All Forum Posts by: Jefferson Brown

@Nadia Hale our strategy is a bit unique in that we invest BIG on theming.  Its a lot of cash up front but its paid off well so far.  The question for us is whether or not all of that investment will pay off in the appreciation.  Its not likely an appraiser will look at our home and say "oh yeah Ill give you an extra $300K for the cool factor".  

Right now we use Pelican Property Management as our boots on the ground to manage cleans and maintenance.  They are reasonably priced and are pretty responsive.  They just aren't customer service experts so plan on doing that in-house if you hire them.

 100% agree with this.  This is one of the most competitive markets in the county (10s of thousands of STRs) so make sure you stand out with a theme or something similar.

We own 3 in Champions Gate and they have worked well for us so far.  We have had issues with parties and partying neighbors so be prepared for that.  I don't have any experience with Windsor Hills but we've had a hard time making the numbers work with smaller homes (less than 6 bedroom).  The thing you need to realize with most champions gate homes is that these properties were built like most large developments (cheap).  So if the previous owner didn't replace the below, you'll need to figure it into your budget.  All three homes have had these issues.

AC Units

Carpet (wrinkled, thin, and cheap)

Leaky Roof

Exterior Paint

Thank you for sharing @Jason Potts!  I'm sure that education will be your most valuable asset going forward.

@Pearce Trenary I don't disagree with what everyone else has said so far.  Being close can definitely give you piece of mind.  However, my first one was more than 6 hours away and not a realistic distance for me to travel to regularly (in fact I only saw the property twice the entire time I owned it.)  But just to be devils advocate, I REALLY believe in putting your rentals far enough away that you CANT visit them.  I do this because I believe in a balanced lifestyle and a vacation rental can start to own you really quickly.  This forces you to put more time upfront in finding and hiring the right team and building a scalable model.  If you choose a property with more cashflow then you have the margins to pay a little extra for the best cleaners, maintenance people, etc.  

Good luck!

 Thats a pretty good summary.  We're invested in Davenport (Orlando area) and Destin.  We started with Airdna and then used Pricelabs to verify profitable zones.  Hope that helps!

Hey Mike! 

We use Airdna if we need data further back than a year ago.  Its decent data for macro level trends.  We use pricelabs though when we want to get into the nitty gritty as it seems to be the most accurate for our area (Destin/PCB area).  I like that I can pull up a specific address and all properties within a certain radius of it instead of just a blanket zip code or city.  Pricelabs is also a lot cheaper than Airdna.  Happy analyzing!

Hi Allen!

We do syndications for our properties as well and I have to say its a very new thing.  As soon as you start syndicating you are dealing with the SEC and have to do things by the book or you will land yourself in jail.  The SEC is the only sector of law that does not care if you did something innocently, if you break the law you get sacked.  If you murder someone on accident you get a lesser penalty than someone who did it intentionally but not in securities law.  That said, there is a right way to do it if you hire the right attorney and pay them a small mountain of money.  You're asking a lot of great questions but it would take me more time than I have to answer all the questions in this thread so feel free to DM me!

@Karen Miller I can personally recommend @Erica Muller.  She is probably the most knowledgeable person in Orlando when it comes to the short term rental market!