All Forum Posts by: Melanie Martin del Campo

Did either of you end up purchasing? I am thinking of doing a MTR or multi-family with one LTR and one STR in the area near Grandview in Cleveland Heights. I am wondering if anyone has had any success in the Cleveland area with STR?

I would like to know also.  I am currently insuring my first short-term rental.  I found a DP-3 policy with Kin insurance that provides me with some of the best of all worlds.  Personal liability, but loss of use coverage; corporate endorsement liability, rental to others short-term liability, and a few other endorsements that I don't understand.  But the limits are too low to stick just with that policy - only 500k.  Now that I am trying to get an umbrella policy it is getting more complicated.  I successfully added the policy to my personal umbrella policy, and state farm allows short-term rental use so it would seem that I am covered, but I am concerned that I also need commercial business liability insurance.  What has everyone's experience been?  Do any companies offer short-term rental specific insurance policies?

I am currently in discussions with two cleaning options for help with our new short-term rental.  We close on March 1. I am speaking with Angie at Orlando Short Term Rentals and Joy with Vacation Home Help.  I would love any advice or recommendations about either of these two businesses - or any other referrals people are willing to pass on.  Have any of you worked with them before?

I so appreciate all of the good advice given here.  I was feeling frustrated, and considering looking at a different market (High Country North Carolina anyone?) but I stuck with it and my latest offer was accepted.  We are scheduled to close on March 1.  I think I will follow @Shawn McCormick's advice and just clean and do minor repairs, hoping to get some spring break listings.  The home I am under contract on is a 9 bedroom at Windsor at Westside.  No real theming to speak of.  Do you think theming could wait until August or should I prioritize it in an effort to get more cash flow this year?

You don't say in your post how much experience you have as a real estate investor, so I will chime in with my background and my brief experience with Holton-Wise and you can see if it is helpful.  I was a first-time real-estate investor from California and I decided to invest in the Cleveland area because my daughter was moving there for college and I knew that I would get a chance to visit and see the area.  I found @James Wise's videos to be extremely helpful and I purchased a 10 pack of his analysis videos.  We put in two offers together.  One seller decided that he wanted more money than I offered, even though I was over listing price and there weren't any competing offers and one told us that I got the property and then never contacted us again.  @James Wise was an incredibly efficient agent, which meant that we did not ever talk in person and the offers were placed with minimal communication but his videos were very straight-forward and no BS, as @Russell Brazil mentioned.  That is what attracted me to working with James in the first place.  But in the end, I decided to work with a different real estate agent who is more of the traditional model - we speak frequently about my offers and talk often through the process. I had so many questions as a newbie that I would have driven James nuts.  

I purchased a quad in Strongsville, Ohio and a duplex in Garfield Heights and have a property manager managing them.  I do have some regret right now with not staying with James, because for the first time one of my units is vacant and needs extensive repairs.  My property manager is not accustomed to helping with extensive remodels during a turnover - I could really have used Holton-Wise to handle the remodel for me.  As an out-of-state investor this remodel will be challenging.  Now that I have more experience as well, James' model would work for me much better.  I don't need as much hand-holding through the process.  I still have four videos outstanding and I would definitely work with him again, especially if I were going to buy again in Garfield Heights or Cleveland proper.  Hope that helps.

Thank you both for your insight.  Do you think that there will be a supply increase in the coming months that might ease the number of offers being made on properties?

I am in the market for my first short-term rental and I am looking in the Orlando Disney Area, specifically Championsgate, Windsor at Westside, and Storey Lake.  I have an agent with the Short Term Shop.  I am having trouble deciding on a strategy - am I better off buying a fully themed, ready-to-go eight-bedroom home and paying a large appraisal gap (which seems to come with the territory with the themed properties) or would I be better off buying one with little to no theming, hopefully a smaller appraisal gap (no guarantee) and theming it myself?  I know the more bedrooms the better, but I have seen some data to suggest that smaller fully themed homes can perform as well as larger, lightly themed homes.  Here is our situation:  we have been approved for a jumbo ten percent down vacation home loan up to 1.5 million and have a home equity line to draw upon for theming.  Our concerns are 1) how long will a property be offline to be fully themed (three bedrooms and a garage game room is our goal), 2) are contractors readily available there to do the work and are they being affected by the shortages?  At this point, it seems like we will be lucky to get any property at all because bidding is so competitive.