All Forum Posts by: Kasey Sulheim

@Svetlana Kazantseva  I guess that you also bring your own steak to a restaurant ? 

I am a contractor , Its a business , we are not labor providers , we provide a finished product . Yes we mark up materials , we mark up subs , we mark up the dumpster . We make money on every thing we do . 

No real , licenced and experienced contractor will work like that , not gonna happen . 

If you find some one that does , it will cost you more . 

I get asked this questions once or twice a year by potential customers , and I tell them I will subtract the amount that I pay for materials , not what you pay . You get no warranty what so ever . If we run short or something is wrong , the whole crew will sit and wait at our hourly service rate until materials arrive . We dont pick up materials , we have them delivered . 

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts. I would like to get into a lake house in northern Minnesota as a vacation rental and I'm currently looking at two options that are both about the same price and I want to know which people think would have the best income potential.

Option 1:

$310,000 for a 750 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bath on .3 acres right on a 100,000+acre lake. It needs updating and I have roughly $25,000 to spend which would make it very nice and updated. I could potentially put a small game room/arcade in one area of this house.

Option 2: $310,000 for a 1500 square foot 3 bedroom 2 bath on 1.3 acres on a 50 acre lake about 5 miles from the same big lake option 1 is on. So a much smaller lake but would be good for swimming/kayaking/paddle boarding. It has an attached garage plus a small separate garage/shop. This option is already nicely updated and my thoughts were to use the $25,000 to install a putting green in the yard and turn one of the garages into a nice arcade/game room and also install a hot tub and possibly some other nice amenities

I'm also open to hearing people tell me I shouldn't try either. But looking forward to hearing the thoughts.

Things about condos to consider: HOA fee always goes up and has special assessments so you need reserve funds. STR can be banned. A building with to high STR non owner occupancy doesn't appreciate as buyers cannot get conventional or jumbo financing in the future. Getting HO6 insurance and a decent priced master policy is an ongoing mess.

Miami Beach is my vote for long term value.

Hi I am thinking of getting into the STR business . Have been reading Avery Carl's book recommended here . Saw a 2bd 2 bathroom condo in Maui , priced at 779K ocean front good views , however it is a leasehold which expires in 30 years it is an active STR currently Apparently the current owner only made 45K last year ! Wondering if leaseholds are good option? I don't think the cash flow would be high? Honestly looking for recommendations? Like what numbers should I be looking at that would make this a good deal ?

Thank you

I own two properties in Cabo and bought both pre-construction. The appreciation on both of them has been superb but unless there's a more attractive opportunity to allocate proceeds to I believe it's best to stick with what got you there. US real estate is still way too high in my opinion and Mexico, in particular south Baja is still one of the best places in the world to invest imho. Buying to STR has been the right decision for us. To do it properly however it does require time spent down there furnishing, getting things up and running, etc. The property managers generally want 20% there but we've been able to arrangements with our connections and do a property management "lite" setup where we still manage the booking and pre-trip communication and our people tend to needs on-site and arrange the cleaning. This setup has allowed us to pay a very reasonable flat monthly fee saving us thousands of dollars.

We're now looking at another pre-con project starting Nov/Dec of this year and considering pooling our investment with others.  Feel free to inquire for more info.

I think this is like when your friends go to Vegas.  No one tells you they lost their shirt and pawned their Rolex.  Everyone comes back a winner.   However, they didn't build all those 4000-5000 room hotels by giving everyone who walks in $1000, probably the reverse of that.

I always look at booking calendars when people tell me they're killing it.

Randomly I chose a pretty nice looking "cabin" 5 bedroom in Sevierville....which I've probably never been to or remember anything about.  I don't think I'd even heard about it before today. Picked random week a couple of weeks from now.  It was called Sevierville Home w/ Mountain & Lake Views!    Rate is crossed out from $447 and now $337 per night.   For July as of today they have 13/30 nights booked.  August 6/31 nights.  Obviously they still have time to pick up bookings....but that looks like ghost town to me. Rough value of the home $610,000.  Not sure about furnishings. Would it take $50,000 to furnish nice 5 bedroom?  They have hot tub and to me the furnishing don't look cheap.  

Is this peak season for the area?   Out of $337/night what drops to bottom line after utilities, booking fees, management fees.   Does everyone book last minute vacations on airbnb?

I see a lot of places for 1/2 this rate.....I can imagine a year or two ago they were double the price, but maybe I'm way off.   So I don't know if this guy who came up with the chart is right or not, or if it is just click bait, but seems plausable.

I think this is like when your friends go to Vegas.  No one tells you they lost their shirt and pawned their Rolex.  Everyone comes back a winner.   However, they didn't build all those 4000-5000 room hotels by giving everyone who walks in $1000, probably the reverse of that.

I always look at booking calendars when people tell me they're killing it.

Randomly I chose a pretty nice looking "cabin" 5 bedroom in Sevierville....which I've probably never been to or remember anything about.  I don't think I'd even heard about it before today. Picked random week a couple of weeks from now.  It was called Sevierville Home w/ Mountain & Lake Views!    Rate is crossed out from $447 and now $337 per night.   For July as of today they have 13/30 nights booked.  August 6/31 nights.  Obviously they still have time to pick up bookings....but that looks like ghost town to me. Rough value of the home $610,000.  Not sure about furnishings. Would it take $50,000 to furnish nice 5 bedroom?  They have hot tub and to me the furnishing don't look cheap.  

Is this peak season for the area?   Out of $337/night what drops to bottom line after utilities, booking fees, management fees.   Does everyone book last minute vacations on airbnb?

I see a lot of places for 1/2 this rate.....I can imagine a year or two ago they were double the price, but maybe I'm way off.   So I don't know if this guy who came up with the chart is right or not, or if it is just click bait, but seems plausable.

Does anyone here have section 8 rentals in Puerto Rico? The low cost of houses and high paying rates are making me attracted to the idea.. Any thoughts?