All Forum Posts by: Patrick Franta

Aloha Sarah and welcome to the group!  You will find a wealth of knowledge on this site and from these members.  I am an agent here on Maui and work with many investors (a few on this site) in acquiring and managing vacation rental condos.  I would love to chat sometime and answer any questions you may have.  

Hawaii inspection group is great.  Bud stanton is a solid inspector with them.  They do Mold testing as well. Bowman is great for termite.  DON'T use terminix, they are terrible here.  Radon testing is not necessary here, but as always it is up to you.  

Just out of curiosity, your agent should have all of these recommendations for you?  Are you working with anyone on island?

Ashish,

I am a real estate broker on Maui and have a lot of clients with vacation rentals in the resort markets here.  One of my clients and an active BP member is @Jeremy Baker who is a wealth of knowledge on the subject and owns multiple rentals.  I would also be more than happy to discuss specifics with you as to expected returns and management strategies.  

If you do your due diligence, buy right, and manage properly they can be great investments.

Whats up @Rob White!  I heard your trip was awesome! If I were you I would look into commercial property management.  I worked for a commercial asset management company back in California and it can be a very well paying position.

You will be more likely to find a salary position and will have to deal with less BS than residential PM's.  

CBRE, Kokua, Colliers & Kean are the big players.  I can send you some contacts if you'd like.  

If you are only interested in residential you are more likely going to be on a commission structure with a broker split and will have to build a portfolio.  

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd love to help out any way I can!   

Welcome @Christy Stesky!  Congrats on the rehab project!  If you ever have any questions about our local market I would love to be a resource for you. 

Yong,

They charge a 25% fee on Gross Rental Income.  The "Reservation Fee" is paid by the guest and becomes part of your gross revenue.  The manager eates the processing fee.  The manager gets their 25% cut of the gross revenue including booking fees.  I would be happy to chat with you further about it if you'd like.  

You would have grounds to sue in my opinion but i'm not sure it'd be worth it in the end, as you should have been receiving these reservation fees as revenue all along.   

Spec.  You can drastically increase your margin by selling a finished product.  You will have to manage the construction budget with a microscope but there is a larger upside potential.  I don't know if this applies on the Big Island but on Maui new homes sell much faster than vacant land.

Yong,

I am a real estate broker in Maui and am very familiar with short term rental management companies as my wife runs one.  The $50 "reservation fee" is extremely common and as far as I know all companies charge it.  This usually covers credit card processing and the cost of the reservation system the manager uses.  This should be passed on to the owner as revenue.

With that being said this should have absolutely been disclosed to you in the contract and breakdown of fees.  You mentioned you are with a large management company so I am assuming you are with Destination Resorts, Aston, or Outrigger.  If that is the case it would be wise to explore other management options as there are many alternatives that charge a 25% management fee and will bring you a higher Gross Rental Income for your property, which will improve your bottom line tremendously.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to discuss in further detail with you.  Feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email anytime.  Mahalo.    

@Michael Borger also if you want any local insight on the deals you are reviewing I am more than happy to help. Mahalo

Gabe Krueger 

Island independence contractors 

808-two five zero-two five two seven

He is solid and competitive. Tell him Patrick sent you. 

Also Armando Alcontrera

808- three four four - eight eight nine two

He's been really busy lately though.