All Forum Posts by: Joel Oh

@Joel Oh Congrats on the soon to be closing!

Typically we shy away from playgrounds for the same reason @John Underwood mentioned.

Another thing you could do that is minimal liability is a putting green area. You can get most of the supplies from Lowes, without spending a ton.

Let me know what you end up going with!

What @John Underwood said, "Make sure you discuss it with your insurance agent first to make sure they would insure this"! As long as your insurance company is good with it, I think it's an excellent addition. 

My kids are older now, but that would have been a compelling reason to choose your place when my kids were smaller. As most parents will attest, a vacation with the kids isn't much of a vacation for the parents. Having a place they can occupy themselves while the wife and I chill and watch them, (or make dinner, plan for the next day, etc) serious value add!

What happens when a kid falls off said playground, gets hurt and blames you?

Do you think it will increase revenue and occupancy? Then it might be a good thing.

Make sure you discuss it with your insurance agent first to make sure they would insure this 

Quote from @Joel Oh:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Joel Oh:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Joel Oh:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Joel Oh:

I had months like this (STR dream)

Also had months like this (my cleaner's STR dream)

and also months like this (where is my guest?)

but after all that, I learned that you don't need to stress about your bookings but just go with the flow.

In the end, the money comes from the number of units not individual performance. 

Even it makes $100 per month, if you have 100 of them, it is $10,000 per month.

Reviews are just reviews, tax is just tax. No stress and freedom = A good life

Hope y'all enjoy your life! 

Your running an STR that is listed on Airbnb.

$100 per month I'd not worth the effort to me. I would just have LTR houses that I cash flow over $1000 each after expenses because I bought them cheap with cash  These are very close to passive, even self managed, because I have systems in place.

STRs also run the risk of the rules being changed and areas becoming saturated. So I would want way more than $100 per month given the extra risk.

Unlike the popular opinion, I believe STR is a lot easier than LTR management. I'm a professional property manager, so I managed close to 2000 residents in LTR. You don't need to worry about eviction, uncollected funds, massive property damage, insurance hassle, annual renewal, death and crime, rent control, fair housing… that you typically need to handle in LTR. Airbnb customer service rocks and I am a huge fan of Aircover!
Also cash return is not comparable haha

If your only getting $100 per month from a STR then I'd prefer a LTR.

I self manage and I have alot of LTR'S.  I have systems in place to where they are much less work 

STR's have constant turnover and is a customer service job and must be treated as such.

I can easily cashflow 1k a month on a LTR the way I buy them with much less effort than a STR.

I know some people are killing it with their STR, some are scrapeing buy. All is well till the local authorities prohibit their STR or a bunch of people start STR'S in your location. I see this happen all the time.

lI love my true vacation rentals, but the bulk of my wealth is in LTR houses for the reasons mentioned above.

Yeah, that is STR's risk factor. I also see a lot of LTRs go on foreclosure or short sales after the owner got sued for numerous different things haha. I definitely see these things a lot more because I am the person all these troubled owners come for help. All it takes is one fire with a renter without insurance or one methhead deciding to use your house for illegal childcare or refugee camp. A lot of states are pushing mandate government housing programs and evictions are getting harder and harder. My last one only took 105 days to evict and I had to holdover her belongings at the unit for 30 days 😄

I rarely have to evict tenants and normally have ones that stay 5 years plus.

Luckily I live in a red state. I can file an eviction for $40 and have someone out in about 3 weeks when needed.

Haha that is the best! Im in a metro so people come and go fast. Stay in the red state! I think blue state appreciate faster but managing here is no fun at all. Police take 45 minutes to arrive so crime here is through the roof. This year’s election will be very interesting with all these crazy housing laws going on for both STR and LTR! 

 I call the sheriff and 3 cars rolled up in less than 10 minutes!

I called on a squatter and the cops told them they had 10 minutes to get their stuff and get down the street.

I agree that approaching business from a point of view that understands business tends to ebb and flow naturally no matter what business it is, is a mature way of facing day to day operations. However I would argue reviews are mega important. Especially for new hosts. Strive for those 5 star reviews. Its easy to say if we have 100 units then no big deal, but most people will never be able to afford scaling to that level. Therefore with fewer listings optimal performance must always be maximized in order to squeeze the most out of that listing that you can. 

Quote from @Joel Oh:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Joel Oh:

I had months like this (STR dream)

Also had months like this (my cleaner's STR dream)

and also months like this (where is my guest?)

but after all that, I learned that you don't need to stress about your bookings but just go with the flow.

In the end, the money comes from the number of units not individual performance. 

Even it makes $100 per month, if you have 100 of them, it is $10,000 per month.

Reviews are just reviews, tax is just tax. No stress and freedom = A good life

Hope y'all enjoy your life! 

Your running an STR that is listed on Airbnb.

$100 per month I'd not worth the effort to me. I would just have LTR houses that I cash flow over $1000 each after expenses because I bought them cheap with cash  These are very close to passive, even self managed, because I have systems in place.

STRs also run the risk of the rules being changed and areas becoming saturated. So I would want way more than $100 per month given the extra risk.

Unlike the popular opinion, I believe STR is a lot easier than LTR management. I'm a professional property manager, so I managed close to 2000 residents in LTR. You don't need to worry about eviction, uncollected funds, massive property damage, insurance hassle, annual renewal, death and crime, rent control, fair housing… that you typically need to handle in LTR. Airbnb customer service rocks and I am a huge fan of Aircover!
Also cash return is not comparable haha

If your only getting $100 per month from a STR then I'd prefer a LTR.

I self manage and I have alot of LTR'S.  I have systems in place to where they are much less work 

STR's have constant turnover and is a customer service job and must be treated as such.

I can easily cashflow 1k a month on a LTR the way I buy them with much less effort than a STR.

I know some people are killing it with their STR, some are scrapeing buy. All is well till the local authorities prohibit their STR or a bunch of people start STR'S in your location. I see this happen all the time.

lI love my true vacation rentals, but the bulk of my wealth is in LTR houses for the reasons mentioned above.

Quote from @Joel Oh:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Joel Oh:

I had months like this (STR dream)

Also had months like this (my cleaner's STR dream)

and also months like this (where is my guest?)

but after all that, I learned that you don't need to stress about your bookings but just go with the flow.

In the end, the money comes from the number of units not individual performance. 

Even it makes $100 per month, if you have 100 of them, it is $10,000 per month.

Reviews are just reviews, tax is just tax. No stress and freedom = A good life

Hope y'all enjoy your life! 

Your running an STR that is listed on Airbnb.

$100 per month I'd not worth the effort to me. I would just have LTR houses that I cash flow over $1000 each after expenses because I bought them cheap with cash  These are very close to passive, even self managed, because I have systems in place.

STRs also run the risk of the rules being changed and areas becoming saturated. So I would want way more than $100 per month given the extra risk.

Unlike the popular opinion, I believe STR is a lot easier than LTR management. I'm a professional property manager, so I managed close to 2000 residents in LTR. You don't need to worry about eviction, uncollected funds, massive property damage, insurance hassle, annual renewal, death and crime, rent control, fair housing… that you typically need to handle in LTR. Airbnb customer service rocks and I am a huge fan of Aircover!
Also cash return is not comparable haha

 Respectfully disagree. We own 18ltr and 2 high end str. All about what you pay and area and gross rent v. Net rent.

ltr is good consistent, ours are upper end ltrs and str I have found that in my area I enjoy the off-season almost as much as the busy season- where you can enjoy the payday you got as well as stay there a bit and fix up a few things.