All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

I like Fine Art America. You can do a search for your local area to find photo prints of local landmarks and also by color, style, medium etc. Then you can order it in different sizes and materials. Not cheap but reasonable prices, ~$200 for a larger framed canvas or acrylic print. 

On ETSY you can also buy hundreds of digital files of abstract art in different color pallets for super cheap ($10-20), then have those printed onto whatever type of print and size you like with Shutterfly or any other digital printing service. 

The only management cost I have is my own time, which outside of natural disasters is 1-2 hours/week at best. CAPEX can be minimized by purchasing the right property, frontloading fixes, and having a reserve fund- all of which you would have with an LTR as well.

 @Tanner Lewis that's awesome to hear! I have heard mixed signals on this, but it seems that some lenders are allowing them now. Goes to show it pays to call around. 

My STRs are a few counties south of Asheville and lost power for a week. It was pretty easy for me to refund guests once I called in, including fees, but by the time I was making the calls it was clearly a mess. With the app I could only refund from my own payout. 

Hope that helps! 

If you have room in your DTI you can get a Fannie/Freddy loan. If it works as a LTR with rent higher than PITI you can DSCR.

Plenty of markets with a lower entry point where the numbers work. I heard a STR focused book keeper say that the her Midwest investors are crushing it, while the more typical markets are struggling.

How common are 30 year leases for SFRs? If I am signing a contract to pay for 30 years, then I may as well get a mortgage and own it by the end. Plus it would have to be a banger of a property for me to have that kind of confidence in it going the distance through all the market cycles, regulation changes, OTA market shifts etc at which point I may as well buy it.

Which circles back to my original point- if I am not owning and benefiting from the appreciation, why should I absorb so much risk and upfront capital if instead I can find an underperforming property with potential, take a guaranteed return off the top and invest almost no money on my side? 

Same day. Especially if there is a decent gap between the next guest, I want someone to be able to book for that night and stay as long as possible. Every night you allow to pass is money not made. 

Exception would be if there a check in the next day, because I don't allow 1-night stays. At that point I don't mind giving the cleaner a break. 

Agreed with @John Underwood it is basically a job. 

I wouldn't touch arbitrage with a 10 foot pole unless it was a super unique property and situation with an owner where I saw some longevity and buy in from them. Otherwise you spend year 1 paying yourself back for the furniture (if you're lucky) and then hope to make a profit in year 2, only for your lease to possibly change terms, losing all of the time you put into building your brand. Plus the gray area between who's responsible for repairs. 

If I found myself out of work I would consider co-hosting to the pay the bills. Almost zero risk/investment and direct payment off of top line. 

 I'm sure I would like it if it worked. I had to go into the app to delete it (based on your rec, thank you btw!) because the desktop version put me into an endless loop. 

 Problem is that they are putting all of the onus on the host instead of working on their own backend issues. A few examples: 

-OneKey points that can be redeemed for some listings but not others

-Certain photos being denied from upload with no explanation for why

-Completely failed dynamic pricing tool that puts you in a catch 22 with your calendar 

At least AirBnb has their IT game in order and a modern and relatively intuitive interface with updated fonts, graphics etc. VRBO needs a facelift, badly.