All Forum Posts by: Julia Bykhovskaia

You have to be careful with taxes. Ask Airbnb what exactly they collect. They don’t always have agreements in place to remit taxes even though it is taxable revenue. In my area, I recently found out that Airbnb collects state tax but not county tax. That came as a surprise b/c I just assumed that they collected both and didn’t run the calculations to understand what exactly is being charged. 

Ok, if you want more feedback - I went last year and going again this year. It was a rather large event, the experience of the crowd does vary. Some are passive investors, some are aspiring syndicators, some are experienced syndicators looking for passives, some are money raisers, etc. It was entertaining, there was some good content, they also do a "speed networking" thing where you can talk to like 40 people in half an hour. Bring tons of business cards. Conclusion: you will meet people and you will learn something. A bunch of people from NYC are going this year, myself including, most are already doing deals or looking to start ASAP. So...come! :)

Experienced syndicators of 100 unit+ deals: what’s your opinion on property managers: should one at all costs avoid firms that have substantial % of their own properties in their portfolios (vs strictly third party) due to the potential conflict of interest (them focusing on their own propertIes much more/steering tenants to their own properties)? Would greatly appreciate all opinions!

Hi Everyone! Going to be in Atlanta this month meeting brokers and property managers (looking for 100+ unit deals). If you have any suggestions on who I should add to my list - would greatly appreciate it! Thank you in advance. 

Is it Jake and Gino’s event? I’ll be there, let’s connect!

It might be - but take it with a grain of salt. Some data is better than no data but there are numerous flaws and even if it’s correct - could be deceptive. AirDNA in my experience is more accurate than Mashvisor. Keep in mind:

- the system is not great at telling whether the blocked day is a paid day or blocked by the owner 

- some people only rent their properties during a part of the year and not full time

- AirDNA and Mashvisor rely on Airbnb data. For HomeAway and Booking.com they have to guess prices 

Still, directionally, it can give you some sense how well the properties are doing on a high level. 

The best way to find out - find someone who is doing it and see if they just tell you their numbers :)

A trick you could use: call property management firms, play damn, say you want to buy a condo and give it to them to manage and ask how much a property like that could generate in their opinion. They have a lot of data.

@Travis Rasmussen Apparently, neither have any other folks here :)

OrbiRental is property management software that competes with Guesty, Hostaway, VReasy and the like... 

I was not asking how many properties you manage or about your day job. I wanted feedback on Orbirental - thanks. 

Hi Everyone, 

Has anyone here had experience with Orbirental? I'm in between them and Hostaway. It's really hard to know how well the system runs until you are a few months in so would be great to get some feedback from the existing  users. Thank you!

@Michael Gansberg Definitely - not having a boss is so exhilarating! I AM the boss :) "If you want to take the island, you have to burn the boats" - leaving my job was burning the boats for me. Now, I'm taking the island!! It's not for everyone though; there is a lot of mental adjustments you have to make going from a full-time corporate job to being on your own in your adulthood. I'm very passionate about real estate and what I do, and what I do, importantly, makes sense financially (I'm a great credit risk!) so I'm sure I will find someone to fund my projects. And all I need is ONE person/fund. 1!! They are out there somewhere. It makes senses for them - great risk-adjusted return.