All Forum Posts by: Richard Lee

We finally have our STR property set up and rolling, listings cranking on Airbnb and VRBO, and on our way towards getting enough 5 star reviews to kick the machine into high gear. Still have some deferred maintenance from prior ownership to deal with, but mostly there. Kudos to those who've helped us get here @Avery Carl  @Rhonda Blue @Luke Carl @parkerborovsky 

Curious on the nitty gritty details re: taxes.... ie how often, to which entities, etc... Now, of course we're capturing everything re: expenses, purchases, lodging income + cleaning + the cuts taken by listing services, the odd paypal charges, etc.

I know that Airbnb collects and remits SOME taxes for a percentage of the STR rental, but I'm not certain it's 100% of the necessary taxes (ie does that include lodging tax, excise tax as well?)... Whereas VRBO doesn't to my knowledge collect anything for you at all.

We have a Tennessee based LLC, business license, registered to pay sales taxes, excise taxes, etc. I thought we were covered... but reading lately how Sevierville itself may have ideas beyond TN-based tax requirements which may require further action.

For those of you veterans in this local market, what are your 'stay out of prison' tax best practices and lessons learned? 

Thanks much,

Rich

I saw this very property come across multifamily MLS a couple months ago and was somewhat intrigued by the possibilities. Good to see someone moving on it.

Oak Ridge, Lenoir City, Morristown, a few more.

I provide fully licensed aerial imaging for real estate, infrastructure, government, and marketing purposes via my business Tailwind Productions.  I service East Tennessee but would go farther afield if the opportunity was right.

Factors like travel, equipment cost, insurance, FAA NAS (national airspace system) research for the prospective area, weather monitoring etc. all take time and money, so I turn down jobs regularly that expect bottom dollar.   

You get what you pay for, as always.

Good thread!

I have a local ac guy i've used for 10+ years if you want another local quote, @Elton Tidwell

Personally if you plan to keep it long term and every want to raise the rent, central heat and ac would attract better quality renters imho... window units scream 'bottom shelf' and are a signal of what renters can expect in terms of quality and rent... 

Much like in very hot markets, buyers have to accept that properties will likely come in under the negotiated price... similarly, sellers of SFH that are STR (and have a solid history with data to back it up) have to accept that not everyone's buying to do STR, and those that are will not assume their own management and prior management are 1:1, and so are unlikely to take it without a large grain of salt.

I do think a solid STR history will help tell the story that backs up your asking price, but be prepared to factor in comps as heavily if not more so into your pricing and negotiation prep work.

I just asked my soon-to-be cleaner this question yesterday, waiting on an answer. I'd prefer weekly, biweekly or monthly invoicing, certainly. We'll see! :)

Sadly these days, credit card processing is a cost of doing business. Nearly no one carries cash or checks, and payment in advance, remotely? forget about it - unless you go with Paypal etc. which carries its own costs and doesn't solve the issue, just moves it about.

Aren't you missing out on some things in this scenario? IE. Appreciation, depreciation, principle paydown? 

Not having access to these (which the owner in the scenario DOES enjoy) leaves you with cashflow - but with very little in the way of knobs, dials and levers with which to manipulate the factors that influence cashflow... 

You said you 'had 17' in boston... do you mean you RENT 17 properties in Boston, then sublet them on AirBNB? I'd like to here more about how that's working out for you.