All Forum Posts by: Tyler Dreher

We currently own a property in Houston, TX that we have had great luck renting out on AirBnB/HomeAway over the last couple years. We are moving to Nashville though, and as much as we'd love to continue earning the income from the property, we are worried about managing it remotely. Because we of this, we plan to sell. I recently posted a marketplace Ad explaining how we have used the property to "House Hack" by living there and renting out different spaces on AirBnB. I won't go into all the details here, but you can see more in the link below if you are interested:

Marketplace Post for AirBnB Property

Despite all the success as a short-term rental, we are concerned about managing this property from Nashville. My primary question is, does anybody have experience managing this type of property remotely? Have you done so yourselves, or leveraged local property management companies? Has anyone worked with local friends as co-host to take care of the property? If so, what is a reasonable earnings split for a host that is doing most of the work.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! Given the incredible earning potential the house has demonstrated, it isn't going to take that much to convince me to remove the listing and keep the house, so I look forward to hearing advice from non-local AirBnB owners/managers!

-Tyler 

@Luke Carl - I'm interested to hear how your able to so easily manage properties remotely! We are currently planning to sell a Houston property since we are moving to Nashville, but considering keeping it to rent out. Would appreciate any advice you can share on the topic! 

Here is more about our property and situation if you are interested!

@Erik Kuhi - I'm piggy backing on your thread because I would appreciate advice on the topic as well! We are about to be in a situation where we are managing our property remotely, and my current plan is to sell instead of even attempting, but if you get some great advice here it may inspire me to keep it! It is highly lucrative, I'm just worried about the headache of not being there to take of everything. 

@Matthew Zachman I was in your shoes a couple years ago, with the goal to purchase a <$500 multi-family in the Houston area to implement the now famous house-hacking strategy. We had very little luck finding anything reasonable at that price point. Since it was going to be our primary residence, our standards were probably slightly different than they would have been if it were just an investment property, but we found that most multi-family properties in the Houston area are being town down and replaced with townhomes. This makes investing in the renovation of one nearly impossible to justify, since your improvements probably won't affect the sell price for a buyer that plans to tear it down. 

We actually purchased a townhome instead of continuing to search for a multi-family and it was the best decision we ever made. By listing it as a vacation rental, it was much more profitable (although more work as well) than a long-term rental ever would have been. We are moving back to Nashville and selling the property, so I recently posted about our experience in a marketplace ad if you want to check it out. It may give you some ideas about an alternative strategy to consider if you have the time required to manage a vacation rental!

Let me know what questions you have - I'm happy to help however I can!

-Tyler

Frank,

I am a mechanical engineer myself and moved to Houston to work in oil and gas! I strongly recommend you live in the Houston area (rice village, midtown, the heights or washington ave.), especially if you don't know many people - the social scene makes it worth the commute. My wife convinced me to live in an overpriced apartment in the Rice Military/Washington Ave. area our first year there, and then we bought a house in the Rice Village area the following year. We are close to 59, which actually makes the commute to Deer Park (or Baytown where I was) very easy. 

If you have any questions or need any advice on moving to Houston or investing there please let me know! I spent a lot of time looking for what your looking for and eventually had to change my strategy because I couldn't find any livable multi-family properties at my desired price point. Instead, we purchased a townhome in the rice village/west university area and decided to "House Hack" part time by renting it out as a vacation rental.

We are actually in the process of moving back to the Nashville now, so we've listed the house for sale (just posted details in marketplace if you want to read more about our experience). It sounds like it is above the price point you are targeting, but it may give you some ideas based on the house-hacking method we used as an alternative to buying a multi-family! 

Let me know what questions you have or if you'd like to discuss further.

-Tyler

@Samantha Solomon - My brother in law has recently started an investment company in the Murfreesboro area. He is working with an investor that has significant capital and is looking to quickly build a sizable portfolio of turnkey buy and hold properties to capitalize on Murfreesboro's growth. He can close quickly in cash, so he'd like to connect with as many wholesalers in the area as possible. How is life as a rehabber/wholesaler so far? Are you currently looking to build a buyers list, or do you know of any other wholesalers that I could get him in touch with? 

@Allison B. - How is the direct mail process going? Have you had any luck finding off market properties in the booming Nashville market? Also, do you know of any local REIAs that are beneficial?

Thanks,

Tyler

@Khaled El Dorry thanks for the response. Sent you a message! 

I am looking for a stucco contractor that I can trust with several small repair jobs. Has anyone had a positive experience with any local contractors? I have tried Thumbtack and several lead generation tools and haven't been impressed with any of the results I have gotten thus far. Thanks in advance! 

@Nicholas Miller I am the owner of a roofing company with an office in San Antonio. Give me a shout if you have any questions about any of the bids you receive or if you'd like us to come by and give you a bid. I have been hearing from customers that many roofers are still backed up over a month, as Rick referenced, but since we have an office and crews in San Antonio and Houston we do have a little more flexibility in our schedule than most companies (can bring a Houston crew to San Antonio for a project if needed, etc.). Shoot me a message if you would like to connect!

@Account Closed Thanks for the info. I tuned into the webinar and found it to be pretty informative. It looks like it is a recording that you can watch at any time, so I may go back and reference it as I get more involved with Airbnb. I appreciate you sharing that resource!

@Kristy Farmer Congrats on the first deal! 

Just out of curiousity, what was leaking in the ceiling? As the owner of a roofing company, I have seen far too many examples of slow roof leaks that's go unnoticed only to end up costing homeowners thousands in water damage restoration costs. In your case, the property management company is responsible for the roof, but it sound like they may need a little "encouragement" to have it checked out. Send me a message if you need any advice on things to look for next time your over the there or if you would like for me to get in touch with the property management company about having their roof inspected. I'd be happy to have one of our guys go take a look.