All Forum Posts by: Nancy Bachety

@Zana Blue

Oh I'm sorry for you! (At least it wasn't Fri night!) 

http://meetu.ps/c/37y5Q/32tk3/f

@Nick Winikoff

When you say partners, who do you mean? the usual rental platforms and/or others like them? Sounds like a future "Bigger Pockets" for vacation rentals. VRMB (Matt Landau) does a nice job of promoting the industry. 

I found about 6 vacation rental property managers in a few seconds last night when I was searching for one in my area. I didn't like any of their property search tools. Of course, I'd have to turn to one of the big ones if I wanted to rent a week. Relying on only one platform can work well for someone who isn't seriously or actively renting.  

Do you need permissions from the platforms to pull their listings onto an aggregator's site? How does vuepeer get paid as an aggregator, and how would the listing platform make their money?

@Nick Winikoff

I searched St Augustine FL June 24- 30 2 guests and got no results.

BUT, as I have been personally torn between how best to self-manage or PM my STVR, I couldn't help but think that there's got to be a better way. Why join and sign up for so many options? Why so many platforms? Some hosts even build their own website. Why can't I write an app that aggregates all of them?

I think your business model has a lot of merit and potential. 

Now, if I could only find my rental on Vuepeer.com....

My dad inherited a house that he rented....I understood it. We rented out our first 2 by default - "accidental landlord". Best education though! Besides that, my high NY taxes from w-2 job got me wondering what the better option was. It all fell together. And Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. Now, I'm motivated to teach my old-enough-to-know children about the benefits of RE by modeling it in their faces!

Keep learning! And saving...lather, rinse and repeat.

May 4 Meetup will have a local CPA, well-versed in efficient tax-saving strategies. Join the meetup then rsvp. We advocate, support and learn from our network.St. Augustine Meetup

@Nicholas Aiola

Welcome to BP! If you stroll around here and seek out other RE investors who are also

CPA's you might be pleasantly surprised to see how far that combination can take you. 1 + 1 = 3.

And if you start answering forum tax questions, you will build up your connections and credibility.

Are you driven to RE because you've seen the numbers from RE investors?

@Account Closed - your line of thinking is great as long as the numbers work out. Nothing wrong with having a business expense in running the VR business, and getting appreciation, and getting principal pay down. (IRS limits your personal use to 15 days but you can likely "stay" there to do general maintenance. 

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/private-pro...

@Jon Crosby

Are you finding Evolve worth your 10% plus 2.5% in credit card processing? They sound good but they're from the west and I'm not confident in their east coast network. Do you only advertise on those two platforms?

In any case, I'm deciding if I want to 1) use VRBo etc and airbnb myself and hire out my cleaners 2) pay Evolve 12.5% for marketing and card processing and continue to hire out my cleaners or 3) pay a local Vaca PM 21% for marketing, conversing, booking, including the credit card costs.

#3 option will pay my first year's $399 fee for vrbo. Thoughts???

Google Portland, OR's grassroots movement to get the laws on their side, once they became educated to how much money they'd stand to make of them, they saw the light. Win-win but only after advocating and education. It's your business, wouldn't you do the same?

@Loren Clive Thanks for sharing that link. Could be helpful for identifying the next one to buy. @Carrie Giordano While it's too new to say, I will tell you this. We bought a big house early April, listed it on airbnb without any photos (just our superhost reputation, I guess) then furnished it. The 3 weekends it rented in April was a few dollars shy of the mortgage payments for the first month. We're playing around with the rates and deciding who will  manage it best. 

I just split the house into 3 separate listings - one for the whole house, sleeps 8, and two for bedrooms only in my shared house. I want to use it myself in the summer but I don't want to stop the cash flow. Time will tell if that market will accept that rental concept. I have a backup place to sleep and I'm flexible. We do plan on visiting every 6-8 weeks and compensating our effective and responsive house cleaner well.

I happen to like this model. I'd hop from place to place - like NY, FL and Asheville, for example - and rent them at other times, in my perfect world. Key would be buying places at a discount in places that will rent year round and that me and my family would like to spend time in. That, and finding excellent cleaners and managers or building a network. Hence, my formation of a vacation rental meetup. 

@Zana Blue

We are meeting this week - on thur, 2 days from this post (message me if it's kicked back) at DOS coffee and wine place. We have a CPA as our guest speaker who is well-versed in hosting accounting. (Please note that I am not recommending anyone or advising.)

Usually it's the first monday of the month. Message me if you're thinking about joining us.