All Forum Posts by: Katharine Gonzalez

@Andre M. thanks for the recommendation. May I ask why you chose to purchase in Orange Beach? Do you also invest in New Orleans? I have family that just relocated there.

@Candace Pfab and @Caleb Drake thanks for the reply! We are totally unfamiliar with the Gulf Shores or Orange Beach areas. In all honesty, had it not come up in my research, I would not have even considered AL. We are also unamiliar with the FL panhandle. We'd like to visit an area (or two) in the next 1-2 months to look at properties. We are interested in a property we can use and offset our expenses with STRing. I have some research to do, but here are a few questions I'm looking to answer if you should be willing:

How seasonal is this market?

How has COVID affected the area? (Our property in The Poconos PA has been doing quite well given its accessibility to NYC/Philadelphia and its year-round seasonality).

What kind of properties are typical for the area? It seems to me that most waterfront/coastal towns have more condos than anything else. 

I'm hoping to do a 10% vacation home loan for financing and potentially BRRRnB it though being at a distance, I'd be more inclined to buy something that is fairly, if not completely, rent-ready. 

Thanks and be well!
 

In the market for another STR and wondering if anyone has a spreadsheet that calculates STR deals? Or, how do you decide whether or not to purchase a STR?

Hi! We purchased our first vacation home last April in The Poconos PA and STR it to offset expenses. It's been doing well and we're now looking for another. I've done some reading and am looking into which of these markets to do more in depth research on. There are a few so I'm hoping to narrow it down with your insights. We're in downstate NY and would like to find a property in a warmer climate in the Southeast within a 3 hr flight from us that is typically a destination people drive to. If you can recommend any other areas, we'd love to hear. So far we're looking at:

Gulf Shores, AL

Apollo Beach, FL

Panama City Beach FL

Santa Rosa Beach FL

Destin, FL  

Tampa, FL

Bradenton Beach FL

Clearwater Beach FL

Marco Island FL

Navarre FL

Saint Petersburg FL

Satellite Beach FL

Paley's Island FL

As an example, here's how our property management company works. We utilize, Evolve, for our Poconos, PA property and aside from handling the marketing, they collect all funds directly from client or third party (AirBnB, VRBO, etc) and 48 hrs after guest check-in, they disburse base rate + cleaning fee + taxes (except on AirBnB bookings as they pay them directly) less their 10% fee. Any 3rd party fees paid by guest. We "inherited" them with the property and decided to roll with them since we were new to the STR market. Their fee has been worth it and it's a good learning curve for us. As we scale, we may consider keeping it all in-house. Good luck!

Question: We're not far in Orange Cty. Is your next property also in Catskill? We're looking for another vacation home in warmer weather. We like enjoying our properties and STRing them to offset expenses.

@Sean McDonnell  just listened to that podcast, thanks!

Thanks, Ashish! Would you mind elaborating on how this might work? Wondering if it work best for young children, or if it would work with 20-somethings. 

Recently listened to a BP podcast where guest mentioned this and hoping someone knows which episode it was. Would also love to hear from anyone who uses this strategy. Thanks!