All Forum Posts by: Jeremiah Dye

Hello all!

My wife and I purchased a small studio on the beach in Panama City Beach, Fl. We’ve owned it since spring of ‘22. After purchasing there has been a few special assessments and they are killing us and there are more to come. If it wasn’t for them we would be making some profit, like we estimated.

We came up with a base price by adding up yearly expenses and then divided them into the days between March and October and then utilizing dynamic pricing. This strategy puts us higher than everyone else. Are we doing this right? It’s available 365 days, but during winter demand is low to none. That’s why we chose 200 days as available.

The studio is nothing fancy, budget friendly for a couple with 2 small kids. Is our pricing strategy sound? Is this just growing pangs for new STR owners? We're using AirDNA and Airbnb smart pricing to help with the dynamic pricing and to see what other hosts are charging.

@Donna Hampton ha! That’s who we’re using. A different agent though. We close on a condo March 7th. But we’re having a heck of a time finding a cleaner. We’ve contact nearly a dozen and only received 1 reply, and it was to say they aren’t taking new clients.

@John Monroe thanks for the heads up, that could very well explain all the units coming up for sale.

@Donna Hampton thanks Donna.

Is anyone familiar with Fountainebleau Terrace Condos in Panama City Beach, Florida? My fiancé and I are looking at short term rentals and we like this property and location. Seeing if there’s any insider information on the the property.

@Kyle Momany do you have a list of lenders? My fiancé and I are looking at beach condos in the PCB area and the mortgage broker that was recommended to us says she only provides loans for second homes with 25% down. And so far that’s all we’ve seen.

@Luke Carl thanks for the suggestion. I guess I had been doing that just didn’t have a title. I found 2 other units in the same complex, with exact same specs. But here’s the strange thing one host had theirs for $600 a night while the other had there’s for $120 a night. And both had their calendars showing no availability until Aug. 2022. I found other hosts with similar units with rates that seem correct and their calendars show availabilities where one would expect. Could they be juicing their numbers? Is there a benefit to doing that?

My Fiancé and I are in beginning negotiations with a current condo owner in the Miramar Beach/ Ft. Walton beach area, to purchase for a short term rental/vacation rental. We’ve looked at AirDNA, but want to make sure those numbers are close to correct. Would any property managers be willing to give their opinion on an off-beach 2 bedroom condo would do on average? Should we focus on vacationers or traveling nurses, snow birds, or all of the above?

@Wy Kay seems like there’s a lot that people have to say about this topic. My advice is no. Is your life or another human’s life worth the rent you’re collecting? The stories you see on the news is the exception, not the rule. You’ll never see a headline “landlord successfully collects rent and not robbed”. If someone wants to rob you, they’ll “get the drop” before you can pull that pistol out. I have an anecdote, in OKC an off duty veteran sheriff’s deputy was making the nightly deposit for a restaurant. Robber came up on him before he knew what happened. He didn’t pull his weapon, just handed over the money. Robber was caught. And no one died. Situational awareness is your best protection. Feel uneasy? Have renter send a money order, I know land lords that now have tenets ApplyPay them rents. Or maybe, sadly don’t be in those areas.

The consequences of having a firearm usually outweighs the one time it’ll be used for defense. A firearm is 43% more likely to injure/kill someone you know than actually used in self defense. If you do carry, respect that firearm and understand the consequences of every action. Like my grandfather always told me “it’s not a toy”.

@John Mocker well my friend, before the association could begin the new project( installing a dry well with a back up sump pump) we just had another heavy rain. Unit owners that took water again tonight are wanting the association to pay for damages and water removal again. We just met with one investor owner who had the most damage, due to his tenant telling us there’s no issues, he failed to inform owner for 2 weeks, owner then waited an additional 2 weeks( because he was going on vacation and couldn’t make it). Guess what? Mold!

You said that “if the association failed in doing something” it would be responsible. The current board is made up of new owners, so we don’t know the issues. Apparently this has been an issue in the past and new drainage was installed which was adequate until these 2 instances.

The owner with the tenant told us tonight that his father had sand bags around the front, where the water came in. They removed them and admitted “they shouldn’t have”. They inherited the unit.

We will now be getting advice from an attorney. While we’d love to help everyone, we’ve got a duty to keep monthly dues down. And as a homeowner, no matter the property, one has to take responsibility for issues.

Jeremiah