All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Moraski

We did this and used milk paint we bought through Amazon. Our cabinets are oak and in good shape, the layout wasn’t changing so it was worth it and really brightened the space. My caution to you is it is really time consuming and a fair amount of work. Ours isn’t a huge kitchen and it was days of work and very disruptive. I’d also echo what others said and also get new hardware and also consider the other finishes. We replaced the sink, faucet, added open shelving, lights and of course counters. If you only paint the cabinets and the rest of the kitchen is still dated, it will look not quite done.  Attached are before and after pics of ours (in various staging of updates). 

I live nearby now, but when I first bought my STR I lived over 2 hours away and shared your concern. If you can find a responsive handyman or even a neighbor you may be able to get away with no local PM. If you have a lot of contacts in the area it would help, but in my experience, consistent cleaning people and handyman are hard to find and a single STR may not be their highest priority so be prepared to have backups. Call around to ask what services your PM offer, but I don't think it's common for them to only manage those limited services.

I pay 30%. The other PMC I interviewed charged 35%. fees for things like housekeeping are pass throughs.

They handle advertising and marketing, bookings and managing guests as well as coordinating all services (hot tub servicing, snow removal, garbage pickup, housekeeping, etc.).  It’s steep, and I’ve thought about managing it myself but don’t want that much time and work quite yet. You can always ask for referrals from other owners who use that PMC and look at their other properties to see occupancy rates, pictures, Reviews, etc.

 The other thing a good PMC will do is price the property to maximize profits. For example, increase the nightly rate based on high demand times that may not correspond with obvious high demand dates like holidays (e.g. festivals or events I’m that area that draw large crowds to that region).

Ask specifically what their plan is to rent it out, what kind of occupancy you can expect, what amenities they recommend or require and what you can expect to make in gross proceeds. 

Good luck!

Jennifer

Congratulations! Where was the house at? This was what we were looking for in our market but there were so few duplexes out there.

Glad you were able to have the sellers evict the non paying tenants and the place wasn’t trashed. That was a big risk. 

I’d also ask to see any building permits they have open. Was the work they did inspected and signed off? Did the city review their plans? How extensive was the work they did do? It could be a good deal since their buyer pool is more limited but agree with others that you’d want to do a lot of due diligence.

good luck!

We specifically looked for a GC who would teach us and help us learn how to rehab our house ourselves. But it was something we were interested in learning. His wife was the designer and put together the floor plan and suggested the layout.  We are now working on converting the unfinished basement into a separate unit. They are consulting with us and will be available to help but we are acting as our own GC. 

Agree with others that I wouldn’t be your own GC, especially if you have no experience. But you can look for one who is willing to teach you IF it’s something you may want to take on in the future. The other thing to keep in mind is the amount of time it will take. If you plan on doing one flip at a time and don’t have another job then it may be manageable. But it’s work and you need to be there every day to oversee the work and answer questions.  It’s a job.

good luck!

Totally agreed to just call your local planning department and ask! Read up on your city or town’s zoning laws online so you are very familiar with what’s allowed and what isn’t.

I’d also ask about the address.  If it’s a legal two unit, are there two postal addresses or one? we are adding a basement unit to our house and we’ll have separate electric meters but will share water. I plan on including water in the rent price which is pretty common here. 
 

Check furnishedfinder.com to see the MTR market in your area. There's risk, work and money to be made no matter how you rent it. Do your homework, analysis and determine what would work best. We are about to create a basement unit in our primary residence and I plan on running the numbers between long term, medium term and short term to see what makes the most sense. I suspect it won't be worth the additional hassle, costs and time to go MTR or STR but that may be different where you live.

An LLC isn't necessary. I just have an umbrella policy with my insurance for my STR.

On the insurance question, I believe you need to have the umbrella policy with the same company as your primary home owners insurance. Basically it will kick if you reach the liability limit of your home owners insurance. Call your agent to discuss. Rates are not very much. 

Good luck!

My STR is in an unincorporated area in WA and they just recently passed new STR regulations. I'd recommend finding a knowledgeable real estate agent in the area who knows the local zoning laws. You are smart to do your research first before even looking at a potential property. Good luck!

Do you have a way to hook up the RVs to septic and water? Are you on city sewer or septic? If it's the latter then do you have enough capacity for your septic? In the county I'm in STR capacity is tied to septic limits for the number of bedrooms so this would not be allowed.

I agree that I'd instead look at buying an RV to rent out (Class C seems to be the best option ) separate from the STR. You can make good return .