All Forum Posts by: Onan Dumas

@Matt Greenfield

Every website that that you can. Why wouldn’t you give yourself more opportunity to get seen and booked. You can sync your calendars across most platforms so that it blocks off booked days.

My STR's are listed across 6 different STR websites. Of course AirBnB is what most people get on so I get most of my bookings from there but I get plenty from the other websites as well.

You can hire freelance services on Fiverr and have someone create the listing and place them on those websites if you don’t want to do it yourself.

@Eric Malone

I don’t understand the issue. I’m not sure if this is a brag post or just some bait but it is a job. It’s like saying you wouldn’t hire an actor because they are a gig worker where their personal brand could be affected by something that goes wrong in public. It’s literally the same thing just with different platforms.

I could post something really dumb here and I could get fired from my job. (It’s already happened a lot).

So if it’s real advice you are looking for then just get the person like you would any other, if they told you they were an actor you probably wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Good luck.

@Cole Britting

I would NOT take anyone’s blueprint as gospel and forge your own path. Find what you stand for and stick to that. Those will guide your personal and business principles.

Honestly I’m not a big fan of these questions because they usually lead to disappointment later on in life when you don’t think you’ve achieved what someone else thought you should have.

Be you, and be awesome.

@Shiloh Lundahl

Hey,

You guys could have just confronted me if everyone felt that way about me. I always have an open door policy.

Love,

Mr. Self Righteous Himself

@Juan A. Ortiz

Sure, debt is so cheap right now that if you can swing it then swing it. My main point is that you're going to be looking north of 500k to find a decent duplex that doesn't need crazy sweat equity. I've done the dance with the real estate agents on how easy it is to find them under that price in decent neighborhoods in Dallas and it's not as easy as they make it sound. Impossible? Nothing is! If you are prepared to take that on or really grind and find you a distressed MFH (I know I couldn't convince the wife to take us and our kids and do some sweat equity while we live there) then you can make it happen. If you're an all cash buyer then your ROI criteria will be easier to achieve since you're looking for more equity appreciation than cash flow in Dallas MFH.

@Juan A. Ortiz

Hey brother congrats on your start in real estate, it will be a fun and frustrating one and completely worth all of it along the way.

Here’s my take on Duplexes up to Fourplexes in in the Dallas area.

I’ve found the the Dallas Market right now is appreciating too much for rents fo make sense unless you are paying cash and are looking for equity appreciation. The rents vs what people are asking for just don’t add up to have good cash flow. Don’t expect to live in it completely free and have the other side pay the mortgage. It can happen but you’d be finding one that you’d have to bring in a lot of swear equity into to make the numbers work. However, since you’ll be living in it you’ll be able to eat some of the mortgage and still come out on top in some sort of way. Again, just be ready to pay some of that mortgage too (but you’ll even out some with write offs, plus appreciation etc.)

You won’t find any triplexes since that’s not really a thing in Dallas, but you’ll find the Duplex/Quadplex sitch.

In the Northeast Dallas area though, you’ll find that many of those types of housing will be shady areas so you need to prepared to move your family in there. I’m not sure what your budget is but you’ll be dishing out some coin if you want to be in decent neighborhoods.

I would absolutely do a duplex/quadplex if you are prepared to be in the 500k on up prices for those otherwise I'd probably just stick SFH, you'll still appreciate very well in Northeast Dallas.

@Joe Splitrock

Ah, I didn’t realize your listing was still newer. I do the same thing when I add a new listing to maximize initial bookings. Spot on sir.

@Al Williamson

Sorry to hear that if that has happened to you. I haven’t put all my eggs in me basket so if this happens there’s always many ways to skin a cat!

There are many types of highs and lows in real estate investing and you have to be able to adapt so on that I completely agree.

But nevertheless I can't deny the success and I'll ride the wave while it works. AirBnB, along with the other STR sites I list with, only encompass a part of my personal investing portfolio so I'm ok with the risk! I don't put all my money in stocks, I don't put all my money into my company, and I don't do it with Airbnb either. Anyway, I'm glad to have met you and heard your story!

@Paul Sandhu

I was going to say the same, never heard of it in my area. I’m aware of the concept but it just doesn’t happen here or enough for me to have noticed at least.

@Dennis Wayne

I honestly had no problem with this response since when I read it I didn’t take it that way but I guess that’s the tough part in communicating through forums!

I think what was trying to be conveyed was that it may be tougher than you think, but that shouldn’t stop you at all. Read those recommended books, I won’t recommend any since they have been recommended already in this thread.

Find yourself an FHA using 3.5% down. If you need to get a part time job to do it then who cares? How bad do you want it. I worked 2 jobs and an online hustle when I was trying to save money for my second deal until it really took off and I no longer had to work like that anymore. Real estate has an allure to all of us but we forget that there are other ways to build up cash that aren't as sexy or as quick. Sometimes you gotta gird the loins and just grind.

Best of luck to you!