All Forum Posts by: Sam Slivinski

@Sam Slivinski the management percentage isn't all profit haha there are lot of costs in that my company covers a lot more things than most but we average around 15% in costs plus the cleaning fee and restocking. Those costs would need to be paid by you if you self managed. Also you probably won't want to leave personal stuff in STR's it will either have a chance of getting messed up or most likely will lower the revenue and profitability of the places.

@Sam Slivinski if 25% would put you in the red, odds are good your market isn't great for short term rental. You are probably better off doing long term rentals. You will make less money, but have far less expenses and it is very passive.

I understand running a STR is the trendy thing to do, but there is already a shift happening back towards hotels. If you are not in a desirable vacation area, I would reconsider your strategy. Having run LTR and STR, I assure you that STR are very time consuming in comparison. They are also very time sensitive. You need to coordinate quick turn around on cleaning and repairs. You also need to worry about good reviews, so you don't tank your business. You have added expenses like utilities, lawn care and snow removal. These expenses can add up quickly and suddenly long term rental is more profitable and less hassle.

Can you share projected STR gross income versus LTR gross income?

@Sam Slivinski STR management companies are like realtors most suck and don't make you more than the commission they make. but a good one sells your property faster and for an amount more than their commission. Most people seriously underestimate the amount of money they leave on the table with self management I see tons of people that self manage and make less than the people we manage for after all costs including our management. Unfortunately it's very hard to find management companies that do a good job and so often self management is the only choice. We looked for a management company but non in our market that we found made anywhere near the revenue let alone pay off that would make since. So we self managed and then a couple year later started managing for others because we wanted to offer the service we want but wasn't available in our market and to help increase the economy of scale since it was a ton of work to run a property we where constantly on call 24/7 365. We decided we needed to either stop or go bigger and hire out the day to day operations. Before we started managing for others we were already hosting something like 500 groups and thousands of guests a year. STR management is a business that to be actually good and optimized requires a lot of skill and time. I get people all the time bragging to me about how they make 50k in revenue on a property that I know could make 100K but they are happy as can be with the 50K and believe that management is easy. If you sell something at half price it's amazing how easy it is to sell. I'm not saying everyone that self manages does this many do a good or even great job but it's only a few percent if you look at the data and even then everyone has room for improvement in some area.

Hi @Sam Slivinski,

Where do you have the SFH? Location is key, but if you can fill a the lack of lodging in the area you could make it successful.

REgards,

Bogdan

any cash buyers looking for properties?