All Forum Posts by: Laura Dalla

I'm purchasing a small duplex in a tourist city which has been hit hard by COVID. One side of the duplex will be rented to full time tenants and I'm considering making the second available on AirBnB or a similar platform for periods of 30 days or more (the goals is to give myself some flexibility to use the unit myself throughout the year while bringing in close to what I would with a full time tenant). Besides tourism, there are nearby hospitals and universities to (possibly) drive some demand for this type of housing...

Has anyone had success (or failure) with a listing that only allowed guests to book for periods of 30 days or more? If so, who was your customer? How much demand did you have? What platforms did you advertise on?

I have experience in both long term and short term rentals, but not "mid-term" would love to hear about any experience in this market. 

For context this duplex is located in a safe/desirable area but the apartments are small and suited for one or two people as opposed to a family. 

@Leilah Davis Thank you for the reply. It's interesting to hear about your experience here and I agree that the neighborhood can change very drastically from one street to the next. I'm currently spending some time in NOLA going street by street to establish where I'd be interested in investing.

I'm more interested in BRRR than turn-key property, but this is a new market for me so I guess anything is on the table. BRRR has been my niche in the past.

@Dominique Gunderson Thank you for the reply, sorry that it took me a few days to see it. I'm originally from CA as well but live primarily on the East Coast now. I'll be spending the next month or so in NOLA to become familiar with the market and get a sense of which streets or neighborhoods I may be interested in investing in and I started to look at Algiers and Algiers point. Not sure if you had any thoughts on that area, but I'll take a look at Westbank as a source or comparison.

I don't need specific names or anything, but generally speaking who do you have on the ground here and how did you connect with them from CA?

I remotely manage my other rentals in VA with minimal local support, but that wouldn't be so easy for me in NOLA due to the distance, so that's the piece that I'm very interested in learning more about. Do you have a traditional property manager or another arrangement?

@Stephen Keighery 

Thank you for the response and suggestion on the property manager. I've been driving different sub-markets here and have seen how quickly things can change from street to street so I definitely hear what you are saying about the comps. 

I'm looking for anyone with experience investing in the NOLA market, especially any long distance investors. I currently have a small portfolio of rental properties in VA which I manage remotely without a property manager, but NOLA is a much further from where I live and it wouldn't be realistic for me to self manage given the distance.

I love the area and eventually would love to move here full time, but I'm still at least 10 years away from that goal due to work. That said, I'd like to start building a portfolio now. 

Does anyone here own any B/C property that is managed through a property manager? Have you had good luck with any particular management company? What has your tenant quality and vacancy been like lately? 

I'm happy to hear any thoughts or suggestions. I'll be in NOLA for the next month and would happily buy you a coffee or beer if you want to sit down and share your experience with rentals here. 

Hi Emily, thanks for the share. I'm looking for a two family in the area and will check it out. I own a few rentals in another market, but am new to this area so would love to hear about your experience with the similar property if you're open to chatting.