All Forum Posts by: Jan Dutton

 FYI,   as of May 2024 the link is no longer active. 

I've been reading the last several years of select board meeting minutes for small towns in northern NH looking for STR discussions.

In one town, the select board chair owns and STR! Unlikely to have restrictive regulation there.

 I've learned that.   To quote a podcast guest "Always buy the premium property."

Thanks! My profession is focused on forecasting. We always look at an ensemble of forecasts to predict future outcomes. In this case, I'm sure it would be best to compare the results from AirDNA, Rabbu, BNBCalc, STRInsights, and any other STR property revenue analysis tool you can find. It likely makes sense to pay for them, given the scale of the investment being made and their potential profitability.

The results of several sources provide information about the likely variability of revenues (a measure of risk) and guidance on revenue potential.  

That being said, I'm 100% sure that allowing pets in Snowshoe, WV does not add hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue. 

Thanks for adding to the conversation.  Your comment provides interesting information.  I hope to be able to get more information about their methodology, but I don't expect I'll receive it. 

I run a small SaaS that provides information for a specific niche of financial trading.  If my customers didn't believe in our data and the methodologies that create it (the key point), we'd be out of business. 

I'll give another example.  The Rabbu revenue by amenity analysis suggests allowing pets in Snowshoe, WV (a market I'm familiar with) adds an average of $328k/yr to the average property.  Just as before, I thought this was even close to true, I'm be headed to Snowshoe this morning to buy a property. 

It seems they've come up with what is probably a viable statistical methodology.  It, unfortunately, doesn't pass the reality check, at least in smaller markets. 

Harshal, 

I'm doing the same evaluation now.   Which one have you picked? 

I looked in a market in Maine using Rabbu.   The "revenue by amenities" analysis suggests that adding outdoor furniture increases the average property's revenues from $64k/yr to $264k/yr.  I.e., adding outdoor furniture adds $200,000 per year of revenue.  This statistic does not pass my reality check.   In the market overview tool, I can find no property that comes close to $264k per year.   If I believed this number, I'd buy several properties, buy a very nice outdoor furniture set up for each one, and reap the benefits.   Nope, I don't believe it. 

I suspect the statistical sample is insufficient to obtain a valid analysis. The market has 76 STR homes in it, and they estimate the revenue impact of 18 amenities. That does not make a statistically significant estimate. I'd love to have the data for each property.

I sent an inquiry to their support email but received a non-explanation reply. 

Thanks for the replies so far. One reason I'd consider a fixer-to-STR (thanks @Travis Timmons) is that we've done it one for our primary house, which was a 1930s farmhouse that is now greatly improved.  I didn't do the work, per se, but we did oversee the details. 

One pro of the fixer-to-STR strategy that I listened to just this morning on the "Short Term Rental Management" podcast is the turnkey location will likely have a greater competition to be purchased.

I'm researching to build a plan to buy my first STR.

What are the pros and cons of: 

1) Buying a property nearly ready to rent and compete in its market.   I.e., there are likely relatively few improvements to be made.   I listened to a podcast this week in which the host asked the guest, "What advice would you recommend to your 20-year-old self?"   The answer was "always buy the premium property."   

OR 

2) Buy a property in tougher condition (but in a good location) and significantly invest to make it competitive.

Thanks, 

Jan