All Forum Posts by: Joshua Herrera

Quote from @Joshua Herrera:

Good afternoon Bigger Pockets Community!

My name is Josh, and I have decided STR may be my next step in life. Currently deciding to do it as a side hustle until it proves to be a worthy 9-5. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Thank you and God Bless!

STRs are a great way to fast track that passive income! I’ve personally just closed on my 4th in 3 years and even just the two I bought last year have netted me a starting engineer salary 👀!  There’s a lot of opportunity locally, but one of the 3 keys to success in STR investing is having enough cash to do them properly.  It’s a higher barrier of entry investment with much higher returns (and tax incentives).  Where I buy, which I think has some of the best price to income ratios out there I recommend a minimum of $185k cash on hand (for the DIYer) and $220k-$235k cash on hand for someone looking for a hands off approach. This is the entry point I’d recommend with high CoC returns and includes your downpayment (20-25% down), closing costs and the furnishing/design budget.  The next tier with even higher returns I recommend a $320k+ cash budget.  Be wary of “cheap” STRs and 10% down “managed for you” deals especially in Orlando.  Those deal do not cash flow well. 

I highly recommend listening to the podcast interview with the VP of Airdna either on BiggerPockets the past couple months or maybe it was STR secrets podcast. They go over a lot of the fundamentals that I completely agree on as a high skill operator in this space.  Ultimately, STRs are like running a business and to be successful you want to distance yourself from the competition.  You don’t want small condos that are easily carbon-copy for example as you have no way to stand out from competition and it becomes a race to the bottom. You’re also in competition with hotels at that point.  So for example, in the Orlando market, a 4bd house is pretty low as a standard but over here in the Tampa Bay Area a 4bd house is quite high on the STR ladder.  This is because there’s a lot of 2,3,4,5 bed homes in Orlando and very few 4,5 bed homes here.  

Anyway, I could talk about this for hours but those are just a couple pointers.  If you’re in that cash position I mentioned above, then we might be a good fit to get on a call so I can show our process which is complete: 1) finding and buying the right property 2) creating a top product from that purchase with a world-class designer on my team 3) co-hosting/managing that property at a discount for clients to ensure you get more money and have a product that lasts.

you can also follow me on IG @tampa.rei , I’m actually about to post a walkthrough of a property that was being managed by one of the most popular PMs in the country and in just 1 yr you’ll laugh to see what state the property is in from poor management! 💀

@Joshua Herrera welcome! I'm here in Orlando too and have helped dozens of B.P. members purchase STR here. I would be happy to have a call sometime to discuss your plans and see what I can do to help avoid some of the mistakes and also what to look for in this market as it is very competitive.

I'm also on the board of CFRI, the local chapter of the National REIA so that might be a good resource for you to check out too.

There is a link in my profile if you want to set up a call. 

Best of luck!

Welcome Josh! 

Hey @Joshua Herrera!

Welcome to the community and be ready for a huge amount of information at your finger tips. Be sure to check out the free tools BP provides to help analyze deals you may have and also market insights. Great tools that get updated regularly.

I am on the lending side of things and would be happy to hop on a call with you anytime to discuss financial strategies and help answer any questions you may have about nearly any loan product available to help you on your journey, even if they are not products my capital partners offer.

We are all here to help you learn and grow. Feel free to ask anything, anytime.

Cheers!

@Joshua Herrera congratulations on taking the first step. From alot of investors on the forums, Orlando appears to be a saturated market with more barriers to entry in order to have a performing property in that area. If you are open to purchasing in the Tampa market, reach out to @Josh Green. He is our local expert! 

Quote from @Joshua Herrera:

Good afternoon Bigger Pockets Community!

My name is Josh, and I have decided STR may be my next step in life. Currently deciding to do it as a side hustle until it proves to be a worthy 9-5. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Thank you and God Bless!

Welome to BP! Are you looking to buy in the Orlando MSA for this first STR?

Joshua,

I am here in Florida as well and have been in the REI world for over 18+ years. If you want any guidance feel free to send me an email. I enjoy helping new investors avoid common pitfalls and use loopholes to build their REI portfolio.