All Forum Posts by: Omer Sultan

@Bruce Woodruff Thanks for your response! Who needs AirDNA when you've got a killer gut instinct? :)

@Dave Stokley Thanks for your response! You're absolutely right: Spending $200-300 is a no-brainer if it'll help you make a better investment. Especially when that investment is likely to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars :)

@Paul Sandhu Thanks for your response! I'll keep that in mind moving forward!

@Amanda Ferguson Thanks for your response! I've been focusing on the Poconos (Pennsylvania) market. I would love to learn more about what goes into your "adjusted paid occupancy percentage" analysis if you're willing to share!

@Joshua Strickland Thanks for your response! You're absolutely right: I need to stop overanalyzing! I just need to pull the trigger on something already! I'm obviously going to complete my due diligence and make sure that I'm making a worthwhile investment, but I need to stop using my analysis paralysis as an excuse. Confidence comes from experience = 1000%...

Hi All,

I’ve been doing some research into short-term rentals, and I’m running into a bit of analysis paralysis.

I caught the short-term rental bug after venturing down a crazy YouTube rabbit hole one night. After following that up with some more YouTube University, I learned that a typical short-term rental analysis should involve:

1. Using platforms such as AirDNA to acquire valuable insight into your target market.

2. Browsing Airbnb/VRBO for comparable listings in your target market, and taking note of both the average daily rate and the occupancy performance of those listings.

3. Comparing the information gathered from AirDNA with the information gathered from your Airbnb/VRBO search.

I’m having issues with Steps 1 & 2.

Firstly, I’m concerned about the accuracy of AirDNA and how reliable their insights truly are.

- I haven’t bit the bullet and paid for the premium service yet, but can anyone speak to its worthiness/accuracy/reliability as a platform?

- Is the premium version significantly better than the free version?

- Can I rely on the free version to help me close in on a couple of plausible target markets before I go ahead and pay for the premium version?

Secondly, and more importantly, I’m having a tough time using Airbnb/VRBO to figure out average daily rates and occupancy performance.

- How do I know that blocked off dates on a listing = money-paying reservations and not an owner making personal use of their property?

- If you scroll through the calendar 4-5+ months into the future, most listings have entire back-to-back months already blocked off, which I’m assuming has something to do with the host not having uploaded the property’s availability that far in advance? Did I get that right?

I know that I probably sound like I’m already all over the place, but I’m just trying to go about doing my research as efficiently and effectively as possible! Any and all insights are welcome here, and THANKS IN ADVANCE!

- Omer

@Andrew B. For sure. Taking a more conservative approach seems to be very popular here on BiggerPockets, and I definitely understand why!

@Jeff Brown Thanks for your response!

@Andrew B. Even if the seller is able to provide those documents mentioned above?

Hello BiggerPockets Community!

How would I go about verifying the gross rental income that the seller's agent is claiming a property generates? Is it common practice for the purchaser to request proof of rental income from the seller? If so, what is considered to be valid proof of rental income? A copy of the fully executed lease(s) or bank statements highlighting the rental income or rent receipts or something else?

Thanks in advance BiggerPockets Community!

@Tim S. You bring up a good point. Instituting a utility cap will definitely be a must. I guess it just boils down to figuring out what that utility cap will be.

@Nick Rutkowski I appreciate your input! Thank you!

@Colleen F., @Nick N., @Kathleen Hendricks

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Really valuable insight here. Thank you all so much!

@Kathleen Hendricks Love it! Thank you for your response!

How would you structure your invoices? Rents would be due on the 1st of every month and utilities would be due on the 15th? I'm assuming there'd be some lag time on the utility bill...