Skip to content
×
PRO
Pro Members Get Full Access!
Get off the sidelines and take action in real estate investing with BiggerPockets Pro. Our comprehensive suite of tools and resources minimize mistakes, support informed decisions, and propel you to success.
Advanced networking features
Market and Deal Finder tools
Property analysis calculators
Landlord Command Center
$0
TODAY
$69.00/month when billed monthly.
$32.50/month when billed annually.
7 day free trial. Cancel anytime
Already a Pro Member? Sign in here
Pick markets, find deals, analyze and manage properties. Try BiggerPockets PRO.
x
All Forum Categories
All Forum Categories
Followed Discussions
Followed Categories
Followed People
Followed Locations
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback

All Forum Posts by: Priyo Lahiri

Priyo Lahiri has started 3 posts and replied 9 times.

@Jim Mueller I would say you got a smoking deal at the smokies lol. For us, there are no supplies included, we are providing all supplies. they will of course wash linens, refill soaps and stuff and make the cabin guest ready.

Thank you everyone for your inputs. much appreciated. 

Quote from @Michael Baum:

You didn't say how big the house is @Priyo Lahiri, but $180 doesn't seem terrible to me.

I pay $300 for our 2700sqft 4/3 lake house. One reason it is is an hour from town one way.

If they do a great job, show up and keep on keepin' on, they are worth every penny.


 its about 1500 sq ft. they are quoting 165 (add the 15% tax in GA and if i want to pass that on to the guests)

Is there something like that? I know the cleaners and the handyman are the pillars of your success

We have found a cleaning company that is pretty established and we hired them to do the deep cleaning of our new to us cabin. they did a phenomenal job and from various review online it looks like they are pretty awesome team. They charged us pretty well for doing the deep clean, but they did go over and beyond like wiping down walls and stuff. its about 1500 sq ft property

Anyway, their quote for regular cleaning and getting the cabin ready for the next guest seems high. Now, I dont know what high is, but from various airbnb and VRBO listing in the area looks like people charge 100-125 per cleaning (some are way up to 180 range) and if i am hiring this company I would be in the 180 range too if i have to recuperate the 15% tax i need to pay on it to the state, county etc)

My options are to eat some of that cost when starting out and keep the cleaning cost low 

Keep at low and build the rest in the nightly rate (which creates the problem of a brand new property having higher nightly rate)

suck it up and deal with it.

what would you do? I can look for other cleaners in the area, but I have seen their work and kinda like it

That has been my experience as well. I reached out to the tax assessor's office and they sent me all the information. thats why I am on the fence... 

Folks doing self- managed STR, how are you doing your monthly taxes (hotel-motel tax) etc? This online service is promising a bunch of things inlcuding

  • Provide you the lodging tax rate specific to your property
  • Obtain and update any required tax accounts and licenses
  • File and pay all lodging taxes when due (lodging taxes are filed either monthly or quarterly)
  • Keep you up-to-date on any changes & communicate with tax agencies on your behalf.


its $27  a month per property and there is a one time $299 set up fee. we will be starting with VRBO and AirBNB only for now and it is my understanding that they will remit all taxes in Georgia (verified by county tax office as well). So wondering if spending on this platform is worth it or not. 

I recently bought one in Cherry Log mountain (5 miles from Blue Ridge) and by recent i mean i closed last friday. I dont know about cash flow, but we didnt find a single cabin in that price point that didnt need another big investment to fix it up. Do you have a property that you have located?

Quote from @Mike Williams:

Hey Charles,

Congrats on getting in the game! I am an agent in North Georgia, and an investor with an STR in Ellijay, just south of Blue Ridge. You are correct that it is extremely difficult to find a cash-flowing property right now. Cost of debt is higher than usual (at least lately), and the past 2 years of appreciation has made it "expensive" to purchase.

