All Forum Posts by: Joseph Bafia

Is this the post for "Joes"?  

I'm not an expert on building teams, but I can tell you my thoughts based on what has worked recently for me.  This was not planned, but I can see how this could be a good process to follow.

Someone on BP reached out to me based on a comment I made on the forums. They wanted to pick my brain on some STR items and we connected and spoke. We hit it off and stayed in touch. (Im in NC and he's in CA by the way). He was interested in doing a deal in NC and get into STR. We would send each other deals we found on MLS and just talk through them. I already have property in Western NC so I was telling him my thoughts.

Fast forward to today, we are closing on a deal together here in NC.  Without using this forum to get into every detail, the basis of him getting an OOS deal was to find someone local where he wanted to invest and use the team I have built (realtor, cleaner, maintenance, etc.)  

I'd say a great first step even before analyzing deals is to connect with someone who is in an area you're interested in and ask to team up with them.  If they've had success there, you should likely have it as well if they know what they're doing.

I'm now in the process of working another deal where I'm using him in CA as my boots on the ground and his respurces to get property out there. 

If you don't make a connection, you are essentially building your own team from scratch in a state where you have no presence.  Hope this helps!

Let me know if you are interested in pursuing any NC stuff and I'll help where I can.

When our boys were done with their XBOX, we moved that as an amenity to the STR. Gaming system and 2 bean bag chairs and the kids that stay at our place are in heaven.

Congrats on jumping in!  I'm doing the reverse of you.  I live in NC and that's where we are investing, but my son moved out to LA, so I'm searching for properties out in CA now!

Where in NC did you buy?

Looking forward to hearing your future success!

I'll validate the part of self managing. I'd be interested to hear your beginning story, but with me, we purchased our first property strictly as a 2nd home for personal use. We got the idea to maybe make a few bucks and rent it and thought we NEEDED property management as we had never done this before. Well after hearing the 30-40% PM fees, we decided to learn it ourselves and now the rest is history. Looking to close on another STR this December.

Congrats to ya and let me know if you have any questions.

Joe

Your story sounds similar to Asheville, NC. It is also a great tourist destination and has been booming over last several years. Asheville has also become anti-STR for the main reason that investors (like you and me) are buying up property to rent out to tourists and taking reasonably priced inventory away from locals or driving up rents with limited supply. The city combats this by restricting STRs as there are more non-investors (locals) than there are investors. We have a few STRs but we've found that going outside of the city limits and to more STR friendly areas is the better strategy. In our area, most properties are rented, so "we" outnumber the locals (or at least make a better case for why STRs make sense). Sorry to hear you're going through it.

Unless you are dead set on getting a management company, I believe this Short-Term forum reads like a great book in itself and can show you some very simple ways to self-manage even at a distance.  Most on here self-manage and some properties are far from the owners.  Mine are 4.5 hours away and self-managing is very doable.

Good luck and welcome to the STR game!

There is an entire dedicated forum on Short Term Rentals and you get all sorts of advice. Most reference a site called AirDNA which gathers stats of STRs and gives stats for expected rates. I personally just shop the competition and gauge based on that and adjust mine accordingly. If you look through the forum you will find some great pricing strategies people use for STR. Be happy to answer anything else.

are you referring to the purchase price of a STR or how to determine the daily rates to charge?

Great that you are taking time to learn so early!  I would read as much as you can on these forums as well as listening to the BP podcast.  There are also many webinars that BP offers which are free and many designed for beginners.  Follow some investors on instagram as you'll get quick nuggets of info and start building a network.

Find and join a group in your area.  I see you are in NC (me too, i'm in Raleigh) , and I joined TREIA. There are groups where you can simply go and listen to others and maybe get a mentor.

Anything else I can answer, just let me know.

Joe  

I agree with @Ryan Howell but I'm probably biased as he's my realtor helping me close on my 3rd STR in the same area. I'll add that my 2nd STR was purchased and made ready for rent as covid hit, so we pivoted and rented it as a LTR through next June. Our first one was doing extremely well and that's why we bought the 2nd. Covid shut us down for 1 1/2 months and when it reopened (mid May), we've exceeded every expectation and forecast. We are near 100% occupancy on the first one and getting great rates. Hence the reason I'm buying my 3rd and already considering a 4th.

Location is critical. Ours is located 45 mins north of Asheville. Close enough to activites, but not so close to rick losing good STR regulations. We are a "drive to" destination and located in a remote mountainous area. I think those 2 things are causing our success. People are not flying as much and maybe driving to their getaway place and they may not be visiting the Disneys or resort places, but rather going off grid.

I'd never try and sway someone either way in regards to STRs, but I can speak from experience that its been very good to us so far.