All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

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Are there any homes with walk out basements? But something that can be converted and has a private entrance and you clild probably cover the whole mortgage if you buy in the right location, assuming it works both for you and is a good location for guests. Also agree with everything above. 

If it is in a market where long term appreciation is expected, and conservative underwriting projects that the payment will likely be covered, then I think it is smart move. 

Beat me to it! I've gone down the rabbit hole on this myself and this is the only way. The reason why regular mops don't do a complete job is because the dirty water stays in the mop head and gets pushed around. You need something that sucks the dirty water back up, like a professional carpet cleaner uses, otherwise you are simply spreading it. I use a Tineco at home and like it but they are pricey (~$300-400ish). 

I imagine that they would look at 2 years of W2s because the loan is tied to your personal name. That said, they should allow your DTI to be based on your current salary. Where the 2 years would almost certainly come into play is if you were asking to include your variable incentive pay in your DTI.

10% down is great but I've been hearing that they are adding several points worth of fees to 2nd home loans, which makes it closer to 15% down by the time it's said and done but you aren't getting the equity pay down from that extra 3-5%. If this is not true I would love to hear which lenders are not doing this! Otherwise I am also hearing that there are 15% down DSCR loans.

@Patrick Forelli it is 100% fair game to ask for rental history. Also take a close look at the listing- how are the furnishings? Could you make it better? Read through the reviews- are the guests happy? What did they complain about?  

If you see errors in guest service, experience and furnishings then that is a low hanging fruit that you can easily improve on. Do the same analysis on neighboring comps and that should give you an idea of the potential. 

Ring: mostly use this to monitor contractors/vendors but comes in handy and is great for peace of mind. 

August: Smart lock app. Easy to assign codes for the guest and set the hours they can access. Can also lock/unlock with the press of button and see if the door is open/closed/locked/unlocked. I know that Schlage Encode is the favorite here but I went with August and really like it. 

Google Home with Nest Thermostat:  App is clunky so I'm not a huge fan of it but it does the job, saves me a lot on electricity bills and is good enough once you get the hang of it. 

Turno: Good place to find cleaners. Best to go by word of mouth first but it is a great way to figure out the fair market price for cleaning your unit. 

All of these make self management incredibly easy. Costco and Target home delivery if I need to send something in a pinch. Also use Atto for tracking to track material participation hours.

Agreed, "market demand" (however measured), and even whatever AirDNA spits out are only single data points. Demand is meaningless without knowing the supply. Which is why there is no "magic number", it's all relative. While helpful information, any single data point from a 3rd party provider should be taken with a grain of salt and looked at as a small piece of a larger picture. 

As for the various demand "scores" not making sense, that could be seasonality. Maybe demand is high enough in the summer for the resort towns to charge super high rates, but the rest of the year is low which levels out the total. Whereas people have a reason to visit Charleston, Savannah etc for all kinds of reasons throughout the year, but they don't have to spend $400/night for a room like they would in high season in a resort town, which simultaneously evens out the year round ADR and keeps seasonality low. 

Either way, you make an impressive salary for your age and are already thinking in the right direction, so good for you. In addition to what @Michael Baum said, I would look for homes with a walk out basement/private entrance and/or a sprawling ranch style where you can easily close off and convert part of your house to an STR. Don't worry about being the most baller pad in your market (you won't be, so don't stress it), you are focusing on subsidizing your living cost and can go bigger with the next one. Prioritize location specific amenities (views, walkability, proximity) as much as you can afford and make sure you provide a clean and inviting space and I imagine you will just fine within the context of your goals.

Are you certain that it is showing up in searches? Use "Incognito Mode" in chrome and do a search of your area to confirm that you are still listed. From the city search, count how many search pages you are behind. Then go to the map fully zoomed out to the city limits and see how much you have to zoom in before you appear.

Otherwise, are you sure that you are keeping up with your competition? You may have a good backlog of reviews but it doesn't take too many savvy hosts with deep pockets to outcompete you and bury your listing. Assuming good management and competitive pricing, your only option is to step up your listing (better furnishings, decorations, professional photos etc). If you are comfortable posting your listing I'm sure you would get some helpful feedback. 

Also, you may consider VRBO. VRBO seems to be bigger in the "legacy" vacation markets that predate OTAs, which sounds like your market is, while AirBnb is more dominant in urban areas and college towns. Either way it's worth a look from the sound of your situation. Good luck.