All Forum Posts by: Matt Roberts

hello, my name is Kenza.

& I am very interested in starting the flipping homes business. Granted I am soooo young & of course not as rich as I would like to be now.

Meaning , when you first start... What should I do when it comes to the money? Would you guys advise a 21 year old still in school( no loans or financial aid etc..) with an okay job(banking) to get a loan? Yes I have some money in the banking but I think it's only enough to purchase the house , but everything else that comes after that ??? Nothing !

Or is it better to save more? I want to have completed something by the time I'm 25 though. I know this isn't a race or competition , there's money at stake here , but I need advice. What did you guys do? 

Ps: I live in Philadelphia , I need as many advice as I can get !!!

I'm not sure Matt, I don't have any vacancies and none expected till Spring at the earliest so haven't looked too closely at this. The only thing I'd keep in mind is you're probably less likely to hit higher occupancy numbers for a 3br house compared to a room or a 1br apartment, at least if you're asking a premium for 3 brs. How many people are looking to rent 3brs vs. 1br? I'm guessing your occupancy for a whole house will be pretty low as compared to a room or a 1br apt.

Here are some quick numbers just for fun. I'm getting $700/month for my studio apartment. If I can get $100/night, and be at 66% occupancy (20/30 nights), that's $2,000/month. Even if I lose half of that to city taxes and cleaning people, I'm still $300/month ahead. At 50% occupancy it's likely closer to a wash compared to having a year long tenant in. 

I'm actually looking forward to a vacancy so I can try this out! Let me know what you decide, I'd like to hear how it goes if you try it. 

I can't speak to the other cities but the nightly private room rate listed here for Philadelphia is accurate. A neighbor on my block rents out rooms in his house on Airbnb and gets around $80/night. We're not in an amazing tourist area but we're close to it (10 min walk) and we have public transit (2 bus routes and a trolley route) on the corner of our block. I don't use or know much about Airbnb but I'd guess proximity to attractions and ease of access to public transit is a big plus. I'd keep that in mind as you're getting further out from the city center and tourist attractions. My neighbor rents to a lot of younger Europeans that stay for a night or two. They're not renting cars but want to see the sites and are usually on a budget, so proximity to public transit is a big plus for them. 

I'm considering using one of my units for Airbnb the next time one goes vacant. Even at $80/night (private room rate) and 60% occupancy I'd roughly double what I could normally get for a 1br apartment. I realize there are costs involved that I'm not accounting for (cleaning, taxes) and there's the hassle factor to consider as well.