All Forum Posts by: Justin Anderson

As a mentor of mine told me if I'm going to go, go big... So my first cabin is/was a 7 BR that just KILLS IT.  If you can go bigger, go bigger.  Smaller cabins have bidding wars which is no fun to go up against, but they're also way less worry.  My 1BR cabins never get trashed but my big ones definitely have their share of parties.

But even with the price run up lately, these guys can still cash flow.  As an example, two of my 1BRs have averaged 6,500/month gross in Q4.  My nice 7BR will average 20k/m in Q4.  Of course Q4 is the best, but that just shows what's possible.

As Avery said, a 4BR will probably average around 100k gross, depending on amenities/location/etc.  I manage a brand new NICE one that will gross only about 20% less than a plain 8BR.  I'm hoping it'll hit 130-135k this coming year.

Following in case there is some direct experience with it.  The prefab ones I've seen are super expensive and not worth it financially.  I've seen some that have the bathroom at the ground level and that is sometimes shared between treehouse units. Others treat it as a tiny home just stuck in a tree.

I'm curious if anyone has direct experience building them as I'd definitely be up for building some.

I concur with the other concurrances.  (In short, it underestimates revenue in my main market and for others it has overestimated).

I can't speak to Tulum directly at all, unfortunately.   On the surface it sounds like a good idea with little risk.

But my grandfather invested in Honduras for a rental/vacation spot several years ago.  He went down there for weeks at a time during construction and he basically ended up with a substandard house that a river all but washed away after a big storm.  The developer said "sorry" and moved on to his next project. 

I'd be worried about pre-construction projects for your own safety.   I'd with a proven developer or an existing condo,  though.

IMO an indoor pool at 85k is a no brainer as you can get 30k/year extra at that size.  Especially with interest rates now, you're talking $500 or $600/m on your note with over 2k+/month coming back.

The caveat is what Andy said a few posts up  -- there are a lot of cabins going up now that have pools.  That may drive down the return.  You have to weigh what you think the market is going to do vs the long term cost of adding a pool.

Maybe a midnight toker...  yeah, that's it.

As a point of reference, my 1BR in wears valley (with no view) will hit 55k gross this year, even with covid.  I wouldnt put too much stock in their numbers as to what is possible.

Airbnb can and does remit the other 9%.  However, i definitely would ask them to break it out to be sure.

And, for your clarity,  make sure they break out cleaning fees since that is mostly just passed through to the cleaners.

Congrats on the big property!

Man, congrats!  Snagging 6 units should be great for you!

Without direct knowledge of this type of setup, I'll just throw out some speculation.  I'd suggest looking at the nightly rates on hotels.com for hotels at a given time of year for rates -- in general it's pretty low.  Look at those prices and ballpark your revenue.  Timers Lodge or maybe River Place Inn.  PF has TONS of motels serving that level of audience and much fewer hotels.  I'd guess you're looking at maybe $40-60/night in non-peak times unless you do something that makes it seem more like a place they'd want to stay instead of a random cheap motel.

I'm guessing a cabin-like hotel room probably won't have amenities (hot tub, arcade game, etc).  Maybe if you incorporate some unique amenities you'd have a shot at getting higher rates.  And you may be able to take advantage of the fact that airbnb shoppers aren't comparing prices on hotels.com and charge a bit more.

Fun challenge in front of you.  Hopefully you're local at least for a while to really dig in and test out your marketing ideas.

You've got a solid point and only time will tell.  The area has more traffic now...  Does that mean that new people are exposed to the area and will come back?  Or does it mean they'll get turned off by the traffic and never come back?

Of course I hope it's the former!