All Forum Posts by: Leora Merrell

I would also be interested if I could make it work with 7 STRs. Not a fan of QBs. 

Quote from @Collin Hays:

For whatever reason, "big" has been an irresistible lure in the Smokies. I spoke with a potential investor a few weeks ago who wouldn't hear anything but spending at least $1 million for a cabin. Everyone seems to be caught up in the aura of "McMansion" cabins. Even through the busiest years, our experience has been that large cabins do not provide the same ROI as small cabins. There is more wear and tear, there is much more that can malfunction, and they often require two families to afford.

I dare say a big part of that is realtors. After we bought our first, we worked with the builder to buy four more from him. We had two homes we sold and 1031’d into these other four cabins. Both the realtor we used for the first cabin AND the loan officer encouraged us to ditch the two bedrooms and “go bigger since we had access to so much 1031 cash.”
We ended up doing it all without a realtor. It was a very, very common encouragement in 2019 (when we first started buying) until mid 2023 when things started looking down. I have severely acquaintances who fell for it. They’re hurting. 
I have a farmhouse that sleeps 14 in wine country in NOVA. Mostly just books weekends. Still has more wear and tear than my 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom cabins that book 85-95% several months of the year. 

Agreed!

Our Smokies 1 bedroom beats some of our Smokies 2 bedrooms in terms of revenue some months out of the year. It's by far the easiest to manage and maintain. We're building another 1 bedroom right now next door on the extra lot that came with the first 1 bedroom (we remodeled that one). We were approved for up to a 3 bedroom on that lot but the numbers don't lie. The ROI on the one bedroom (we are building it ourselves, my husband is the GC) is better than a 2 or 3 bedroom at this time. I love my little 1 bedroom cabin. :)

Quote from @Jon Martin:

Quote from @John Underwood:

I hope they can make the app more like Vrbo's. Airbnb 's app is clunky and more difficult to use than Vrbo's.

From my own experience and what I hear from most others you are in the minority with this opinion. Maybe because you use VRBO more?

I started using both at the same time and found AirBnb to be far more user friendly with less clicks/swipes needed for any task. Whereas with VRBO I've had several tech issues that were unfixable, such as photos that never load no matter how much I manipulate them, and a catch 22 with the dynamic pricing that never worked that locked me out of my calendar. With AirBnb I've never had anything remotely as frustrating. 

I found the same thing as a guest as well. 

 Agreed. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone prefer the VRBO app over Airbnb. I prefer VRBO guests hands down and that they don't interfere with hosts as much as Airbnb, but the app and website are incredibly frustrating, slow, and outdated.

Thanks guys. I have to admit that I was hoping for some sort of magic trick. I'm pretty good about logging into Pricelabs several times a week but I'm still looking for more. Seems like what I'm looking for may not exist.

Serious question. I realize it may be a stupid one but I'm willing to look stupid if it means I learn something. I've been a host for 5+ years now and have 7 STRs (1 in wine country in NOVA, the rest are in the Smokies if that matters). I still struggle with this in Pricelabs. People often comment saying they are in Pricelabs every day "tweaking" their pricing. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I know it's not "set it and forget it" but I am not understanding how working in Pricelabs means more than just lowering prices or raising prices. Any insight? Did I miss some tutorials everyone else has watched? Am I staring right at it and totally missing it?

Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:

Quote from @Tomoko Hale:

Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:

Agree with others that 20% is fair.  Regarding your other questions:

  - If the going value is $260/SF, why would you pay more than that?  This is like buying any other property, it is valued at whatever the market is.  Maybe a bit more furnished unless other properties are also selling furnished. 

- WRT income, at a minimum it has to cover all of your costs plus some for unforeseeable expenses.  What are your goals for this property (e.g. why are you getting into this)?  Will you also be using it for yourself, future appreciation, etc?  This could help decide if the income is enough.  How much do you expect to invest?  I usually look for 10% return if not more.

 Patricia,

Thank you for the reply. So this property will come with all of the furniture and they looks fairy new. So the the value of the house is $260/SF but the seller is trying to sell it at S$296/SF because of the furniture. I

My goal is to have a cash flow.

 I don't think you should pay a premium for the furniture but that's just me.

 Not only that, but the appraisal won't put much (if any) value on the furnishings. There's a good chance it may not even appraise for what the seller is asking if the seller really is asking for that much more compared to others just for furniture. 

Quote from @Kevin Luttrell:

John must have lucked out. I had a similar experience to you Josh and my management company said all of their other owners are experiencing the same. The fire inspectors couldn't care less about your bookings and are taking their jobs VERY seriously. 

Had my inspections done a month or two ago and they checked about a dozen items per property that had to be corrected and told us the properties were deemed "uninhabitable" until then and no one could stay in them. We cancelled our bookings for the next week while completing the work as quickly as possible, since as John mentioned they have the power to permanently pull your permit so you cannot rent at all. Once the work was completed we alerted the inspector and tried to get him back out ASAP to verify, but he wouldn't get back to us. They're extremely busy with all the inspections and permits they have to get done in the area. We did not continue to cancel our bookings after that - I decided that it was worth the risk since we did what was asked of us and wouldn't be fair for us to have to wait for him to have time to come back. 

So long story short I don't think it's likely they'll come back and check on your property to make sure you're not renting prior to sprinkler installation, but they can if they want to and if they find renters they can permanently pull your permit. Up to you on whether or not it's worth the risk. 

 This is crazy they haven't come back out. We finally got an email from the Fire Marshall last week asking to schedule and inspection (our first out of six we have in the area) and the google calendar showed about a dozen times available every day through December. It didn't seem busy to me at all. That said, we don't sleep over 12 people. Perhaps they are inspecting larger cabins first? 

I have a handful of cabins there. It's been great to us but we bought before the boom. I suggest you tread very carefully in the Smokies if you want to make money these days. Use a realtor that not only invests there but lives there.

That said, I learned everything from reading every page on this STR forum for days and by joining STR Facebook groups and just reading and reading. You'll learn a lot more and a lot faster than talking on the phone to someone for 30 mins.

You will not get $715k. I’m sorry. We just sold one of our 2/2’s with a higher gross than yours for $515k.