All Forum Posts by: John McGonigal

I realize this is an old thread, but would like to know if meetups are still alive and well in the Prattville area. My wife and I own a couple of rental properties in Prattville and are considering converting one of them to a STR. I haven't looked up STR requirements in the area yet, so it may not be possible. Happy to connect.

Hello,

I'm hoping someone with Netherlands investing experience can help my family with a decision to sell or rent a SFH in Eindhoven. The property is currently owned by my wife's mother who is in poor health (terminal) and she (mother-in-law) is moving to an apartment closer to downtown Eindhoven. My wife would like to keep the property for her and our two daughters to potentially live in as a vacation home sometime in the future. My wife and daughters live with me in the U.S.A. and plan to remain here long term. However, we would like to keep the Eindhoven property as potentially a rental property to keep our options open.

The property value is approximately 360K Euros and the remaining mortgage is around 100K Euros. Due to Dutch tax complications, my wife is considering starting a LLC type business with her mother to rent out the property. We own several rental properties in the U.S., but this is outside my expertise.... would appreciate any advice.

@Vishal Juluri I’m happy to help where I can.

Hi @Debbie Thomason Welcome to the Branson market!  We ended up buying on the East side of Branson about 10 min from downtown.  We self-manage, so no PM.

@Cole Simpson, @Erik Stenbakken has a good point about zoning. many of the single-family homes are not zoned for STRs, but there are a lot of multifamily locations in resorts and other areas that do authorize STRs. You can find some cabins and other single residences that support STRs. It is truly a vacation destination with a long season that really only has two down months (Jan-Feb). We purchased (and self-manage) three condos in Branson in late 2019 and early 2020 just before the pandemic and have been pleasantly surprised with our STR performance so far. Home prices seem to have really jumped in the last year as many similar sized condos are now going for 60% more than we paid. Highly recommend Branson as a STR market.

@JaNae Anderson Hi JaNae, tourists visit Branson for a lot of different reasons.  You can internet search "Branson Tourism" to get a feel for their attractions.  It is definitely a 'tourism' town.  Silver Dollar City is probably the best-known attraction (similar to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge), but there nearly endless family focused activities (live shows, aquarium, theme parks, museums, event centers, etc).  We've been to many 'theme' parks and Silver Dollar City is by far our favorite.  It just has a different feel than typical roller coaster park.  Branson is also a big draw for family or other reunions, regional/national competitions, and conventions due to there being so many things to do in town.  It brings in a lot of families with kids... We've taken our kids to Branson many times, and I used to live 30 minutes away, and we've barely touched the surface of things to do.  It also attracts older travelers who typically love the many live shows that are available. Due to being a central location, it attracts many different organizations for conferences and reunions. Golf, softball, and other sports competitions are held there regularly.  It is also a beautiful part of the Ozark Mountains.

If you're familiar with Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, I'd say Branson is a sister city.  We just visited Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg over the holidays to do a little market comparison and many of the attractions you find in Tennessee, you'll find in Branson.  I think the main difference is Gatlinburg has the Smokey Mountain National Park as a main interest for outdoor enthusiasts, where Branson has several big lakes that attracts fishing and boating enthusiasts. 

Branson is absolutely worth a trip if you're comparing markets or want to know what it is all about.  If you end up not buying an investment property, you'll at least have a blast looking!  Good luck.

@Andres Triveno I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned Branson, MO. Thriving STR market with a long season (Mar-Dec) that draws a lot of vacationers to area attractions. Think Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge but cheaper.

Since we only self-manage 5 properties, I still get great functionality out of Excel.  I can pull the income/tax reports from Airbnb and VRBO and paste them into a workbook. From there I download expense CSVs from our banks and manipulate the data to get a real time assessment of our P/L. 

We've also used the Schlage Encode for our rentals and will continue using them.  They work great the vast majority of the time.  There are some occasions when the app on our phone will not be able to add/delete codes on the lock for some unknown reason, but it will resolve after a bit.  Not a WiFi issue.  We had to replace one lock within a year of purchase and Schlage quickly mailed a new one.  

The only disadvantage is needing someone on the ground to set up the lock WiFi connection if your investing OOS.  We were able to get our handyman to log into our Schlage account through the app and install the new lock.  Once complete we changed the password and operate it remotely from then on.  Highly recommend.

I haven't seen it mentioned, but we find good value in having smart locks for our STRs.  We use Schlage Encode locks and program individual door codes for each guest that is either the last 4 of their phone number or a convenient code they provide us.  Their unique code is only active during their scheduled stay. It helps ease some concerns about previous guests being able to access the unit. 

Also, we can set it up to let us know each time the code is used (when guests arrive, late night entry, etc). It helps ensure they don't check in 3 hours early while the place is still being cleaned, and may help indicate if they are up late partying.  Many people have tried to enter way early without asking for early check in.  We also know when the cleaners and handyman arrive and depart which is helpful.