All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

Would tornado damage require a wind policy?

At your age I would start with a primary residence and house hack a small part of it for STR. Ideally you would look for something with a detached garage or walk out basement where you can give your guests their own private entrance, parking and a small outdoor space. If there is already plumbing in the basement then convert that into another bath and kitchenette. Get the best possible location you can afford and let your guests subsidize your living expenses.

Once you have that rolling and you understand the game you can then invest your W2 income into additional properties. 

@Natalie Medved I love seeing well-booked and high-priced competition with bad decor, it's a good sign that with some thought you can clean up!

I would replace the ceiling fan. It's not terrible, but a newer black ceiling fan will make the photos pop. Similar to the way a new roof helps an exterior.

If you look at professional product photos for homewares, there is usually a single (or at most a small handful of) non-neutral color(s) that is repeated throughout various elements in the room (area rug, throw pillow, bed scarf, vase/sculpture, picture etc). Not only do the colors make the photo pop, the pattern has a naturally calming effect on the mind and implies that your place is orderly in addition to being stylish! Fake plants are great too and add freshness, nobody cares that they are fake. 

Make sure your decor fits the theme of your area, or at the very least don't have anything that is in conflict. Don't have a photo of the Maldives if you are in the Northeast. Finding vintage items that relate to your area and old photographs can add a lot of character as well. 

A 2 day minimum for both Friday and Saturday does the trick most of the time. Even if it does split the weekend, it usually fills in eventually, at least with my listing. 

I imagine that a 3 day minimum for a Saturday would eliminate weekend splitting almost all of the time, aside from the odd Saturday through Tuesday booking. You can charge a bit more for Sunday as well. 

On top of everything above- keep in mind that with every "head in bed" you need to scale up the number of seats at the dinner table, space/seats living room, towels, plates etc etc. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and should pay for itself, but you are ripping your guests off if 8 people feel crammed and there isn't enough plates and room at the table for them all to eat together. 

@Tanner Lewis thanks for the link. Below is where the confusion may lie:

-The Borrower must occupy the second home for some portion of the year

-The Borrower must keep the property available primarily (i.e., more than half of the calendar year) for the Borrower’s personal use and enjoyment

Looks like that was updated in May 2022, I closed on mine in March 2022 so my rider only included the first of the 2 bullet points above, so maybe they added the 2nd bullet point after?

"Some" of the year could be 1 weekend per year of actually staying in the property. The 2nd bullet point is where it gets vague. Are you expected to have it available for your use 180 days a year but you don't have to actually use it? As in it's empty if you decide to go spontaneously? You would need a fairly flexible job to use your 2nd home that much. 

You sure about that? Maybe with some lenders, but my rider says nothing remotely close to this. It only says "some personal use" with no quantity specified. 

I've heard similar numbers for Ann Arbor. 

Would be nice if you get set a baseline for specific days of the week, especially weekends. 

Also- I just turned it on and nothing has changed in my rates. VRBO interface is about as clunky and unintuitive as it gets. 

I'm with you @Noah Laker , I think there is huge potential in college towns and mid-to-large cities so long as you do your homework on the legal side. Between work related stuff, conventions, friends/family visits, pro/college sports, kids travel sports, concerts etc etc there are a billion reasons why people visit places like Sacramento and other cities that aren't your typical vacation destinations. IMO the "only invest in vacation towns" mantra led too many people to invest in the same small handful of markets who are now hurting. We all know which ones those are. 

I'm in a smaller regional city and I have great occupancy every month except for January. With a bit of decor and management savvy you can easily be in the top quarter or even 10% without needing to build a waterpark in your backyard and bring in influencers for your photos. More exit strategies and less volatility as well.