All Forum Posts by: Keith Courtney

@Sean Wilt -

In our counties here in Central Florida, the sales tax that Airbnb pays to our local counties is taken from the total proceeds of the reservation.  In my example above, if we didn't add the 7.5% to our nightly rate, we would net from Airbnb $200/night minus the 7.5% local sale tax, which would be $185/night. 
We show the 6% state tax that is collected from the renters as a separate charge, and it is added to the reservation total that the renter pays.  We then take that state sales tax that we collect and pay the state.  Airbnb pays the local sales tax that they collect directly to the appropriate county.
This is confusing.  I wish Airbnb didn't pay the local sales tax.  It would make things simpler.  No other vacation rental websites do it that I know of.

Keith

@Sean Wilt -

Here in Central Florida, Airbnb pays the local sales tax (7.5%), and vacation rental homeowners pay the Florida state sales tax (6%).  What we do to compensate for this is we add 7.5% to the nightly rate knowing Airbnb will be taking the 7.5% and paying the county directly.  Here's a comparison of our Airbnb quotes vs. our HomeAway/VRBO quotes . . .

If our nightly rate charge without any sales tax added for a short term rental is $200 -
For HomeAway/VRBO we would charge a renter $200/night + 13.5% local and state sales tax.
For Airbnb we would charge a renter $215/night ($200 + $15 (7.5% local sales tax) ) + 6% state sales tax.  We end up netting the same amount.

It is somewhat confusing.  I think there may be a lot of vacation rental homeowners that double pay local sales tax here not realizing the above.

Good luck with your pursuit.

Keith

@Farzan Setayesh -

I think @Dave Foster's advice is very sound. To expound a little on his point #2 - I have witnessed retirement age people buying here in the Orlando area.  They will use them during the winter months and then short term rent them when they are not using them.  It's a great way to cover some, if not all, of your expenses of owning the home including mortgage payments.
Keith

@Melissa M.

I think a good starting point of your analysis of various locations for your short term rental should involve looking at short term rentals currently being rented in the various locations on Airbnb, HomeAway/VRBO, TripAdvisor/FlipKey, etc.  Look at the nightly rates and look at the calendar for each property. You will find which areas have the best potential from a rental income standpoint. 
One note: Pay special attention to the short term rentals that are doing well in each area. Analyze why they are doing better than the others. You will want to emulate them. In my area around Disney World, the ones that rent the most with the highest nightly rates are generally the ones that are either new or upgraded offering a lot of fun amenities like themed kids bedrooms, video games, game rooms and movie theaters. 
With this information, you can then proceed with isolating the best property for you by looking at the purchase prices of homes for sale, upgrade costs (if applicable), taxes, property managers, etc.
Good luck with your search.
Keith

Instead of using AirDNA and the like, I recommend that you do your own analysis. I don't find those services being very accurate. Each time I do an analysis of a short term rental vacation home, I will go to HomeAway/VRBO, Airbnb, and FlipKey and look at the rates and calendars of similar homes currently being rented in the vacation home community where the vacation home is located that I am analyzing. I especially focus on the vacation homes that are doing well and analyze why they are doing better than many of the other homes in the community. Photos often tell me why. Homes with new furnishings, modern kitchens, themed kids bedrooms, and fun amenities like game rooms and movie theaters always rent the most with the highest nightly rates.

Sorry about the post above.  It was meant for another thread.

Instead of using AirDNA and the like, I recommend that you do your own analysis.  I don't find those services being very accurate.  Each time I do an analysis of a short term rental vacation home, I will go to HomeAway/VRBO, Airbnb, and FlipKey and look at the rates and calendars of similar homes currently being rented in the vacation home community where the vacation home is located that I am analyzing.  I especially focus on the vacation homes that are doing well and analyze why they are doing better than many of the other homes in the community.  Photos often tell me why.  Homes with new furnishings, modern kitchens, themed kids bedrooms, and fun amenities like game rooms and movie theaters always rent the most with the highest nightly rates.

@Rachel Kokosenski -

To maximize short term rental income, we put new flat screen televisions in every bedroom and in the main common areas of each home.  Normally cable TV is installed.  We also put PlayStation units or Xbox units in the kids' bedrooms and DVD players in the common areas.  We have found the more fun you can build into a home the better.

Good luck - Keith

@Steven DAmbra -

I agree with Andrew Kerr's statements above regarding HOAs. One thing that I will add regarding condos is I usually will discourage STR vacation home investors from buying condos here in the Orlando area because they are harder and more expensive to finance. Loans on condos here usually require 25-30% deposits and the interest rates on the loans are significantly higher. These factors obviously make condos more difficult to also sell. I steer investors toward townhouses. Loans on townhouses here are treated like loans on single family homes.

Keith 

Dave -

I deal quite a bit in vacation homes - short term rentals in the Orlando area around Disney World.  I have pro forma statements that I can send to you revealing what you can expect for income and expenses for certain homes in certain vacation home communities.  Feel free to contact me if you would like to see any or speak with me.

Keith