All Forum Posts by: John Bucknum

oh, yeah

I have been researching the local super hosts and I think I have a good idea of the decor needed to get the bookings they do, as well as the importance of great communication and cleanliness.  its just that the properties they have seem to be all over the board in terms of beds, baths, overall size etc.

Hi, 

I am researching short term rentals as investment properties in downtown Pittsburgh pa. I have narrowed down location pretty well, but trying to decide on the actual property. plan to meet with a realtor early next week and would like to have some criteria to guide our search. Right now I am thinking 2-3 bed/1.5+bath, intending to be able to sleep 6+ with sofa/bed or similar, SFH or townhouse. So far it appears most apartment and condo buildings seem to be anti-short term rental, many listing this on there website, so the sandwich arbitrate strategy seems to be out.

we are currently rehabbing an 11 unit building, but I am not against buying a distressed property and doing the rehab, but that will delay us to close to the summer months which I imagine are the busiest for STRs, at least in Pittsburgh.  I could be wrong though, I can see rapid steelers fans doing a lot of bookings.

There is a developing area within walking distance of stadiums, casino and major hospital and museums, but half are rehabbed and half are rough.

any insight would be helpful!  

thanks!

John

You will continue to educate yourself with books, podcasts, etc, but learning by doing is like 10xing that knowledge.

Learning concepts are great, but applying and learning from you mistakes is how you will get where you want to go

Thanks all for the advice! Planning a sit down with my business partner/wife tommow night. 

HI All, 

we purchased a distressed 11 unit apartment building in a small rural, college town in western PA in July. The place was just short of gutted.  we have 5 units up and running with 3 rented long term, and 3. more that should be up and running in the next month.  the apartments are all 1/1 with small galley kitchens.  we are trying to decide if we should try a short term rental with one or more of the apartments until we get more tenants. we figure we don't have much to lose.  They are small enough, the street up costs for furniture, tv, etc should be less than 5k. we are already paying for the utilities.  this would be our first trial of a short term rental.  I have a cleaning crew in place for turnovers and a trusted handy man. I should mention we are about an hour away from the property.

I have been researching the short term rental strategy for some time and plan to try and get a few in the downtown Pittsburgh area at some point, but I thought this may be a good introduction.

advice/suggestions?

thanks 

Hi Patrick, 

Wife and I started our RE investing career January 2018. We joined the local REIA where we (wife and I) paid for a mentorship with the leader of the club. Within 3 months he hooked us up with another REIA member who wholesaled a 11 unit seriously distressed apartment building to us. We knew we wanted to do multifamily for the economies of scale and to grow as quickly as we could to escape the rat race.

We also did a yellow letter campaign, sent about 60-80 letters and got around 30 calls, it was a great response rate. we used hand written letters and brightly colored envelops, they looked like an invitation.  Probably had 5 serious inquiries, most wanted too much for their buildings.  One we nearly closed on but turned out the landlord wasn't completely honest...

Planning another direct mail campaign soon, after the first batch of calls I am more comfortable fielding calls and knowing what to ask.

good luck!

I am trying to analyze a deal that was proposed to me and am having trouble running the numbers. Probably something simple I am missing or the deal just doesn't make sense.

3 condos, the owner has 14 out possible 48 in this complex and if the deal goes through may lead to more deals with her.

the condos are 1/1, 2/1 and 2/2, she is asking 76k for the 2 2/1s and 64k for the one bedroom. total 216k, she would hold a second position note for 30k with me putting down the remainder of the 20% down (13,200) and pay closing costs. she would like 6 payments, one each year of 5200 for 6 years which comes out to 31200 total, about 1.5% interest rate if my calculations are correct.

For simplicity, I am counting the 3 as a triplex, so rental income is 2325/month, tenants pay for electric and gas, HOA of 185(555) per pays for water, sewer and garbage as well as exterior and common area maintenance, snow removal, grass cutting, etc. taxes are 266 and insurance is 50 month (HO-6) policy which I hadn't heard of before. I put vacancy and Capex at 5% for 116/month and repairs at 10% 232/month. wasn't sure about these numbers with condo fees. P&I comes out to 1160 month and if I divide her payment over the year comes out to 433 month.

Would really appreciate some input on the deal.

thanks 

I think mr. Murdock pretty much nailed it...

View report

*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

Hi all, 

placing a 11 unit multifamily under contract tomorrow. in college town in Washington county, PA, has 11 units, laundry facility, parking spot for each unit. brick building with gently sloped roof. roof redone 4 years ago, electrical redone 2 years ago. was under very poorly rated PM in area, met the guy when seeing facility and seemed very eager to do the minimum.  owner has not rented it out this semester due to do some rehab, actually did most of the bathrooms and they are in good shape, carpet is awful, needs paint, kitchen cabinets and better lighting. lower level apt needs gutted due to toilet leaking from above. here are the numbers:

purchase price 330k

rents last semester avg=333/month, did not rent over summer, "I let them just leave their stuff til the next semester", my friend was seeing RED after this statement...

expenses

rents (if occupied at 333)=3663/month

taxes 2200

garbage =100 (actual quote from WM)

water and sewage 525

electrical=passed through to tenant

PM=started looking, but quotes at 8-10%

insurance= 300 (est.)

planning on ripping carpet out and going with vinyl hardwood throughout, new cabinets in kitchen and paint, fix lighting and general clean up. plan to get rents up to 500-550 month, lease term 1 year. interviewed PM and he said they take one month's rent for placing a tenant, is this typical? then 8% after that for everything. wife interviewing others currently.

any college town investors out there? love some feedback.