All Forum Posts by: Mitch Davidson

Sure thing, @Jeremy Shaffer. Just added you to the events email list for our BP Asheville meetup. Look forward to meeting you soon.

@Wyatt Wolff. Sage advice!

In a past life, managing vendors for HUD, the following quote was a mantra we learned the hard way to live by:

“People do what you inspect, not what you expect.”

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. (best known for his tenure as chairman and CEO of IBM from 1993 until 2002, wherein he led the company through a great turnaround).

@Manny Vasquez, I couldn't agree more. I did the same recently, for the first 6 cleans. It helped me get the house setup better for both my cleaner and guests. I didn't realize until then that some things were in bad spots, that I needed this or that, etc. 

@Stephanie St. Germain, part of having a great cleaner, and great reviews as a result, is taking great care of your cleaner, which in addition to paying them well and quickly means also setting them up for success. For example, after dealing with the hot tub myself for a bit I created a couple training videos for the cleaner, such as how to empty the hot tub with a sump pump, refill, etc. I'll send you contact info for a lady that attends some of our Asheville BP meetups. She does cohosting and cleaning as well.

Agreed with @Michael Baum. The lack of appreciation as well as exit opportunities are serious concerns. And, then there's financing. You'll have to use cash or some sort of private money to build, furnish, etc. Perhaps you'll find a lender for the land, but probably not for the development. And once construction is done you likely won't find a finance/cash-out option until the business has a couple years of performance under its belt (i.e., business LOC). On the up side, these things are pretty cheap and easy to build. You have someone build the deck/platform, assemble the kit, etc. I've heard of people spending more time and money on the land, utilities, roads, and common areas (especially if there's a bath house) than the units themselves. Perhaps that's partly impacted by them wanting to build many at once, rather than than one at a time (as the constant construction would disturb guests).

@Grant Vincent Personally, I prefer to stay at a place that's 100% wood inside, no drywall and no paint, because I want it to be as dissimilar to home as possible. But, in a market that's flooded with that approach a modern spin on cabin style, even if some people like me might still gravitate to the traditional approach, might stand out really well and drive a ton more revenue. Perhaps the riches are in the niches. :)

@Grant Vincent. One idea on that. Two friends of mine have both recently built places around here that are more Scandinavian style, for lack of better words, and are crushing it compared to their other homes, which are mainly cabins. I think you could even add some of that style to an existing cabin. For example, another friend painted all the interior wood white on his A frames. 

@Erik H., @Kyle H. nailed it. The only thing I would add is that if I could do it over I would focus on standing out without an enormous furnishings expense. In the listings for the region you'll see that many homes have crummy furnishings, or at least so-so ones. And that's partly because furniture stores are very far away. To stand out, therefore, you can go plush on furnishings and effectively kill your opportunity. For example, if your total cost for all furnishings (not just the major stuff...all of it) amounts to your total net profit for years 1-3, I think you have a bad investment, in part because most of your furnishings have a lifespan of just 1-3 years.

@Erica Calella. In my experience the people that book further out are less likely to notice your place until you have 30 or so good reviews, super host status, etc. For that reason I think it's more critical for you than others to do whatever you can to stand out (ex: EV charger, arcade games, amazing photos, allowing dogs, etc.). Also, I would highly recommend building a market report for your property in PriceLabs ($10/mo). You'll be able to use the report to see how your competition is doing regarding bookings for the Summer, for example. You'll likely see that some (surely not all) of the folks that are pretty full for Summer are giving their place away and leaving money on the table. I just looked at a place like that yesterday (in Bryson City). Also, PriceLabs will do a fantastic job at pricing your place for you, surely much better than your property manager (unless of course they're using such a tool), if you also connect to their dynamic pricing tool.

Thanks for summarizing, @Dito Calderon. That document they provided, with all the colored font, was a mess to wade through. The biggest win seems to be the fact that investors will be able to buy existing STR's and carry on with the business.

@Erik H., @Kyle H. has great insight on your questions, being a builder and investor in Bryson City. I owned and self-managed a home there until last month. It's a great town with plenty of opportunities for vacationers that are looking for something more quiet in comparison to east Tennessee, for example. Land development is a huge challenge in the region, but there are some communities (Walnut Cove, for example) where you can buy lots that already have roughed-in road and pad. Most of the lots aren't advertised for sale, but you can use the GIS system and other resources to find and contact the owners. Regarding homes that perform well, I would create a Pricelabs report for that. One thing's for sure, you need to stand out rather than fitting in with the noise. And that might require increased furnishings spend. Thus, if it were me I'd focus on something small.