All Forum Posts by: Mike Neubauer

Thanks to everyone who attended the last STRday meetup.  Let's do it again!  Same time, same place.  We'll meetup at Da Green Coffee Bar in the South Maui Gardens Oasis at 8am and wala'au about all things real estate.  From short term rentals to financing to what we're seeing in the current market, come with your questions, expertise and aloha.  All are welcome.  @Caroline Neubauer and I will be there hanging out and sipping coffee and we'd love to meet up with you!

Yep, mine are doing well too, @Mark Waite.  It's dangerous when people start touting facts without actually knowing what the rules and regulations actually are.  @Pete Slaga, you can pull up that information on the county's website or just work with a knowledgeable local agent who can guide you.  

 That's not true, Frank.  Anything under 180 days is considered "short term" on Maui, just FYI.

Aloha everyone, 
If you're interested in STRs on Maui or have questions about STRs, come join @Caroline Neubauer and myself at Da Green Coffee Bar in the South Maui Gardens Oasis on Saturday June 3, at 8am.  It's right off Auhana Rd across from Kalama Park in central Kihei.  If you have STRs on Maui join us there too!  We'd love to connect with new investors and experienced investors alike.  Questions, comments, let us know!  All are welcome!

Hi guys, I have LLCs here on Maui and on the mainland and we use BlueVine for all our business banking.  It's super easy and currently pays 2%.  You can even have sub accounts on it.  We use this to separate out different assets into their own accounts.  Very easy with Airbnb and other rental properties. Aloha!

@Nicholas Walker - I'm a resident of Maui and have been for most of my life.  Happy to help if you do decide to make this your next spot.  Got all the resources you would need.  Aloha.

Happy to help!

I know this house.  I've been in it many times.  It does not look anything like what's in those pictures from 10 years ago.  And it will need WAY more than $80k to rehab.  Sorry man, you're WAY off base here. That house will likely need between $350-$500k.  This is a meth house that has squatters all over it.  If the deal is anywhere near where you think it is, you should take it down and spend the $80k to do it yourself.  Sorry bro, trying to sell this with 10 year old pictures and an estimated $80k rehab is criminal.  

I've been looking into both Hostaway and OwnerRez for a little while now, so I'm glad to stumble onto this thread.  I own and manage a number of rentals and currently use Hospitable, which is great, but has its limits.  If you don't have VAs or don't have other owners involved, it might be all you need.  However, we're looking into these two for taking on more units, giving several VAs access on a limited basis and the unified inbox that both provide.  

I have a good friend who owns a few small hotels that uses Hostaway and was able to do a Zoom call with him so he could show me the process.  I also don't like that they're not transparent with their pricing or what the product does on their website.  Going through the Zoom call though, it seems extremely similar to OwnerRez.  As for pricing, if you dig deep you'll find that Hostaway costs about $50/mo per unit but all that is on a "case by case" basis.  I know my friend pays closer to $20/mo. per unit.  OwnerRez is about the same, depending on how many units you have.  They're all based on sliding scales.  the more units you have the less per unit per month.

Like @Ryan Moyer mentioned, OwnerRez has a library of videos you can view and has a 14 day free trial, unlike Hostaway that doesn't have a free trial. I watched a bunch of the OwnerRez videos and honestly OR and HA look eerily similar.  The one thing I don't like about OR is that they have "premium" features that just keep adding up.  Like if you want "property management" as part of your software its extra.  If you want Quickbooks integration, its extra, if you want a widget to incorporate into your Wordpress site... extra.  Not sure if Hostaway does this or not, but that's one thing I would like to find out.  I hate the nickel and diming that a lot of these companies offer. 

It does seem like users of both platforms really like them, so it may be a matter of just choosing one and going with it.  Interested in hearing other users thoughts on both.

You'll cash flow if you self manage.  With property management though, they typically will take 25% and will wipe out your cash flow.  There are some hybrid systems that will take less, but you'll still be responsible for doing some of the work.  With these you can cash flow a bit. 

If you are adding value with a big rehab, you'll have a lot of upfront costs, but you could cash flow on some of these too, but you may spend $100k on a 1,000 sq. ft. remodel too.  So, not sure if that's worth it for you.  

The way you're sure to cash flow is over time.  Nightly rates have grown tremendously over the years and the longer you hold the property the more you will cash flow.  I would tell anyone who is planning on buying here though, if they plan to have property management, don't plan on cash flow for awhile.  Not to say that you can't but the likelihood that you will see the numbers you are hoping to is small. You'll probably be looking at a 3% return or thereabouts with PM.