All Forum Posts by: Jeff Langley

Got a negative review for not having a garage to use in the winter…. The guest stayed in the summer. 

I don’t like taking future bookings from a previous owner. I’m buying to improve the property, listing, service, etc so i do it right away. I also prefer to screen the guests and set my own price/stay restrictions. This also leads to the reviews based on my criteria and setup, not the previous owners. 

 @Andrew Steffens will be your guy

It's not exactly apples to apples. My vacation market we are around $800 per night so the clientele is more family oriented and tend to spend most days in national parks or out adventuring. Those groups typically research and know what to expect, which make them "easy" to host. My metro STR is much cheaper(180-280 nightly) and in the "burbs" which tends to be working class clientele, which is okay. I did have one near downtown that I sold as that crowd was a pain, lots of parties and difficult guests. It was much more stressful and not worth it IMO.

I will say, services are much easier to obtain in the metro vs vacation market. 

Hi Bradley, that’s exciting. I’ve tried to do a retreat of A-frames in the mountains but ran into land/engineering issues, multiple times. 

Either way, i always decide to buy additional properties as opposed to developing what i have, because I’ll continue having that and can do what i please in the future. For example, i keep putting off finishing a basement as I’d rather buy more properties instead of sinking the capital into the basement, as the basement isn’t going anywhere. 

I’d think you line those up before getting clients but anywho, it’ll most likely be services out of Bozeman. Also, you’ll learn that nothing in those markets tend to get resolved quickly, unless you’re paying the cost. I’m a little way down the highway and it’s just part of life in the area. 

Some of my best STR's are not my million dollar national park homes…. But the Midwest duplex in a good school district neighborhood. It amazes me how much random transient travel it gets(bowling tournaments, pawn shop remodels, manufacturing employees, traveling photographers, etc).

I would look for a side by side duplex in a Midwest metro that either has a strong plan B(long term) or can rent one side LTR and one side STR.

Those seem very pricey and it just takes money away from your down payment. You can find all the info you need on this forum and by asking current str owners, as most are happy to help. Do reach out with any questions. I’m certainly not an expert, but i do own and manage four and would never pay for a course.