All Forum Posts by: Mark Futalan

We just had the BNP Paribas tennis tournament in Indian Wells CA cancelled because of the virus. This is a major 2 week event in the desert. I won’t be surprised if cancellation start coming up shortly.

@John D.

Hey John, good to know.

Totally agree. I have a few other investor friends in the area who are seeing the same thing. Some are already dropping rates and worried that people are going to stay home or that the festivals will be cancelled like what was done with Ultra and South by Southwest. Most people are on defense right now and playing be ear.

So far the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals are still on in Indio Ca. despite all the virus scares

https://patch.com/california/palmdesert/coachella-stagecoach-festivals-still-despite-coronavirus

@J Val

Hi there J Val,

I have 2 vacation rental STR's in La Quinta not too far away from the Palm Springs area. I self manage from LA. Happy to help with any specific quad yin's you may have

@Sofia Sharkey

Our cleaners let us know if we need to restock any supplies. We use Instacart. Membership is $99/year or $10 month. When our cleaner cleans the home the next time, we order everything through their app and schedule a delivery to the home when they are cleaning. I’ve been impressed with the turnaround time, I’ve been able to get items within an hour or 2. We typically order in bulk from Costco and the personal shopper picks it up and delivers it. You do pay a little more for the items

but the convenience is definitely worth it especially if your not local.

@Andrew Geisler

95% of my bookings come from Airbnb. If you get a majority or significant amount of yours through Homeaway/VRBO, they now require you to exclusively list through them. So make sure you consider that.

@Andrew Geisler

It’s worked out well for me which is why I’m going through the process again with the 2nd house. I use Wheelhouse to price my listings and I would say my prices were pretty competitive and I was averaging $360 ADR but take into account this factors in Coachella music festival, tennis tournament rates where rates are much higher as you already aware. I didn’t have to redesign my first place but I am going through a slight redesign on the 2nd. The good thing is it’s a collaborative process so you can negotiate or cut corners/expenses on the redesign. I’m all in for a little less than 2k, so it’s an investment but cash flow more than covers it! Yes just August and September are the slowest and hottest months so any traffic during that time is good. I saw the drop off on the 2nd house but the 1st place not at all. Hope that helps!

@Andrew Geisler

Hi Andrew,

I think it really depends on the home and the uniqueness of it and how it stands out from the competition. I have 2 in La Quinta with one in the plus program and another one I’m going through the onboarding process as we speak. Some have had bad experiences and some people I know do really well with it. Luckily for me, my first place was one of the first ones in the area to go Plus and I’m still paying 3% fee on that. Just to give you perspective, I grossed 76k on a 2/2 home last year, self managed. Similar homes of that size in the area gross 35-40 maybe 50k at best. The Plus program has changed a bit since then, one change being the 8% fee (instead of 3%). They also collaborate with you on design, amenities, budget etc. but if I can increase traffic and revenue being on the program I’ll give it a shot. I think where it can help is the views/clicks on your property as you pop up more on their feed and especially with the increased competition, I was told by the Airbnb rep that I met with, it helps during non peak season where rates are lower and property owners have to drastically lower rates just to get bookings. I noticed that a lot with my 2nd place but not my first place that’s on Plus. I’ll keep you posted on the process but for a minimal investment, I’ll try it out. If it doesn’t work out, I can always revert back to my original listing and in the end. I’ll still have a better designed listing.

@Roy Hu

Hi Roy, I have 2 in the LQ area and like John said, it's important to have a unique, well designed/themed property in order to do well with STR's in this area in my opinion. Competition has definitely increased the past few years and differentiating yourself from other listings whether that be in uniqueness, occupancy count, amenities, themed style properties, is definitely the way to go. Managing remotely is not hard just make sure you have a good cleaner and maintenance people who you can count on or call in case of emergency. Automating things also helps a lot (thermostat/security cameras/ messaging etc) and can make managing remotely a lot easier.

I would say if your place is in a true vacation rental area, that views can help. I have properties with a golf course view and Mountain View. With the increased competition in our area, I’m finding that any way to differentiate yourself from the crowd is important. Pictures and how the home is marketed or “presented” also are important factors.