All Forum Posts by: Paul Manz

I have a property in Cape May, NJ and, from an STR perspective, it is where I would place my chips.

My annual average occupancy is 38.9% grossing $90k with a 59.2% profit margin. I would REALLY like to have a place on the gulf coast of FL but have a hard time getting the numbers to break even let alone giving me that kind of return.

I was trying to understand why and landed on the fundamentals of supply and demand. Or more specifically, how many people have to share a certain amount of coastline.

• FL has 1,350 miles of coastline. Recently, FL tourism reported 111MM people visited, but ~68MM went to Orlando. So this leaves ~43MM tourists for the rest of the state, presumably near water.
• New Jersey had 101MM tourists in a state with 130 miles of coastline.

So NJ has almost 50% more tourists concentrated on <10% of FL's coastline.

High demand combined with low supply drives up the price supported by the purchasing power of guests coming from NY, NJ, CT, MA, and PA. This higher price results in the opportunity for a lower occupancy rate and a higher margin.

You also have to remember that with STR not only are you a real estate investor, you're in the hospitality business as well. It's MUCH more work than SFH's. As "Hosts," we are in contact with guests about 3-4 days out of their 7-day stay at our property. I go months in between talking to my SFH tenants.

As a result, it's not scalable for me and my long term plan is still SFH and Multifamily. If anyone is interested, I can give you the addresses of some places in Cape May that could be a good opportunity for an investor willing to do a full rehab.

Someday I'll have a place in FL, and hopefully, spend a good bit of the year there, but if I'm honest, it'll be a toy, not an investment.

@Elise Bickel, I really appreciate your input here. I’m curious what their “reason” was when they appeared in court - convenience, safety etc.

Did they have to do some sort of notification to neighbors in the area?

Also, how did they determine a FMV for the land?

Thanks again. Your feedback and perspective have been invaluable!

@Elise Bickel in your experience has it generally been a matter of perseverance or have you seen legitimate roadblocks that shut it down?

@Elise Bickel, that’s great advice - I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks!

@Kris L., yes. To be clear, it’s plotted out as a road on the township maps but but was never paved when they put the sub-division in. So it’s a weird sort of public walk through ares running parallel to the property. In effect, I could move my property line over 50’ and turn a .7 acre lot into a 1+ acre lot in suburban Philly which is desirable if you can find them. But, I’m for seeing the paperwork to do so to be a headache. I’d like to level my current rental there and build a nice family home there.

Hi all, first time poster. I have a SFH rental that is situation on the front third of a large lot which is bordered on one side by an unpaved township road. I cut the grass and keep the vegetation down to keep neighborhood kids from doing what kids do in those kinds of area and eventually would like to try to acquire it. The road is 50' wide by nearly 200' long. It has a power line on on poles the far side of the road so at a minimum, I'd expect to need to leave access for utility trucks to service the lines.

I’m guessing the neighbors will not be happy and some folks do walk through their on their way to local stores. Has anyone ever tried to buy something like this from a local municipality and if so, what kinds of issues did they run in to.