All Forum Posts by: Tim Blanchard

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

You're only $38k apart. 5%. If this property is as great as you say, get the deal done. Dont step over dollars to pick up pennies.

Margins are tight as it is.
With rates where they are, we’re not picking up pennies here. It’s real dollars bud.

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

You can always get one signed for just one property.

 I wasn't aware of that.

In the state of Maryland, there are many markets. Agents typically don't have expertise in markets that they don't normally work in.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I see very little value in a RE agent relative to a 3% cut (in my case).

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

Also if you signed a buyers representation agreement the agent might still be entitled to payment if you went behind their back and bought the property without them, depending on your state.

A tip for next time, depending on your state you might have been able to use their agent as a dual agent and they would be more motivated to get the sellers to accept. If you use a dual agent you should know what you're doing because they will not advise you through the transaction and stay neutral. 

 Yeah. In hindsight, we should've gone to the seller's agent. I don't sign buyers rep agreements as a rule of thumb.

Hey there folks...

We own/manage two STR properties that perform nicely in a vacation-y area. We're looking to expand, but carefully (not trying to saturate our market set).

We found a great property less than a mile from one of ours that was listed for $775k and it really checks all the boxes for performance metrics. We determined the highest we can really go is $700k for the numbers to make sense conservatively.

The property had been sitting for close to three months with zero offers so I reached out to the owners directly to gauge the situation and as I suspected - retired couple who've owned it and used it as a second home for over 20 years. They've got grown kids that have no interest or means to purchase the property. I asked if they'd be interested in working a deal directly (w/o agents) and they preferred to go the traditional route.

So we got our agent schedule us a showing and had her write a formal offer @ $675k. They countered at $738.5k and we countered back at $700k. They rejected :-(

Now that we've involved our agent, is it a big "no-no" to reach back out to the owners and see if they'd be interested in either owner financing or rental arbitrage? The property is a winner-winner-chicken dinner and I can't shake the feeling that we're going to miss the window to bring it online for the upcoming season and it'll wind up selling for our $700 but to some other joker.

We've got a bit of a tricky situation (to us)...

Our original CPA retired suddenly at the end of 2021 and we wound up getting someone to file for us who I'm fairly certain didn't get us the deductions we most certainly qualified for. We have two STR properties operating under an LLC that we have 50% ownership in with an old friend / partner. We'd like to possibly amend our 2021 filings (both personal and the LLC's) as well as get 2022 started. We'd also like to see if the most recent property should be cross segregated since we bought it 100% turn key.

Any suggestions in the DC area?

Quote from @Trung Nguyen:

I signed up for propstream free trial and try to pull a list of failed mls. It gave me a list of properties that are currently listed, pending, and sold on Zillow, RedFin, etc.

It seems like its includes all the status of the MLS. Even though the listing failed, it relisted the 2nd time and sold.

The search including active listing is also broken with the same issue I had above. I'm getting ready to sign up for the flipster free trial to test it out. Maybe I need to look at batchlist as well.

I just got through with demo-ing both Flipster and Propstream. Both had the same problem...
We have two deals we're ready to move on (one's a fix and hold the other a fix n flip). Both are active on the MLS. Neither come up in search results in either Flipster or Popstream. I tried getting a resolution from their support and told them I would need these properties to come up to be able to really test drive their platforms and both support teams said, "sorry, it doesn't work" and cancelled my trial accounts.
Funnily enough, when I put in the zip code in Flipster and clicked on the MLS filter, the map went to the middle of the Pacific Ocean!!!
Oh well...

Quote from @Michael Baum:

@Tim Blanchard, who is hosting your sites? They are slow as molasses.

They’re both on Rackspace and load just fine for me. Thanks. 

Hey guys,

I own two vacation rental properties with a 50% partner and personally manage them myself. Both properties have a fair amount of amenities since they’re on the water and one has a pool.

After listening to podcast #689 with Matt Bontrager, I was floored with the notion that we could potentially save tens of thousands in taxes since I definitely qualify under the “material participation” rule, so I hurriedly booked a consult with his group, Truebooks CPA.

After hanging up I realized that I was still buzzing from listening to the podcast when we spoke and forgot to ask the most basic of questions to ascertain whether or not their services make sense.

So I bring my queries to the hive…

1. Does cost segregation make sense for STRs if owned jointly with a 50/50 partner?

2. How much does a cost segregation cost to get done?

3. If we engage with a tax advisor and then hand our CPA their plan, will the CPA be able to just “run with it”?

4. Does anyone have firsthand experience working with TrueBooks?

Here are the two properties:

Cottage on the Bay:

www.rodobeach.com

Dameron Farm:

www.dameronFarm.com

OwnerRez is the most comprehensive platform out there if you can stomach their horrible user interface.

Soup to nuts, it does EVERYTHING!

Does anyone on here have any experience with BrightPathLoans.com?

It seems like these STR-specific lenders are popping up here and there but I'm wondering how they are to work with…

Anyone?

Thanks.