All Forum Posts by: Michael Barry

@Ben Day we looked at several management software offerings and decided to DIY.  We have a Google calendar sync’d to our various hosting sites and our housekeeper, so that part was actually pretty easy. Accounting and invoicing is easy with only one property.  I worked with our accountant to make sure I was tracking the appropriate things, and it takes me an hour or so each week to pay bills, upload receipts and update our expenditures. We don’t use any accounting software yet and our accountant advised us to KISS with only one property. 

The one thing we don’t have is a formal website for the property outside of our social media and hosting pages.  The website builders provided with those management software suites are “meh” at best. We already have a domain and email and I’ve worked with Word Press in the past so I may just build one myself with that platform or pay someone to build a nice site for us if we think it would be worth it. At this point, though, we are getting a decent mix of bookings from direct marketing and the hosting platforms, so it is hard to justify the additional overhead.

When we start adding more properties, we will definitely revisit the need for management software as our business becomes more complicated and time-consuming. 

Our house is AE flood zone and our flood policy is $800. We looked at houses in VE flood zone and flood would have approached $4,000 for equivalent value properties that were not even beachfront. That’s an immense impact to cash flow. STRs can be great but also can be dogs if not done properly. It’s all about location and the details, like insurance and the initial capital required to get it rent ready. We chose a well-built newer home that meets modern windstorm and flood regulations so our insurance is relatively cheap for the area. We also ran numbers on its ability to cash flow just like we were doing when evaluating LTRs. 

STRs are a lot of work! It’s basically a part time job self-managing the house. I’m the handy man and bookkeeper, my wife handles guest communication and our various marketing channels. 

STR do generally take more initial capital to get up and running because you have to provide a fully furnished and stocked house and that number could be quite high. So you need access to cheap short term and long term capital and plan your debt payback accordingly.

@Lance Lewton we bought beachside in Pointe San Luis, just down the road from Sea Isle.  We also bought this property for some enjoyment ourselves. However, it’s been booked solid since we put it on the market at the end of July. We finally blocked out a weekend for ourselves mid-October! 

@Michael Roe I have a great cleaning company, very happy with their level of service. I’ll send you a private message with the details.  

@Lance Lewton we went a little different direction for our first investment and bought a beach house in Galveston as a short term rental. It’s been great so far.  Definitely more work than a long term rental but better income.  It’s also been fun to provide families a place to relax and get away from everything going on. 

We are looking for our next investment, just not sure what it’s going to be. The impact of the virus on the real estate and lending markets is very fluid. My wife and I are discussing building a portfolio of short and mid term rentals as our niche area. 

Always interested in connecting with others!  So we closed on a beach house on the west end of Galveston last month and put it into vacation rental and almost immediately had it booked through mid-September. Here’s to our new adventure!  Once we pay off our initial investment, we will be on the hunt again. 

@Hunter Keszler yeah I use Zillow, Redfin and HAR apps.  Each one has features I like so I can’t seem to settle on just one. 

Does anyone have experience in leasing for corporate housing or other alternatives for higher end properties that won’t likely meet the 1% rule with a standard long term lease? We are considering a rehab for our next home (that will include a garage apartment for AirBnB) and I’m scratching my head about what to do with our current home. I initially thought like most retail buyers would and considered selling it but instead I’d love to keep it and move it to my asset column (Rich Dad reference...). 

@Holly Brown is there an email list for the Texas City meetup?  I missed yesterday but would like to participate in the next one.  

I’m working towards my first property. I used to work in the space program before going into oil and gas. I live in League City, would be nice to have a meetup somewhere around here.