All Forum Posts by: Ryan Moyer

Why WOULDN'T that STR hotspot be on the map?

Quote from @Bob Willis:

I think market saturation is the culprit here more than the economy. 

 Yes, despite the anecdotes ("my sister's brother's son's 3rd grade teacher said she canceled her vacation because of gas prices"), the data is clear on this and the data back up what you said.

Travel demand is still at record highs.  Travel spending is still at record highs.  Airbnb's earnings, Airdna's reports, etc.  All still at record highs.  But that growth just isn't matching the insane growth we've had in supply.  So even as demand stays high, supply is growing faster, and tipping the supply/demand balance towards supply, whereas it was previously tipped towards demand.

However, that's not to say we won't hit a point economically where demand crashes like in 2008.  Just that we're not there yet.  Maybe we won't get there in this cycle and this supply/demand imbalance (which will correct itself as people move out of the space when they see they aren't getting the hot returns people last year got) will be the worst of it.  Or maybe it's not even the beginning.

Percentage of gross income is the norm, and the amount is generally pretty dependent on the market.  Some markets it's common to see people doing it for 15%.  In others everyone is charging 30-40%.

It's also somewhat dependent on the expected revenue of the property.  Generally a higher percentage for lower revenues as it's the same amount of work for the manager either way.

Quote from @Tyler Solomon:

BP STR community - what under the radar markets have caught your eye over the last few months? The Gulf Shores market seems to be relatively stable while recently "hotter" markets such as here in Austin have seen a drastic reduction in ADR.

Would love to get your thoughts/input @Napoleon DeCiutiis - feel free to bring in other's as well! 

I guess it depends on the crowd you run with. Around here, Gulf Shores is nothing close to a lessor known STR area. It's one of the most well-known and talked about. Far more than Austin, a place where most around here have never been interested or considered.

Regarding #1, where are you even getting the theory that hospitable/pricelabs are supposed to increase ranking relative to Airbnb smart pricing?

I don't think that's the end goal at all with using pricelabs.  Pricelab's advantage is that it is a much more robust pricing tool with many more options to customize your pricing/stay length algorithmically and better algorithms to find the right price.  I've never seen it claimed that it increases rankings in Airbnb's search algorithm.

Expensify and Stessa.

Stessa will let you easy open a bunch of bank accounts now and do cash management directly.  And with 3.37% APY on a checking account too, which is pretty sweet.  And 1.10% rewards on the debit cards that of course tracks easily.

I was just checking out Baselane.  Haven't used it yet.  But similar to Stessa where it has the banks accounts and all the automatic reporting stuff.  Prettier interface than Stessa and lower APY on the bank account.

Quote from @Karah Kramer:

We're not opposed to talking to the existing PM, particularly since it would be smooth to keep the existing relationship in place, but we don't want to be locked in. 

This is something you need to decide ahead of time, so you can include language about it in your offer.  Most management companies have contracts that hold the owners by the balls, and canceling the bookings is going to mean a penalty will need to be paid to the PM.  You're going to want to make sure that is an expense for the seller who hired that PM (and it should be a drop in the bucket to them with the cash they're making on the sale if they didn't buy recently), not a liability of yours.

This is also a good lesson on why, when you do take over the place, you either self manage, look for a manager that is willing to do a co-hosting setup where you still own the bookings, or if you do decide to go the more traditional PM route, examine the part of the contract that covers these things when choosing the manager rather than focusing on just commission and skimming over the rest.

 A lot of management companies set up their contracts so it is as difficult and expensive as possible to leave them.  You want a manager that you stay with because you're happy with the job they're doing, not one that you stay with because it's too much of an expensive PITA to leave them.

Lol people here have such an over the top hatred for arbitrage.

Why would you need to charge a premium for arbitrage?  Most arbitragers cover maintenance issues while they're arbitraging it, and the place generally stays in MUCH better shape with cleaners in and out of the home several times every month to clean and check up on things.

I wouldn't need to charge a premium to not have a LTR tenant in there cash flowing $100/mo for two years just so they can leave the place with $2000 worth paint needed, $650 for carpet steaming, and another $2000 of surprise repairs at the end of their lease.

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Man, this is tough and one of the reasons I warn against investing in an HOA. My first investment ever was a little townhome in 2004 that I bought for $67,000. Three months after purchase I received a notice that my HOA special assessment of $4,000 was due. The HOA President showed proof that she had informed my agent several times of the special assessment coming up and even provided him a letter that he could share with me. He never told me about it.

Unfortunately, my agent was my father-in-law.

 Oh man that creates an awkward situation, lol.

Check the numbers more closely, but my impression owning and managing several properties in the market is that a pool in Orlando is like a hot tub in the Smokies.  It's a basic minimum necessity.