All Forum Posts by: Maxwell Banton

Hey Maxwell, just FYI, the link wouldn't work for me.

As for what to do... have you discussed any of this with a real estate experienced CPA? I can tell you I've had quite a few owners calling me in the last few months looking to transition their STR into LTR for the same reason, and like you, many are stuck. There are a ton of houses for sale in the Disney area and based off competition I think a lot of people are going to sell at a loss just to get out from under the house.

I don't think any of the options are good, but have you thought about what the plan is for 3 to 5 years from now? And is the house currently themed?  I think you either sell or go one of two routes.

1) Plan to hold for at least 5 years.  Turn into a LTR and then Cost Seg the house so you can get some funds as reserves.  Then hope the rental losses help with it comes time for tax season.

2) Double down on the STR and theme the house (if it isn't already). There is so much competition in the area and the well-done themed houses generally command a higher ADR. This is an example of what I am talking about - https://www.homethemeorlando.com/ .  It's not cheap to do ($10-15K per room), but Marc Younger (owner of Home Theme) has quite a few themed STRs in the Disney area and makes a killing. 

 Hope this helps.  Good luck! 

Hi Maxwell, can you post the link again? This doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

Have you considered MTR? 30 day stays or more?  Disney staff or exec accommodations? 

How are you dealing with incidentals and additional pet, amenities fees?

What’s the occupancy rate? Is there an opportunity to package this in with Disney tix, events or concerts? 

Mindy 

I suggest re-evaluating your rental strategy. Many investors have fallen victim of the allure of big $$ in STR around Disney - that is why there are so many of these. With the recent opening of the Evermore Resort it is only going to get tougher.

Does you property cashflow as a long-term rental?

Maybe sell on terms to another STR operator?

Thank you @Michael Baum

@Maxwell Banton sorry to hear about your struggles. I just commented on another thread about homes like yours. I want to be considerate of your efforts, but also provide constructive critisim. I can't tell what community this is in, but it looks to be built for STR as I can see every home has a pool. However, it is definitely not one of the resort style communities like Championsgate or Winsdor Island etc. So that fact alone is going to make it very difficult to get your property seen based on how the algorithms work.

There are so many homes in the resorts that get attention just because the neighborhood gets booked alot. So some things I see with your home is that it looks like....well...home. It doesn't scream.."I'm on vacation in Florida!!". It looks like this could be in Ohio. With so much competition here, you must do something special to get people to stop scrolling when they see your lisitng. You need more colorful accent walls, take those stickers down, it looks like you phoned this in and spend an hour theming the entire house with a $200 budget. I know this is harsh, but take a look at others (go pretend you are booking and look at how well thought out the furniture, colors and theming are). You have basic finishes like laminate counters, 30" cabinets, a coil stove a TV sitting on a bar stool and your pool doesn't have a hot tub, that alone is losing you bookings. Nice job on the floors though! This just will not cut it in Orlando. 

I'm not sure what solution would be best, commit to spending more money to make it what it needs to be and hoping it works, finding a LTR tenant or selling at this point, that is up to you. But doing what you are doing will not work.

Best of luck to you!

Your place needs a serious visual update. People who visit Disney are ready to spend money and they want the lifetime experience. They don't want to stay at a regular home when they are spending a fortune for their memories. There are places you can save money, but your furniture and decor look cheap and not screaming dream and fantasy. You have a very nice pool. Try to match your house to your pool then you will see a serious revenue increase.

So I am going to call in expert @Shawn McCormick and get his take on it.

I will say it is perfectly nice, but normal. Nothing really pops.

The Orlando market has 10's of thousands of STRs. It is very competitive.

The most successful places have heavily themed rooms and the like.