All Forum Posts by: Julie McCoy

Freaking awesome insight @Marcello Di Gerlando!

@Shannon Ilas I began as an investor and became a Realtor when my investments brought me financial freedom and I left my last career because I was burned out.  But, like @Luke Carl and @Avery Carl, I'm still young and wanted something to do.  I learned to be careful what I wish for, haha!

BTW - my investments are all STRs and I had four of them while working 80 hours a week in a high-stress job that wasn't close to any of them.  Yeah the setup period is the most time-intensive but once it gets rolling, they don't tend to take up much time, you can automate most of it.

@Luke G. Lots of good feedback here.  I had a riverfront house with an attached garage apartment and could be configured several different ways; I had different listings for each size (to minimize confusion regarding how much of the house a guest was getting), and made it so you could book the whole house furthest in advance, then for closer stays there was the option to book the smaller version.  Like you, only the main part of the house was really desirable/riverfront, I experimented with renting the garage apartment on its own but didn't get many takers, and it always made me uncomfortable to have two groups on the property at once.  

For your scenario, I'd probably create two listings: one for just the main portion of the house, and one for the entire property.  The entire property I'd allow bookings a year-plus in advance.  The main portion of the house would only be available perhaps six months out.  Of course, calendars need to be linked so you don't get double booked.  On the listing for the main house, you can do the extra charge for guests 9/10, but you can also make it clear that there is MORE HOUSE that can be included in the reservation, see your other listing or contact you for details.  

Having the separate listings will help prevent confusion regarding what guests are getting when they book, and will make it easier for you (and your cleaning team) to see at a glance who's getting what.  Limiting the booking window for the main house only will make the whole property more likely to get booked by those groups planning further in advance, regardless of size (if someone's willing to pay for it, who cares if it's six people in the whole house?).  The only downside is your review pool gets diluted, since they will be spread across two listings instead of consolidated in one, but I think the logistical pros will outweigh the cons here. 

That's my two cents!

@Klint Ruud You're taking one investor's micro problem and magnifying it to a macro industry.  As others have said, the issue is his market.  I had losses in April but since about the second week in May it's been better than ever for me in the Smokies and I have every reason to believe it will continue.

@Danny Grey Yes property taxes just saw a big hike but Nashville property taxes are STILL way, way lower than most metro areas.  I think my tax bill for my Nashville house went from something like $2k annually to $3k annually.  If that's what's needed to help keep the city afloat (which has had some significant revenue losses in the last several years and been poorly managed overall, even before a major tornado and loss of tourism revenue due to Covid) then fine.  I'll put my Nashville taxes against other states any day.

Thank you @Chris Seveney this is a wonderful nugget for those of us looking to get into the space! 

The more I learn things like this, the more comfortable I feel - some of my early fears about this niche were having to directly contact a delinquent borrower to work out a note, or having to cold call a bunch of banks to find notes, are consistently being proven incorrect and the usual/best way to handle such things are methods I'm more comfortable with personally.  Looking forward to continuing to learn.

@Kelly McCormack Sounds like this won't be the make-or-break for you, but from an investment standpoint, the tax situation in NC is very different from that in TN.  TN has very low property taxes and no state income tax.  Don't forget to factor that into your calculations.  

All of them are beautiful areas!  NC is my choice to vacation (I've been going to Maggie Valley since I was a kid) but I invest in TN because you can't beat the returns.  :)

When I finally get an assistant (on the agenda but def not happening yet) I'll make sure to have them respond to all reviews.  In the meantime, my mitigation strategy is if I suspect the guest will leave a less-than-glowing review, I turn off the automatic message that follows up with them after their stay and requests a review, and I turn off the auto-review for that guest.  

It helps that AirBNB is no longer showing the corresponding star ranking with a review, the stars just go into the big averages.  This means people need to actually READ the reviews to see anything bad, not just skim for less-than-5-stars; it also helps with those particularly obnoxious guests who say all the nice things but don't leave 5 stars.  Next guest will never know.  

And as @Luke Carl said, most guests are not reading ALL the reviews; they'll read the first page or two and then book or not.  I really don't worry about a negative review anymore because I have enough in the pipeline that even if it were terrible enough to actually stop people who see it from booking with me, the already-booked future guests will leave glowing reviews after it and in no time it'll drop off the page and people start booking again.  

Oh the good old days when @Luke Carl crapped thunder!  LOL  Glad to see what we had to say then has held up to the test of time.  Welcome @Brandon Beaudoin!  (btw I closed on a 3BR cabin in June and have two 4BRs in the works so I have fully gotten on board the bigger-cabin train). @Avery Carl is still the biggest rock star around

Thank you @Chris Seveney!  Valuable insight for newbies into the space like myself. 

Thanks @Jaspreet Baveja!  Do you do long-term lending at all or is it all short-term for projects like flips or BRRRRs?