All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

One of my mine gripes, aside from what has been already pointed out, is that the OTAs get to be the bank. They collect in full (or at least 50%? Not sure) at the time of booking and then get to sit on that cash until the guest checks in. At first I thought it was great that I got paid out immediately, until I realized that the OTAs get to use that cash for their own liquidity and interest gains. 

Falls into the "wadyagonnadoaboutit" category, but the fact that they are making money on the float off our properties and guests, in addition to high fees, is frustrating to say the least. 

I have a go daddy direct booking site on Houfy (get what you paid for lol) and have gotten 2 bookings from it. I had 3-4 repeat customers last year, so I think I could sway more of them over. With my next property that will have a much higher bed count I will probably start collecting phone numbers and doing follow up texts with a direct link. 

Long game approach but could pay off. 

Given the nuances between and within markets and listings I don't think there is a meaningful way to estimate this at a macro level. 

What you can do is filter for that specific amenity and see how well booked the calendars of those listings are. If it's a very average looking listing that is not in an A-grade location, and their calendar is well booked relative to other comps without that amenity, then you could reasonably assume that the amenity is making a difference. 

It doesn’t add any item aside from an extra minute per item, as the reverse image search takes you directly to the vendor who ships it to you if you were to order on Wayfair. The savings are significant. For example, a $135 dining table chair on Wayfair I found at a restaurant supply store for $65. That’s well over half off, and times 10-12 chairs plus other furnishings you are now talking real money. 

I do love the options and filters on Wayfair to optimize for assembly (as in none, as much as possible) and the money I save going directly to the source allows me to buy better quality and set up faster. 

In some ways all of us have already been paying the piper in the form of higher prices, especially groceries and other essentials. 

The baseline SFH price in coastal markets is much higher than it was pre-pandemic, with remote work making it that much easier to live in a "vacation" market. It used to be that if you found a 6-figure job in a college or resort town, instead of having to live in a big city, you had basically cracked the code of life and lived a very comfortably. The longer drive to urban job centers outside of commuter range kept those places from getting too crazy in price because the lower local wages kept it in check. Those checks and balances are no longer in place, and the free covid money, low interest and work flexibility is largely to blame.

Are there more consequences to come? I don't know. If I was confident one way or another I would place my investing "bets" accordingly, but for now I make decisions based on where the data and trends suggest the most reliable chance of producing a return. 

As for saturation, those who bought in too high will only be able to hang on for so long. Maybe some of the owners have high enough W2 salaries and/or other investments they can leverage to float it? Either way it will eventually it'll wash out. In the meantime I would look at other markets where the price to entry and quality bar is much lower. There are plenty of them out there, they just aren't talked about here on a daily basis. 

@Sarah Kensinger Wayfair is great for finding options but if you do a reverse google image search you can often find where it actually ships from at a steep discount. Wayfair is not a retailer, they are a drop shipper who scrapes most furniture retailers on the internet. 

Chrome browser makes this easier now when you right click, the “search image in google” 

I just purchase my 3rd property (2nd investment) and I don't recall lenders asking me for tax returns for either of them. If you show sufficient W2 income you should be fine. 

Disclaimer: Not a CPA or Lender!

Agreed with all of the above. Assuming equal profit and appreciation, the only situation where I would consider 2 properties is if they had opposite peak seasons for more steady year round revenue. 

In general the revenue slope starts to hockeystick around the 4-5 bedroom range. 

I agree with your point about whether you could improve revenue with $10-20K invested, I think that's a framework to decide if it's worth it to keep going or get out. 

The house itself looks like a very nice acquisition and in great shape, so you did good there. However if I were to see the listing on it's own with no background photos I wouldn't expect it to be a home in Sedona or even the desert southwest for that matter. Too much white space as well. 

I would add more decor that adds color and fits the theme of the area. You could also do a lot more with the backyard area.