Forum Posts by: Justin Ellis

@Dana McMahan

I agree with @Patrick Kinsella on this. There's got to be a way to officially prove the unit has been disabled? Maybe have an appliance repair technician remove all connections from the unit and provide you something in writing. Hell, you could even go as far as removing all working components, and installing a custom counter top on the stove. This keeps the look and gives extra counter space, plus you could provide a plug in 2 burner unit. I BELIEVE this isn't counted as an appliance. I say this because I have a friend who added on to her house and the city said she couldnt have 2 kitchens, but they were ok with the burner.

I guess if they're not willing to approve either of these options you could just remove it? I know it looks cool but I think pulling out $100k in equity looks even cooler! :p

@Jingru Sui

I manage 11 units right now and one thing I've found that helps is standardizing where you can.

Example, you mentioned destroyed pans. So if you have the same pots/pans at all the units, when 1 pan gets destroyed, you can keep a replacement set on hand and just replace the one pan instead of the whole set. Then you have the rest of that set to distribute to other units as pieces get destroyed.

I try and do the same thing with all the dishes, silverware, sheets, towels, etc. Anywhere I can create a standard, I will.

Also, as I scaled, I created a "hub" (Storage unit) where I keep all my supplies. I used to keep extra everything at every property (Mini soaps, Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, cleaning soaps, coffee cups, etc) but realized that I had a LOT of cash tied up in stuff that would only someday be used. So I pulled it all from the individual units and put at the hub. Now my cleaners go here daily, pick up a supply bin and the linens for their cleanings that day, this has helped a ton.

So as an example, I used to have 24 rolls of TP at every site in the cleaning closet (11 units x 24 rolls = 264 rolls of TP sitting around). When I went to the hub system I now keep say 48 total rolls in inventory and the cleaners keep 8 rolls in their cleaning supply bins and disburse as needed throughout their day, then refill their minimal supply the next morning.

This also help remove the logistical nightmare of having to keep track of stock levels at all the places as opposed to just the 1 hub.

I do the same with linens. I used to have 2 complete sets of linens and towels at each unit, but because I have all the same sheets and towels and keep them all in 1 location now, I don't have to own 2x the stock levels of all the units.

As a pointer, if you have different size beds, use different colors for each size! I have primarily Queen, so queens get white, and the few fulls I have get a light tan. Trust me, this will save you TONS of headaches.

Oh, another change I made, I used to have the cleaners wash the stuff while on site and put them away on site for the next cleaning. We now bring all dirties back to the hub and take them to a wash-n-fold facility. They get washed and returned to us the next day and restocked at the hub. 

As far as cleaning supplies, we do the same concept. I have 1-2 big jugs each type of cleaner at the hub and provided the cleaners with labeled spray bottles (Sanitizer, windex, fabuloso, etc). They just fill up at the hub and I don't have to worry about stock levels at tons of units.

Hope this helps, let me know if you want to connect and talk further on this!

@Anthony Ricks I know there's an "iCal" integration that you can use to sync all these up, but don't ask me what that is or how to do it (guess I should look into this for general knowledge purposes). I just know that's a free option that a friend of mine uses to manage his calendar (however it doesn'tpush prives out, so you have to update at all sites manually, ick!). I use a management software called Guesty, however I believe they only work with property managers with 5+ units and its a really robust (complicated) system anyway.

I would say check out Hostfully. They started as a digital guidebook software provider (which I use for my properties and they're great) and then launched a full management platform, which I hear is great too!

There's a lot of options out there but with 1 unit I would go with something without a bunch of bells and whistles that costs less and will manage the basics (calendar and guest communication).

Good luck! I'm always available to help, I love STR's and I continue to learn on the subject every day possible!

@Jake Thornton I don't have the answer to this but I'm replying to give this some "forum juice". I've not heard of this site and I'm curious as well. Good question, let's hope we get some answers!

@Tyler Harris

As it's been suggested...

- Wholesale (If these deals are as good as you're saying you should have no problem assigning contracts)

- Find a money partner (50% of a deal is better than 100% of no deal)

- House hack (if you've got the space and wouldn't have to spend any money to get a bigger place)

Either way, stick with it!

@Zoran Stanoev @Greg Dickerson

So does this mean you can no longer assign contracts in IL however you're free to do a back to back or "ABC Close"? As long as the property is legally yours before you resell it?

I'm not in IL but I've been seeing reference to this new law and it's interesting

@Andrew Ratterman nothing wrong with arbitrage, you won't just find inexperienced LL to lease to you, I lease all my properties from very experienced owners. Explain to them that their property is an Asset to you and to a standard renter it's a Liability. Explain you'll have eyes on the place about 1-2 times a week and have it cleaned top to bottom. Don't listen when people who have never done what you are trying to do tell you it won't work, especially @Ken Latchers, he never has anything positive or productive to say and talks as if he knows all, but truth is he's just a sad old guy that pleasures himself to the though of bashing people in online forums (it's sad really).

I would however beware of the changing regulatory climate in that market. If you do your research and you still decide to move forward, I would put an addendum in the lease that "should the regulations change, you can get out within 90 days" or something like that. If they refuse, on to the next one.

Good luck, go get em!

@Daniel Gonzalez Bejarano I just started but from everything I've heard from experienced wholesalers @Jerryll Noorden is 100% right.

Selling the deals, especially in the current market isn't hard. If you have the good deals, they'll sell fast even without a "buyers list".

My advice, find 1-2 investor and "work for them". I don't mean be employed by them, but figure out what they're looking for in what area and figure out thier exact requirements so you know what you're looking for. Then hit the streets and get deals under contract. IF for some reason your buyers back out, "wave the deal around" on BP and you should get it bought (if it's actually a good deal)

Best of luck!

@Alexander Ryan-Bailey congrats on getting an owner "over the hump", that can be the hardest part. Is this your 1st unit? Who's paying for furnishing? If he is, you're getting the better end of this deal by about 25%!

@Ken Latchers I would say your advice is "absolute terrible" to a person looking to run 1 unit as a passive investment.

As a very active participant in STR management I would HIGHLY advise against pushing out to more platforms in the name of "increased bookings". Remember opportunity cost here. If the days are booked on booking.com or homeaway (both of which charge 12% more than Airbnb to the property owner btw) they can't be booked on Airbnb at a lower rate... AND they take care of some of your admin work for you. Why would you NOT leave all your days open for the WORLDS BIGGEST STR booking platform?

I push all 11 of my properties to 3 different platforms (because I have the time and systems setup to do so) and still Airbnb accounts for about 92% of all my bookings. And again, who's to say those days wouldn't have filled up on Air had they been available?

What about cordinating calenders? How about the expense and time of collecting payments directly (you're on your own with Homeaway and with booking you MAY qualify for them to collect, but not guaranteed). What about managing different messaging platforms instead of handling all in 1 place? What about the increased complexities of filing taxes because you have to pull reports from many different sites (and as stated prior, budget to remit taxes yourself)?

There's a LOT more to consider here than the minor increase in rev potential for a SINGLE UNIT here. But of course you realize all of this because you manage TONS of STR's and took it all into consideration prior to recommending to our friend here that sticking wit a single platform was a terrible idea. ;)