All Forum Posts by: Neil L.

@Robert Silvernagel  - Congrats! I'm curious, what complex did you buy at?

I've got 2 condos, a 2 bed at Maui Banyan and a 1 bed next door at Kihei Akahi.

I'd definitely agree with @Patrick Franta - from my experience as well, the 1 bed unit has performed better.

Also props to @Mike Neubauer for sharing his knowledge and experience with me - I'd definitely recommend you take him up on his offer if you have questions etc.

I recently heard that the County of Maui is considering a ~50% increase in property tax for short term rentals from the current $9.37 rate to $15.41, equal to what time share units pay. If true this could take a significant bite out of STR income streams.

I'm wondering if any locals have heard this or know more?

I owned a STR in South Lake Tahoe, California back in the early 2000's. At the time management companies were charging between 25-40%. This was before AirBnb and VRBO were mainstream, so rates may have compressed since then.

I currently own STR property in Maui and the rates are in the 20-25% range.

@Bill F. 

"3) The dry powder has next to no capital or inflation risk. "

Huh? Cash has no inflation risk? Isn't inflation exactly what makes holding cash "risky"?

Did I misunderstand your point?

@Kim Stofan thanks for the welcome! I'm mostly focused on the west coast - have a few holdings in California as well as Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii (Maui).

Welcome @Adam Moore! I'm in San Jose as well... let me know if you ever want to "talk shop" about Real Estate.

@Kenneth Garrett "Check with local small lenders. They are much easier to work with."

Local to who? Local where you live/work? or local to the subject property? 

Appreciate your insights!

@Mike Neubauer - Wave? Haven't heard of it....I'll check it out.

I've also taken a look at Cozy but it seems pretty focused on rental marketing, new tenant apps and rent collection - not so much on the bigger "management" picture.

Hey @Mike Neubauer -

I've played with Stessa a little bit. I've got STRs, long term (month to month) rentals and some syndicated deals that I've put in it to try it out. I'm sure you've seen, it's got some nice eye-candy and gives a good 1000 foot view, but I've found that I have too many "exceptions" to my holdings for it to work for me, at least right now. I agree it doesn't seem to really work well with STRs where you don't have a consistent monthly income amount - I pretty much just used my monthly average.

Another problem I ran into - when it imported my bank transactions it asked me to select a category for a transfer I make from my checking to my savings (I put money aside for taxes etc on a recurring basis using an auto bank transfer). It asked me to select either an income or an expense for this transaction - well, it's neither, but Stessa doesn't have a category for that.

So I opened a ticket with Stessa asking how they recommend I categorize this. Even though their trouble reporting system says they respond within "hours" - it took several emails  and almost a week to get a response. And the "solution" was, don't categorize this transaction, we'll try and come up with a better system in the future.

Hey, it's free, so no harm no foul - but it seems like they're probably not quite ready for prime time. I'm thinking I'll probably just close my account.

Hey Everyone...

I signed up for Bigger Pockets well over a year ago, but just recently I've gotten a little more involved and thought I'd throw out an intro!

I've been investing in RE for about 20 years - SFH rentals, Vacation rentals as well as a good number of Syndicated deals in Multi-Family and Commercial Properties. As for property management, I've self-managed as well as going the more passive route using a hired manager.

Flipping a SFH has always been something that's interested me. There's something really appealing about taking something old and "beat up" and making it *new* again. However, after listening to bunch of the BP podcasts recently, one of my key take aways is to "stick to what you know / what you're good at". With that in mind, I plan to stick with long term buy and hold for now.

If you're not listening to the BP podcasts, you should be - there's a ton of great info there!

When I'm not searching for my next RE deal I like to travel - favorite places include China / Japan / France / Hawaii.

In the Summer months you'll find me wake boarding & tubing with my family on Lake Tulloch in the foothills of Northern California.

Look forward to making more connections on BP - Thanks!

Hey  @Stephen Park - I currently own two STR rental condos in Kihei. I'd be happy to give you my insights about what seems to work and what doesn't. Send me a PM if you want to talk more.