All Forum Posts by: Chris Terberg

Hey Akshay! You've definitely put some thought and planning into this, and it sounds like a great play to make if done right. Having no kids sure does make it easier to consider big risks! I don't have any yet either and have been trying to do anything and everything I can to take advantage of the time. Haha

I'm still kind of a rookie myself but it sounds like your next 2 investment properties would be in the same city as your first? How long have you owned your current rental, and how well you know the local market? And I noticed you said we, is your partner on board with this or skeptical?

I'm interested to hear what other think about this!

Hey Kevin! I'm in California as well, and bought a STR 2 years ago in Lake Havasu Arizona. I invested out of state for the same reasons you mentioned, and while mine isn't as far as Florida it's far enough to be comparable I feel. The actual amount of time you need to be there is minimal once you have the property. Assuming you tour the property in person before buying, during that time you can also interview cleaners and handymen to find a solid hand at each. They can handle essentially everything for you and anything major that comes up is just a call to a contractor like it would be at your own home.

I personally went out to my rental every weekend for the first couple months only because I was building and setting up all the furniture myself and getting a team together to get ready to list, but that all could have been handled by others if I wanted. Now that I'm up and running I only go out every couple months to use it for personal trips. Besides that everything on the ground is handled by my team. Hope that helps and best of luck! I love hosting and also love having a house out at the river. 

So much great practical advice in this thread. If you haven't stumbled across Napoleon Hill yet, his books Think And Grow Rich and Outwitting The Devil are the 2 best books I've read. They will shift your mentality about finances and life in general and keep you from ever being "knocked down" again. Hope you guys kill it this year! 

What's up Noah! Sorry for the late reply, but yes it is for a STR. I ended up finding someone to help with the issue but I appreciate your response. I'll definitely keep your contact, I'm sure I'll have plenty more things to reach out about.

I’m having issues filing documents properly with my TPT license in Arizona and am looking for someone who can look over everything with me and help me sort it out. Thanks in advance! 

Whats up Steven! I was in a similar situation for a few months after I purchased my STR last year. I was pretty much maxed out on my credit cards and had used almost all of my savings for the house. Was definitely living on a prayer, but it worked out so that's all that matters. 😅

What I think is most important is your financial position as a whole, having a well rounded net worth if you will. I have a pretty solid income, well over $100,000, but at the time I also had a $35,000 vehicle loan, had about $12,000 in credit card debt, and had a new mortgage of $280,000 that was hopefully going to cover itself with rental income, but that wasn't guaranteed yet. So I was in a lot of debt with little in cash reserves.  

The house has done very well over the last year and a half, so I have since caught up and am now looking to strategically move forward like you are. My approach has been to eliminate the bad debt, credit cards were first and now I'm attacking the the car loan, while also raising my assets evenly between 401K, cash reserves, home equity, and a personal investment portfolio so that I have a solid spread of holdings. This looks good on paper for securing loans, but also puts me personally at ease knowing that I have my risk evenly distributed, and a lot of options. 

15,000 in savings is a great start, and $100,000 in equity on a house hack is also amazing! If I was in your shoes I'd take 6-12 months and just attack the debt. Try and eliminate the student loans as fast as possible like @Cameron Tope mentioned. In the mean time you 401k will keep building, your equity will keep building as your roommates pay down the loan, and you'll quickly gain a better and better financial position to secure funding with. As for the job, I definitely suggest switching fields if its something you're interested in AND it pays more! I am relatively new to my field and had no problem getting a mortgage with only 2 years employment and income history... You're in a great spot and have a lot of potential over the next couple years! Keep seeking advice and killing it!
 

Thanks Tim! So the double booking issue was actually a result of poor practices on my part and a simple fix. When I first got the house and was still in the process of furnishing it I didn't have it up on any rental apps yet and would rent it to friends and family, then once it was complete I started doing a mixture of both on and off app. But it finally caught up to me and I had someone book outside the app but I failed to keep the weekend blocked and another person booked on AirBnB. Unfortunately I had to cancel a friends vacation pretty last minute, but we were able to work something out for them. It was a lesson learned, from now on everyone will book through the apps so that the dates are automatically reserved and appropriately labeled! 

Thanks Marc! Lake Havasu is a couple hours south west of Havasupai Falls. It's a man made lake in the Colorado River on the border of California and Arizona.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Lake Havasu City.

Purchase price: $343,000
Cash invested: $80,000

Purchased single family home in Lake Havasu City to use as a vacation rental in the summer, and a month to month snowbird rental during the winter months.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was drawn to Havasu for the potential to operate as a short term vacation rental during the summer with higher nightly rates, and also as a month to month rental during the winter for more consistent income.

What was the outcome?

The rental has been performing great! I've owned it for 2 years and both summers have been booking at nightly rates well above what I expected, and winter has been bringing guests for 1-3 months at a time reducing the turnover and putting the income on autopilot.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This was my first rental, and not having anyone who had done it before I learned a lot of lessons along the way. From accidentally double booking nights on different apps, having the pool go stagnant for 2 weeks, house cleaners not meeting the expected standard. Luckily most of them have been caught before guests were affected so to date I have 29 5 star reviews and only one 4 star!