All Forum Posts by: Mike S.

Hello,

I posted my property on AirBnB late December in Sedona, AZ. I got so many back to back bookings in the first couple of weeks, but the bookings suddenly dropped to zero. I have had no bookings since mid January. What is interesting is that my property is booked almost entire February and March which are off-season in Sedona but quite open in April and May which are peak-season.  I know that AirBnB posts new properties on the first page of search results for a while and then take it away but I did not expect no bookings in 30+ days. I called the customer service and they suggested me to activate instant booking. I did so a week ago but no change. I have also flexible cancellation policy. My house also has the "Guest Favorite" badge.

I did a general search as a guest and saw that my property showed up on the fourth page of results which I am not sure if it's too bad or not.

I also joined VRBO last week but no bookings yet.

Should I be worried? Is there anything else I need to do to boost my bookings?

Any suggestion is appreciated

I am starting my first Airbnb property in Sedona, AZ. I have seen so many posts that recommend different types of insurance coverage such as property, umbrella coverages,.. for STR from different providers like Proper, Foremost,.. . I know that Airbnb offers $3M for property damage and $1M liability. Vrbo also offers overall $1M. I am planning to post on both patform. My question is why I need any extra coverage and if so, what type of extra coverage? I mean liability, property damage, bedbugs, loss (make up for no occupancy during fixing damage), etc.? As I said I am new and I truly appreciate detailed response

 That's correct, thanks for clarifying it

 43k is before mortgage

Hello,

I would like to start STR in Sedona, AZ. I found a nice house around 800k. With 20% down and interest of 7.12 yearly mortgage is around 56k. For that house Rentalizer estimates 65k income and 22k costs which makes 43k net profit. My understanding is that Rentalizer overestimates both income and costs. I don't mind spending 10-15 k out of pocket in the first couple of years because of high appreciation in the area. What concerns me is that net profit turns much lower than I expect and I have to pay way more out of pocket for so many years. What should I do?

I am planning to buy a house in Scottsdale, 85254 as my primary house (Not investment). I realized that Arabella community is under development and it's very close to the house (maybe less than one minute drive). The community will have 420 single family homes, in addition to 286 duplex/townhome units. Sale will officially begin in Winter of 2020. (http://arabella-scottsdale.com/about-arabella/). 

I am worried the community will have a negative impact on the price of nearby houses in the future.

Do you think my concern is reasonable? Or it's the other way around and the community will boost the price and demand for nearby houses?

Phoenix, AZ

Thank you Jack for your input. Is there any specific type of inspector which mainly works on the items I explained or its the job of the general inspector?

I am interested in house as my primary home. The house looks perfect, but it has been in the market since last year summer. The house been three times in escrow but every time fell out.  The seller explained why each time it fell out for example in one case the jumbo loan was not approved but I am not sure if I can rely on her reasoning II have no reason to rely or not rely on her response). The main issue I see in the history of the house is a massive water damage in 2015 which ended up around 40k in costs. We asked the seller to provide more details on the damage and this is her response:

" The water damage happened in 2015. The upstairs laundry room sink was left on for 2 hours before it was found. XX was the name of the company that did the water mitigation. The name of the project manager was XX. They were on site within less then an hour. All of the carpet upstairs needed to be pulled back and several commercial air
blowers were placed in each room for several days. Each day that the carpet was wet, it was treated with an antimicrobial solution and everything was tested for moisture and mold several times throughout the
process. Downstairs, the canned light fixtures were removed from the kitchen and dining room and temporary air vents were inserted into the ceiling space with commercial dryers blowing and circulating the air
until completely dry. They assured us that mold will not grow while the air is being circulated in this manner and that it would have to be wet with no air movement for 3 days before mold would start to grow. Again, everything was moisture and mold tested several times before they completed the process. 
The second phase was the clean up phase, all of the carpet was reinstalled and professionally cleaned. The baseboards needed to be replaced since water had bubbled the bottom of them, so all of the baseboards and door casings were replaced. Since the wall paint was damaged around the baseboards and door casings when they pulled them off, the entire home was repainted. The company that did the paint, trim work, and carpet repair was XX. 
All of the work was professionally completed to our satisfaction and in the almost 4 years since the incident, we didn't have any issues come up related to the water damage and never had any issues with mold.
We have all of the documents related to the claim and can share them if necessary. "

What should I do? Is there any specific type of inspection which could confirm there is no more issue with the house regarding the water damage? or it's better to forget about the house? The house is more than 700k and I don't want to take any risk.