All Forum Posts by: Natalie Schanne

@Grace G. - what are you looking to buy? Rentals? Personal home?

@Zwee Dao - what would you like to know? It works just like you think it will. In some areas it’s better if you are living in the property because otherwise the towns can become unnecessarily upset with you if your neighbors complain for any reason. (New Jersey has a lot of crappy laws about getting new house inspections and certificates of occupancy “between tenants”).

I’ve found the best cashflow is on houses with 6+ bedrooms. The houses will not be listed as 6 bedrooms on mls, but in general if you have 1800+ square feet you can find 6 bedrooms in the house. 2100+ square feet often 7 bedrooms. Bedroom rental prices can be $1000+ per month.

@Loid Danga - Hi Loid! In addition to what they said - I would consider the size of my property and whether I could furnish and Airbnb it. (Depending on local rules).I have a property in Fairfax County that I Airbnb (30+ days) to traveling professionals, summer interns, etc. And I get a lot more than if I rented the place by the year. (Let’s say $3500 vs $2000). It is more work to coordinate cleaners between customers every 2-3 months and you have to keep utilities in your name (which means some customers don’t conserve). If you have a very large property (4+ bedrooms), often it’s worth renting furnished or unfurnished by the bedroom to make more, but then you have to implement strict roommate rules because it’s a different product than an apartment and people can’t live like tornados when they share a kitchen and laundry with 2-3 other people.

Airbnb has a host referral cash bonus if you want to look into it.

@Maya Torres - i would pull out my property management agreement and read what I had signed. If I signed something like “PM may spend up to $500 without my permission” and PM may charge these fees (1/2 months rent renewal) etc. Then I would believe that until the contract was terminated that I would be obligated to the fees I agreed to and that I would expect the pm to take proper and reasonable care of my property as per their agreement. (Some contracts say they charge $100-200 to “check in” on your property if they have to go more than once a year during the lease renewal (which generated a separate fee).

I was discussing helping someone sell their property which was under contract with a PM. When I read their contract, it said if they wanted to sell, they agreed to list it with the PM brokerage and pay the PM 6% (3/3 split) for that listing. When I pointed out this clause in the contract, the person I was talking to ended up using the PM they claimed they didn’t like to sell their property instead of terminating the contract (which on paper auto renewed on a yearly basis for another year) and using me.

@Joey Gorombey - in New Jersey you will spend at least $300 to get them out. Or you can wait for the babies to leave the nest and then plug it up: The wildlife control people usually make single way paths (especially for raccoons) and plug up all the entry holes (soffits, etc).

I recently had squirrels making love in my attic and I ended up cutting down the trees that they were using to jump onto my roof because it was marginally more expensive than shooing out the squirrels.

One problem with leaving them to nest is they will chew up your attic Timbers and they will leave collections of poop and urine.

@Matthew White - good job!

How much sweat equity did you put into it, or was it all done remotely? Ie how much did you work on it yourself, or was all of it done by others and you just oversaw the reno and picked materials?

@Cameron McElhaney

- only way I see this one working at the current pricing is if the seller takes 10-20k down and 0% financing on the 10-15 year payments. Not having to pay 6-7% is worth $6000-7000/year per $100,000 financed. Going rates for a rental loan are about 25% down and 7%. If the person can buy it and Airbnb it, they can probably get $2000/mo or more which will pay all the bills.

@Joanne Tsai - I would find a local person who can help advocate for you asap - whether that’s your agent or another Airbnb host who you offer to “cohost” your house or pay outright. There are “smoothers” - people who help businesses… Did anyone setting up your house tell the neighbors you plan to str it? Sounds like a picky neighbor if you say you listed the house mid April and the code violation came shortly after, before you even had any parties or cops. (Make sure to set up informed alert for post mail.). This person must also be well connected for the mayor to care.

If you cannot get the str to work, it seems like you may choose to sell. (Staging furniture included!)

Depending on your proximity to the bases and the size of your house, I would consider doing a “master lease” with bedroom rentals (let’s say $700-1000/mo per person x 4-6 bedrooms) or month to month corporate or travel nurse rentals (furnished finder) so you have the best of both worlds. If you do room rentals, having a long term “house guardian” type responsible person can be useful. The avatar of your target tenant is a solo working professional.

@Stephanie Gledhill - 100% agree with the offer to let him out of his lease. He sounds like he signed it sight unseen and he doesn’t understand what $xxxx buys in your town. (I’ve had my own share of Airbnb guests who expected $150 hotel room equivalents for a $50/night price - I try to filter those people out before they stay.)

My lease says they can break the contract anytime with 1-2 months re-marketing fee paid at termination. What does your lease say?

I would try to have someone empathetic come to meet him (probably your real estate agent) and say Hi, it seems like you’re not happy with the house. What do you need to be happy for the next 12 months, or would you like to break the lease and find another place? … Ok. If you want to break the lease, (you need to vacate and) we will begin marketing asap and you owe rent until the day that the next person moves in (hopefully quickly).

Good luck.

@Victor Callender - sounds like you ask for an extension and figure it out with a new lender. Keep pushing. You’ve got this.