All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

@Christina Webber - There are 3 areas in the White Mountains that I know of that are considering STR regulation. They are Conway, North Conway, and Kearsarge. If you are considering those areas, you may want to look into the regulations that recently passed, or are currently being discussed.

Mike

@Stephen Ray - It is possible to cash flow, but going to take some research and careful buying.  We are looking for our 2nd property out there.  Please feel free to message me with any questions.

@Michael Baum

I agree - I think a SFH is a better way to go in that area. Also, make sure to keep an eye in STR regulations as Conway or North Conway was discussing it recently.

@Ilona Kovacs We have a home in the White Mountains. It is a popular vacation destination for most months except April and November and there are short-term rental opportunities. On the flip-side, there seem to be a lot of people who have purchased STRs in that area so you may need to be aware of market saturation or how you will make your STR stand out.

@Lorraine Patterson - We did exactly what you described.  We are first time investors and invested in a short-term rental in North Carolina which is about 7 hours from us.  So far it has been a very positive experience.  The most important thing is to make sure that if you are managing it yourself that you have a reliable cleaner, handyman, plumber, electrician, lawn, and appliance repair person.  And once you have your primary team in place, it wouldn't hurt to have the contact info of backup people ready to go in case someone is not available.  

We use RightSignature for handling the signing of short-term rental agreements.  I use a Mobile app called Due to remind me of when to send all the communications to the guests such as their Welcome Packet, day before check-in reminder, day before check-out reminder, etc.

Hope that helps!

SG

We have a short-term rental and are using Proper as our insurer.  They were higher than what we were paying previously, but have not had any issues with them and they seem to provide good coverage.

SG

@Eric P. - We live about 7 hours from our rental.  The key is having people on the ground in the area that you can trust (cleaner, handyman, electrician, etc).  For example if we had a piece of furniture break, we would either ask our handyman if he could fix it, and if he couldn't we would ask him to pick up a piece of similar furniture, and charge us for the item plus any of his time needed to pick it up and get it in place.  If you don't have all your team in place, or not sure if they will be there for you when you need them, you may want to think about the Property Management route for a little peace of mind.

Mike

@Corey Crooks - So far owning out of state has not been an issue (knock on wood).  I think the critical piece is having a good team (cleaners, handyman, plumber, etc) in place with people you trust and having processes in place (process for turnover, process for safety checks, process for updating rental calendars, process for updating rental calendar based on future holidays and other important events happening, etc.

To answer your question about the biggest risk, I think the biggest risk is the weather.  Even if a storm comes in and doesn't directly impact your home, if the roads or infrastructure are damaged, it may mean a loss of rental income for a bit.  Some insurance companies will provide coverage for loss of income due to that kind of damage from what I understand.

Mike

We use Proper.  They specialize in insurance for short-term rentals.

Hope that helps!
Mike