All Forum Posts by: Tyler Ingram

 Hi.  Are you sure you can't reapply it?  They generally let you as long as you haven't had 3 bookings and your listing is less than 90 days old.  It is in the discount section of the calendar area.  If not, try calling them and asking to reinstate it.  You can also add other discounts (like length of stay or early bird/last minute) which I do believe give your listing a boost.

As for pricing software, I would caution against it for one property and when you are new.  You should really do the research to understand your market before you can trust a software to appropriately set rates for you.  I have 4 listings and still don't use it.  I have tested it in the past and find that it is way off (usually on the low side) for me.  

Regarding ranking, can you share your listing?  There are a number of factors that go into it.  Are your photos professional?  Are people clicking on your listing and not booking?  Since I am assuming you aren't a super host and don't have any or many reviews yet, you will want to underprice your competition to get some traffic and then you can tweak prices from there.  I would say prices first, photos next...

@Tyler Ingram

The three concerns I would have are continually increasing insurance rates, the HOA fees and guidelines, and market saturation of STRs in many regions. For insurance, I am over over in the New Orleans market and I know the issues we are experiencing with insurance in this market are echoed in the Florida market as well. There have been substantial increases in premiums over the last 2-3 years due to the storms that have been impacted both states. Hopefully insurance prices have stabilized but there is going to be a constant concern that they will continue to increase as more underwriters pull out of the region. HOA is a problem on two fronts. They can also choose to increase their fees and at the same time they can choose to change their regulations, including whether or not they allow STRs within the condo unit. The public perception of airBNBs has been shifting so you never know when an HOA might turn on those. Market saturation is another concern in many popular markets. When running your numbers, I would try to look into revenue from 2018-2019. If you only focus on revenue from 2022, then you might be over estimating your revenue. Following the reopening after the pandemic, there has been a huge surge in travel that led to higher than normal revenue for STRs. In the same since, travel has returned to more average levels while STRs have surged; creating a higher supply for a product that is in less demand. Because of this revenue from the last 1-2 years should be taken with a grain of salt.

Hey Tyler,

My wife and I own a vacation rental management company in Marathon. Seems like that's where this home is since there's a weekly minimum (we also serve key colony beach). With that said, I can tell you that a 2/2 with assigned dockage and an onsite pool will do around $70k gross. If you don't have assigned dockage or a pool you will do considerably less. If you'd like me to run some comps for your specific property or need any other information, feel free to reach out! My wife is also a Realtor here and specialized in STR's.

P.S. reach out to Grimi Betancourt with Roth Insurance for a any insurance quotes. She’s an amazing agent and will find you the best rate possible.

Tropical Wishes,

Bert Perez

Owner/Operator 

KeysCations

@Tyler Ingram

As a realtor here in the keys I am advising all of my buyers to stay away from condos in the state of Florida. Insurance rates on condos is much more expensive than on homes. The increase this year was so big that it caused assessments. I’m pretty sure that the building you’re speaking about had a $17,000 per condo assessment this year. As per the condo management, they expect it to be 25,000 each condo next year.

The second thing happening is that every condo in the state of Florida needs to have an engineer come out and inspect for structural integrity. Most condos have to for maintenance for well over 30 years. All of them will require repairs within the next year. Many of them are already seeing assessments of $25,000 per condo for more. It’s very hard to rent to Condo while Building is under repair construction, because of all the noise. 

Lastly, at the end of 2020 for the state of Florida is requiring all condos to have fully funded reserves. Most condos in the keys do not have reserves at all and if they do, they’re very small. That would require another assessment for Condo to bring up the reserves to the required amount. If you will notice, a lot of condos are coming on all of a sudden. Some already have assessments, and some are trying to avoid selling when the new assessments come on.
Single family, half duplex is the way to go. However,  you won’t find them in that price range. Also, your 84% occupancy  was accurate for 2022, but is not accurate for 2023. When you factor in 20% for rental management, along with taxes, insurance and mortgage interest, it is very hard to buy the short term rental, where the numbers work, at least here in the keys. If you’re not buying with cash, it’s probably not a good time to buy investment property here.  That’s coming from someone who earns their living by selling your property.

 Be very conservative with insurance. There have been reports of it going up 200% or being completely dropped as more and  more companies pull completely out of Florida.

HOAs can change rules, have special assessments and increase fees.

I avoid all HOA properties but that is just me.

As long as you are not cosigned on the debt and are not on the title of the property I will not count against your personal debt to income ratio. 

PM me if you have any additional questions