All Forum Posts by: Marcus B Hsu

I live in San Diego, but travel to San Jose area regularly for work, will definitely try to make it up to the next one if its a weekday event!

Not recession proof...but i think it's more so dependent on location, i.e. if there is too much competiton with other STRs in the area or not, which is the case that i've been seeing. There's been a lot of STR purchases in last few years and demand for STR is not keeping up with the number of STR in the area I invest in.

@Laura Kastner, I purchased in May'21 in BBL (I also went in with 20% down and waived contingencies, and went above asking), in some ways got lucky in finding a cabin that had subpar listing photos, and seller were eager to sell. I saw in person the cabin and felt it had a lot of potential. Spent the summer renovating it, and got it listed as STR beginning of November'21. The cabin is booked every weekend (except 1) through to 2nd week of March so far, and we had back to back bookings between Dec18th to Jan10th and the week before and after Presidents day . At some point I'll make a post about it, but so far I have been happy with the investment.

Yes great help is in short supply, but it's definitely there. Like anything in life, it's about building relationships and the team you establish there will look out for you if you take care of them.

Agree, the market is hot, my advice is to make sure the numbers still make sense, and don't give up looking!

Hi @DongHui Patel, I currently self manage, I dont have experience with any of the property management firms in BB, I have only seen/heard what others experience have been, and concluded that self managing is the best route to go, and if you must have a property mgmt, do go with somebody that are not managing hundreds of STRs.

@Hardik Patel, we just finished our renovation and listed the STR., still have to see how remote managing will work out but definitely believe that it can be done with a good team in place (housecleaner and handyman). I probably will go up there every couple of months to check on the place as well. As far as challenges, yes, it wasn't easy to find workers that are reasonably priced and has open schedule, but following recommendations on facebook from others, and hiring from down the mountain certainly helped. I also connected with other investors through BP, which was helpful ato share knowledge. I'll be sure to make a post about the experience and share the before/after later this month.

@Account Closed, Congratulations!, and thank you for sharing the numbers. We have just closed on a property in Big Bear Lake and will be working to renovate it to be ready for STR. We haven't started yet but I do see the biggest challenge is to find a good GC that has opening in their schedule, so I'm planning worst case scenario where I have to do most of the renovations myself. Have you had any problems finding good GCs/ workers? Appreciate if you have any insights. I'll be in BBL quite a bit for the next couple of months as well, would be great to meet up and exchange ideas. Thanks!

@Brian G. Thanks for the explanation. I did reach out to my attorney based on your suggestion, their recommendation was either setup a JV or an LLC. Since I'm in California and I would like to avoid paying the franchaise tax annually, I'll probably go for a JV.

@Brian G., i like the deal structure you have. Do you have this all written up in some partnership agreement? and how do you make sure it becomes 50/50? like do you have to get your name onto the title? Would appreciate any insights you have as i'm starting to consider investing in STRs with a friend/investor.

I have investments in Chandler and Goodyear.  I think rent to value is better in West Valley (Goodyear,Avondale etc),if you consider it as a potential future rental property, since East valley has appreciated a lot in the last few years.

I invest in Huntsville but all above I think are good considerations. I picked Huntsville because 1) Network: I was able to join a local meetups where several folks were already investing in Huntsville and it helped me build confidence it was the right location, additionally based on fellow BP members, I was able to find the team that i felt was compatible with my working style 2) Growth/Opportunities, Many things can be said about Huntsville, but it's a booming city, and defense / tech companies are stable and growing, regardless of the pandemic 3) I ran the numbers  on multiple scenarios based and the numbers worked.

I will say that I had never heard of Huntsville, and never been to AL before I started investing, so all the decision making was done based on research and talking to others. In the end, you can down select to a few cities, and just have to find a team that you feel comfortable and go with your gut.