I experienced a 52% occupancy last year, but also utilized my cabin personally a significant portion of the time so it caused me to be a little lower on the occupancy. I believe your 60% is a fair assessment. We also have a long gravel road getting to our property, so it becomes a little tough to access at times, and because of it's remoteness, it does lose power 3-4 times/year. We only charge $125/night but probably ought to be more. It's 6 acres, on a small 10-acre lake. 

I did the math on your payment - are you getting a 6% interest rate on a second home? Borrowing $342,000 at 6%, 30yr fixed is amazing right now. Wow, that's impressive...is the seller buying the rate down for you? My mortgage girl is quoting much higher on a second home with 90%LTV right now.

I will say that my operating expense for my little cabin (roughly 1000sqft) is higher than $681/month. Here is the breakdown of our real expense:

Our repairs/maintenance were $514/month last year. This could've been lower by about 30%, but I chose to do a couple of upgrades that could be considered capital expenditures (Cap-ex is a term that you'll need to get familiar with!).

Our cleaning fees were $6,860/yr so $571/month. 

Our utilities were $223/month. 

Our expense to host on VRBO was $499/yr, so $42/month. 

Insurance was $867/yr, or $72/month.

Property tax was $102/month. 

That's a total expense for us of $1,524/month BEFORE debt service (your mortgage expense). 

Our gross income was $23,963 for 2022, or $1996/month.

My mortgage (I refinanced a couple of years ago when the rates were low) is $654/month, so negative cash flow by -$182/month. I certainly would not want you to get negative cash flow, simply telling you what my real numbers are.

In my particular situation, the cabin is worth every penny, because I'm literally sitting in it right now, on my birthday, enjoying nature and about to go fishing with my 65 year old father. :)

Again, not advising you, but there is a part of the picture for me that also needs to be seen. That interest expense from last year (for me) was a tax deduction of $5,340 at a 29.75% tax rate = $1589 actually saved in tax dollars. 

I also got a depreciation of the asset (again, for me) of $4,909, and at 29.75%, that's real money bottom line to me of $1,460 last year. 

So - for me - the positive cash flow from owning the asset and having the deductions was $3,049, the negative real cash flow from operation was -$2,184, resulting in a real net positive cash flow of $865...AND I spent around 20 days at the cabin last year, allowed my dad to stay 4 nights, and donated 6 nights to charities of my choice.

I hope this was helpful to you and others. It was not meant to be prideful or anything other than just trying to be helpful and provide value to the thread, as well as help a newbie understand and see some REAL numbers. :) 

@Mike Williams this is immensely helpful. THANK YOU for putting some real numbers here. We just closed on our first cabin last friday. even though it seemed like it had everything for starting to rent, we dont like the decor and changing a bunch of them and putting it on STR down the road. this year my cashflow will be in negative for sure. but in my case, I didnt buy this to be only STR, so I can live with it.

Thank you everyone. A boatload of information to process, but much appreciated. 

Greetings everyone,

Relatively new reader of this forum. We have been doing LTR for a while some 2000 miles away with a property manager. That is not working out very well (primarily due to the PM) and moving our assets to GA. We are closing on a property in Blue Ridge area this friday and did some research on STR PM's and honestly kinda astonished by the amount they charge. The lowest we found is 25% and some are at 35% !!

Reading this forum it looks like this can be done all remotely if you have a good cleaning company and a handyman who can be your boots on the ground. We have managed to get a few contacts that we are meeting this weekend. We are 2 hours away from the cabin and we will be there at least once a month. Upon speaking with the cleaning company and the handyman, everything sounds unicorn and rainbows... they wont do the guest management, but everything else they are already doing for 15-20 cabins and seems confident.

We have never done this so its giving us some jitters. While I scour through this forum, can anyone point us to the right direction for automation software they use? I have come across some like Lodgify, OwnerRez, iGMS, but unsure what the main differences are. also need something that would integrate with the Nest thermostat and the door locks. while I can do those remotely, it would be nice if the thermostat can be set to certain temp and the door codes changed when the guests check out automatically via some workflow.

any inputs is highly appreciated.