All Forum Posts by: Ralph Pombo

@Account Closed - In addition to calculating fees and profits, one must look at the less tangible parts of PM. The personalities of the staff, the talent of the cleaning crew, and the ease of communication all need to be considered. These are easily worth the price when dealing in short term rentals. Anyone can maintain and AirBnB listing, but not everyone can keep people happy and returning year after year. 

@Account Closed - You might think that that is true, but it is not our experience. We had far lower occupancy rates with any of the other PMs that we tried. The extra tenants easily pay for higher fees. Vacasa is not a local company, but it is international. There are almost definitely better companies out there, but for this property we have not found them yet.

@Beth Lugo - I am not completely sure what you are getting at. The ONLY criteria for me are keeping the place rented and keeping the place safe and clean. If the tenant pays extra fees, then the market determines if the fees are too high. We had a 98-99% occupancy prior to the Covid lockdowns in Hawaii. Things are now opening up again and reservations are again up to 98% for the coming six months. I have no problem with the PM making money as long as I can make this kind of return. We earn over $2500 consistently after expenses (PM, HOA, repairs, vacancy, taxes, etc.) on a studio condo. It is easily the most profitable property that we have ever owned.

@Beth Lugo - I look at the fees almost weekly. I do not see an issue. In Hawaii, the PM companies are extremely competitive and most charge identical prices in fees. That said, these fees were negotiable when we signed the contract. I was able to negotiate down by 20-30% on most fees. As I have said, we have not had an issue with Vacasa at all. We DID have issues with several others that we tried prior to them.

Excellent! Congratulations! We are also in the Central Valley, but I decided to invest remotely out of state. This state is killing me and I won't last much longer here. It sounds like you are doing well and prospering. So cool!

@Tom Gimer - yes the subject was the legal addresses.

@Dave Foster - This is actually extremely helpful. Thank you very much. In this specific situation, the QIs, all lawyers, and all title staff are part of the same team. This company, divided into divisions, handles all title and 1031 under one corporation.
I purposely left out many details to the story. With the case still active and legal threats looming overhead, I wanted to allow any miracles to continue to blossom behind closed office doors. As of late last night, one of those miracles occurred. Angels sang, Santa wiggled his nose, leprechauns danced, or the tooth fairy visited... it matters not, at this point. All is right with the world again. I will leave this story now, to the reader's imagination.
Thank you for your insight,

@Sean Ross - an address typo was allowed to record which negated the 1031 exchange, since the address did not even exist.

This month has been a first for me. I am not a seasoned veteran in real estate, but we do have about 10-12 purchases over the last 10 years. The newest deal has been utilizing a 1031 exchange. We sold one rental in California and bought four properties in Texas. The title company handling the initial sale and the exchange has been a nightmare. Any questions have been met with attitude and a further refusal to communicate. Any requests for service have been received with an actual and a virtual eye roll. Today, I was informed that a typo on their part has negated a large portion of the 1031 exchange. The response from them, "Sorry, my mistake....". I am beyond furious.

Well, we are the exception then. We have been with Vacasa for two years. They are far better than the two previous managers that we had in Hawaii. I am sure that there are good ones out there, but we never found them. Vacasa has been very good for us and we have a 99% occupancy rate since opening again after the Covid restrictions. We had a 98-99% before Covid too.