All Forum Posts by: Kiko Mattoso

I own a property management company so I primarily use data from our portfolio or from Key Data. I think AirDNA is too conservative lately. I do typically buy turnkey and leave room for a budget of $3500-5,000 to create some sort of fun or enhanced space. I have some case studies on Instagram about what I’ve done it’s @Leslie.Anne.Morris - check under story highlights. Specifically ‘Whiskey.’

I have 11 STR in the Smoky Mountains and I don't buy unless I can reach 20% cash on cash. My two deals last year put me at 23 and 24%. It is doable in strong markets to find a better return. You may contemplate what your ultimate strategy is - if you are flexible on market, then definitely look at the Smoky Mountains.

@Kiko Mattoso You can sync the calendars to prevent that from happening. Some folks don't allow instant booking at all, so that should not be a problem or you could just allow instant booking on one of the platforms and require guests to inquire about booking through the other. The other way to prevent it is to use a property management software, such as Hospitable.

@Kiko Mattoso treat each property as it’s own business. Each property needs to maintain itself.

Yes it is worth it. It is like selling a car on the side of the road and only on the side of the road. You put it on Autotrader or Craigslist. You get many more eyes and the chances of selling goes way up.

By not using VRBO you are missing out on hundreds of thousands of users looking to book a place. Why give up that avenue?

I also have found the VRBO guests to be much better than AirBNB guests. All my damage and problems have been with AirBNB people. Much more rare with VRBO guests.

You will have to take steps to prevent double bookings and as other have said there are tools that can sync the calendars. We don't do instant booking so I control that and just add things to calendars as needed. 

It's doubtful that you'll come up with "the" right strategy to make $20k/mo right off the bat, because as you move forward and invest in more properties you'll gain knowledge, strategies, connections, ect. that will give you better information on how to proceed. My thought is, start with what you can now and move forward. I think of that saying that goes something like "start where you are, with what you've got". 

I'm sure you'll get some other great responses from folks here, but that's my thought on it for now. 

I was going to give my own thoughts on this but @Andy Whitcomb's answer was so good, I'm just going to second it!

This has proven true for me as well.  I've switched strategies several times but I have held true to my "buy one property each year" plan and now that I'm six years and eight doors deeps, I continue to have new "doors" open for me and my strategies continue to revolve and change based on the opportunities that arise.

Whatever you do, don't wait.  Go buy real estate!

One more unoriginal thought here - slow and steady still wins the race. 

Try to find your unfair advantage. Ours is that my wife is an interior designer. She does that for a living and has worked in $10M homes...she is actually a designer for a living, not "has an eye for design." It's a bit of a cheat code when buying short and medium term rentals. What is yours? Do you have specific hobbies or travel destinations that the masses do not know about as well as you? Do you have any advanced knowledge in construction? Do you have family member or close friends any interesting markets that will be helpful when building out boots on the ground? Find that unfair advantage, lean into it, and slowly, year by year, get the snowball rolling down the hill. 

Thats a lot of money and work for 10k profit. I can buy a house cash for 30k and net 10k profit with a lot less work.