All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

We don't do any rental arbitrage at the moment, but I have seen some posts from people who have where they've hit financial challenges when the rent is still due, but they don't have bookings due to regulations, Covid, or slow seasons for that area.

For example during lockdowns there were some towns and cities that did not allow STRs to take in guests with the lesson being to have the financial horsepower to weather storms like that.

Mike

I think the saying is something like "more heads in beds", but basically the more rooms/beds you have the potential for more revenue.

You should look up the regulations for STRs in Miami.  You may also want to look at the data on Airdna.co or what similar type condos are renting for on Airbnb and VRBO to get an idea of how much it may generate.

Mike

My suggestion would be to identify who your target guest group would be.  Are you looking for small families? large families? couples?  Solo adventurers? Guests who want large events such as family reunions and weddings?

Once you identify the type of guests that are a good fit for your property, then consider going deep on the theme of your home, amenities your target guests would want, branding of your home toward your target guests, etc.  

My suggestion is to outperform your competition in your niche.  Be the absolute most desired property for the guests you would like to host.

Mike

There is a Poconos vacation rental facebook group. You may want to join that. There seem to be many HOAs in that area, and they have different regulations. You might also want to see if you have to pay the HOA any money related to how much revenue is being generated by the property.

I'm about 90 minutes from the Poconos  myself, but not looking to invest in the Poconos at the moment.

Mike

We have a home that is 608 square feet.  It's not tiny, but cozy for sure and it performs very well.

Mike

We pick areas that we like to vacation in, and then we keep vacationing there until we get very familiar with the market.  I don't mean drive around for 20 minutes, I mean drive around neighborhoods at night, during the day, when it's raining, when it's not raining, on weekends, during weekdays over and over to get a feel for them.  

Then we write down the roads we like, and keep our eyes open for opportunities.

You can purchase Airdna data to get a sense of what a comparable home you are looking for might bring in.  You can also find homes similar to the kind you want to buy on Airbnb and VRBO, look at their rates, look at their calendars, and use a spreadsheet to kind of estimate what it might bring in if 100% booked, 75% booked, 50% booked, etc.

That's where I would start.

Mike

Our cleaner uses an ionizing machine.  I think they sell them on Amazon.

Mike

One thing to factor into your decision, is if you plan on selling it later on...let's say in 2 years, and you have turned it into a successful short-term rental with solid guest/rental history, that may help increase it's value and price you are able to sell it for to short-term rental investors.

Mike

We have 2 cabins in the White Mountains that are 10 minutes to 2 ski resorts, 15 minutes to another 2 resorts, and 30 minutes to 2 more.  When people are not skiing, they are hiking, sight seeing, shopping, and tubing.  Our slow season is November and April.

Mike

You may want to play around with one of the many real estate property/deal analyzers.  When playing, do what the big corporations do which is strategic planning, or for short "strat planning"

Make one spreadsheet that is your optimistic scenario.  It could be multiple optimistic.

Make one spreadshet that is your pessimistic scenario.  Again, it could be multiple.

Then make a spreadsheet that is a blend of the two...some events pan out, and some do not.

Then you can look at the optimistic items and figure out what kind of marketing strategy (acquisition), or retention plans (repeat guests) needs to be in place to help make those optimistic scenarios happen and maybe give your gut more information to go one.

Hope that helps.

Mike