All Forum Posts by: Jordan Lowe

AirDna seems to be the goto place for rather accurate data.

My STR on Dauphin Island generates about 50k yearly. That is if you don't take any of the good weekends for yourself, like I do. If so, knock that down to about 40k income. If you live far away and use a property manager, deduct 20% from that. So, you are at 30k. HO insurance 6k, flood 6k, propety taxes 3k. That leaves about 15k. Unless you are doing all of the maintenance yourself, figure about 5k yearly for touching up paint, repairing misc. items the guests break, bikes, kayaks, BBQ grill, pool maintenance, lawn service, pest control, replace TV remotes every time someone checks out. Utilities, is a big one(5k yearly). Be sure to have an AC you can control by app. Every guest seems to think its ok to leave every door open when it is 95 degrees outside and then put the AC on 60. I have door alarms that start beeping after the door has been open more than 30 seconds. The guests will call and ask "why have all of the doors been beeping for an hour"? Read the note beside the door knob, "door alarm will beep if not closed within 30 seconds"....lol.

I have properties on the Florida side and live in the area. Their are a couple reasons they are all over the place.

1. First is in the area even professional managers are underpriced.  They raise prices $5 to $15 a night every year for the past 10 years and they are scared or ignorant (not a put down I really mean laxk of knowledge) to adjust prices with inflation, supply and demand.

2. I see owners want summer rates in winter. "I will not rent my place less than $XXX a night."

3. Poor property managers. Properties I looked at in Gulf Shores managed by Vacassa and others had severe deferred maintenance which has to eat into revenue due to lower occupancy, pricing and refunds.

4. Quanity of what is offered. In a different area in the Panhandle, If there 300 beaxhfront two and three bedroom condos within a 1/2 mile then they may pull $60k while a 5 bedroom with a private pool 1/4 mile from the beach might pull $225k while purchase price is only 20% more and no hoa fees.

5. Airdna numbers are way off this year and does not account for special features or unique features. I am finishing construction in the Smokys on a 5 bedroom mountain top indoor pool home. Airdna because it doesn't account for a pool says it will bring $136k (my 2/1 with no pool on same mountaian does $110k-$120k) but in reality even in this market the new build will do $275k-$300k as it has a few other cool features Airdna doesn't account for. The major flaw (and why I would not pay for Airdna) of Airdna is it doesn't account for amenities or unique feautures. Depending on the class of STR you run (yes I argue there are classes just like LTRs) Airdna might just give you what your worst year will look like. In my beach market Airdna puts occupancy 21% less than what it really is. For budgeting/projection use Airdna for conservative numbers but IF you manage it well you can far exceed it.

@Jordan Lowe

You will find that it is all over the place. Some people treat their STR like a hobby and others treat it like a business.

You don't know the numbers are based on if owners use it 3 months a year themselves, or manage it themselves and have STR knowledge or farm it out to a competent or incompetent property manager.

In one area I invest in, the biggest players are all large direct booking sites with hundreds of properties so their revenue doesn’t show up on airDNA, etc.

Use conservative numbers and understand your skills in terms of getting a property to be unique, marketing, listing management, etc. or the competency of the PMs you are interviewing.

Good luck!

Hey @Jordan Lowe, there are several folks who have lots of experience in those areas right here on the board.

@January Johnson is a goto person for Florida.

Also, do a search on Gulf Shores and you will find more people and info.

Hi Jordan,

A business partner of mine is working on a calculator that estimates the costs associated with holding a property, based on constantly updated real world data.  If you're interested I can see where he's at with that project.  Shoot me a note.  :)