All Forum Posts by: Jeff Deville

It seems to me that most people here are going to suggest that any additional funds be rolled into more real estate. We're generally likely to feel that there's more leverage and more chaos in the market to exploit. Perhaps it would help, for this audience, if you explained why you felt the stock market was a better vehicle?  Perhaps you're looking to diversify, and are worried about getting too heavily focused on real estate or too heavily focused on your local market?

Have you considered putting that money into a roth solo 401k/IRA, and then loaning it out? There's always someone out there looking to put a fund together to tackle larger real estate ventures, perhaps try to find some of them at a local meetup or on BP?

Just trying to throw out a few other ideas to consider

@Daniel Sisto, @Cody Alexander 

Hey guys, here's a bit of what I've found so far regarding signage

http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/27229/how-do-i-figure-out-the-right-size-font-text-for-a-given-read-distance
http://www.thesignchef.com/sizing_guide.php
http://www.trafficsign.us/signtypeface.html
http://www.udeworld.com/documents/designresources/pdfs/TextLegibilityandReadabilityofLargeFormatSignsinBuildingandSites.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_Gothic
http://www.signazon.com/help-center/sign-letter-height-visibility-chart.aspx

I was thinking about this problem with regard to for sale/rent signs on specific properties, rather than bandit signs, where the problem is a little easier.  As for the font choice, the links actually suggest readable fonts as well.  I see a lot of signs where the font is squeezed to fit the sign, and the effect is to make the content unreadable. 

Question for everyone on your bandit and yard signs.  Have you done research to see whether they can be read for X seconds by someone driving at Y speed limit?  I've compared notes with a few others recently, and it seems to me that most realtors signs are only useful for branding, because that's all you can read while driving. Even if you have time to read the phone number, I doubt most people remember it, and the websites aren't for the property itself.  

I've (very rarely) seen SMS shortcodes being used.  (eg: "Text 4534 to HOUSE")  But not too often.  

This is a little curious to me, because it seems like a missed opportunity.  There are formulas for sign height out there, but they're not being used.  

It seems like a missed opportunity to increase conversion rates on those signs.

+1 for this thread. I'm researching what kinds of costs I can expect here as well.  Thanks @Chanté Owens for your input!

@Steve B. Thanks for that link to rentingyourplace.com.  I'll be using that for sure.  For the lazy (the site's not terribly well organized), here's a sample report:

Sample Report

@Mike Waltman - Just mentioning you to make sure you saw what Steve had shared.

@Jeremy Baker Thanks for the info. It didn't occur to me that the existing owners might be so helpful. Sure doesn't hurt to ask, thanks for the tip. How is the property in Kihei going?  I've stayed there twice on family vacations and loved it!  (Kamaole Sands is where we stayed both times)

@Bill Jacobsen Thanks for the heads up on what to expect re: management fees! That's quite a bit higher than I'd expected. How is it that you're managing them yourself if they're in 3 different states? I definitely intend to go with property management regardless of where we choose to buy because the goal isn't to trade in 1 job for another. But those percentages are eye-opening.  Appreciate the input.

I'm looking at vacation rentals in areas I've never personally visited, and was wondering what everyone did to evaluate the level of demand in a particular area.  If you can add think of anything I'm missing from this list, please weigh in.

• Find nearby comps, and search on VRBO, homeaway, and AirBNB to get a sense of the rates, occupancy rate, and degree of seasonality
• Look for local property managers and ask them about the area, and their rates
• Search TripAdvisor to get a sense of the clientele as well as the popular restaurants. Then call the restaurants to see if they're open year round.

Are there other data sources available?

Hi Joe,

I'm not a landlord, but having listened to a fair number of podcasts involving landlording, one common theme has to do with being very clear up front (probably in both the contract and when you meet with them) what the various parties' responsibilities are.  Some examples I heard were things like:

- What constitutes an emergency (meaning you can be contacted outside of business hours), and what does not.  

- What your business hours are

- If they clog the toilet, perhaps they should be responsible for plunging it

Sounds like an incredible opportunity, Jason.  Good luck!  Keep us up to date on how things are progressing!

Thanks @Jay Orlauski I had forgotten about that. I can try and piece together what I need from that. Appreciate the help!