All Forum Posts by: Matthew John

@Israel Oble I will follow you! My IG - born2profit

I haven’t bought anything in Detroit, right now just looking at Macomb and Oakland county.

As soon as Airbnb started canceling bookings, I began seeking traveling medical professionals that are being rushed into my area. I do not live in a vacation market, but I do live in the suburbs of Detroit and we've been effected badly by this pandemic. 

I had about 4 days vacancy and I filled up 43 nights to an EMT that wants to self isolate from her family. Right now I'm good till mid-May, but I don't think we'll be in the clear. I'm going to continue to rent to medical professionals working on the front lines and document my journey here.

Right now I'm rented at more than 2x of what I was previously rented to a long term tenant. Still not making as much as I was on Airbnb, but so far my Short Term Rental has been more consistent than my long term rentals. Every single long term rental I have there has been at least 1 lay off in that household. A few already said they couldn't make rent, hopefully the rest pay!

Wanted to update this thread after Q1 2020 is coming to an end & we're dealing with CoronaVirus! 

Flooded Bathroom Update

I notified Airbnb within an hour of the guest checking out that my bathroom had been flooded and water was coming into the unit below. After about 1 month from the incident, I'm finally back up and running! Airbnb paid out probably 80% of the actual cost it took to repair. Now the bathroom is up and running again & it looks great!

January, February, and March

My listing was out of commission from mid December until mid January due to the bathroom rehab, but I bounced back with an 18 night listing on someone relocating to Detroit! 

February was a shortened month that boasted 80%+ occupancy and March was the 2nd best month I've had, despite all this CoronaVirus fear spreading. 

Dealing with CoronaVirus

Michigan just went into Lockdown and I had some cancellations for April so I'm going to be pivoting my strategy for now. I've been getting a lot of inquiries for longer term stays from Travel Nurses and medical professionals that are being called to the area on assignments at our local hospitals. I'm looking to rent my property for $300/week to a travel nurse for the next month or 2, until we can figure out how long this Lockdown will last. 

If that fails to work, I will be turning to locals looking for a spot to quarantine. 

Since this is a hybrid model and most the income I receive from this unit is extra, I'm not as worried as some of the other Airbnb hosts. My unit can be rented long term no problem, just need to pivot strategies. 

I have a couple days left on my final March booking, but right now it's grossing around $1700 for the month. After cleaning fees, we're around $1250 for the month. Factor in utilities and other expenses, it cash flowed around $1000/m. Prior to switching to this hybrid STR strategy, it was only rented for $600/m. Of course, the tenant was paying electric and gas, but I was also responsible for water at that time. Electric and Gas combined on this <500sqft unit is less than $100/m.

It sucks that all this is happening with the economy, but I think the best business move here is to pivot into short care rentals for medical professionals and looking for direct bookings. If there's no different after April, I may need to reevaluate! 

Thank you @Dave H. & @Jacob Malakoff ! 

Please stay tuned for more to come! 

@Dan Hedges This one is right in the middle of Warren! 

@Maria Weston Thank you for the kind words

@Stephanie Drouillard Actually that one was purchased with my girlfriend acting as the credit partner. She has a W2 income, so it was easy for her to qualify. We’re both on the title and currently we’re AIRBNB it with long term renters. I have another thread on BP somewhere diving into it

We live in one of the best cash flow cities in the US! 

There's tons of jobs, a strong tenant base, low barrier to entry, and rents are achievable in the 1-2% range. Every time I list a property, I'm getting people reaching out saying they are moving here from out of state for a job opportunity and usually comment about how cheap the cost of living is here. 

I don't see this slowing down anytime soon! 

Is there still a REIA of Macomb?

@Paul Sassin I wouldn't estimate any rehab on those rules because it doesn't take into account everything. "Everything" on a 1200sqft house is going to cost more than $36k. If you have to do electric, plumbing, drywall, roof, concrete, subfloor, kitchen, bath, etc...it can easily cost $60-75k depending on quality. 

I would say the only way to find out is to dive in. Start with a smaller rehab and as you do jobs you will figure out both the cost of labor and materials. Best way to find out is thru experience! 

Hey guys, 

I have a family member that has a nice commercial building that's currently rented as a restaurant. It's an attractive building, built in 2003, and has some recent updates (bar addition, new HVAC).  

The problem is, it's rented to the wrong tenant. Right now it's a Chinese restaurant. It use to be a Chinese/Japanese Combo with Sushi and a bar, but the Japanese partner left and it's been going down hill since. 

This building is 4600 sqft and right now the Chinese restaurant owner is struggling to pay even half of the rent. They've expressed interest in leaving, but right now they're just keeping them around so there's some income.

My family member has had it listed for sale for over a year with minor interest, but just recently put it up for lease as well. The building is on a main road, right across the street from Menards and directly in front of a major shopping center.  The population of this town is only around 20,000. 

They have a broker who has listed it, but he's located over 200 miles away and I don't think he has much knowledge of restaurants nor has the network to the national chain's tenant reps. He's even said it might be best to find someone else to try and sell/lease the property. 

What are some steps we can take to find a National Restaurant tenant or find a broker that has the connections to get it leased?