All Forum Posts by: Tyler Work

@Jake Cohen Just curious of the 140% additional rent you get how much of that is eaten up with additional costs?  I assume your vacancy and utility costs are higher.  I'm shutting down an Airbnb I've run for 3 years here in Denver so weighing my options.  

@Travis Hatch My girlfriend and I are in the same situation as you, although we've lived here for 5+ years so been on the hunt a good while longer.  We were just under contract on a duplex in Sunnyside that was projected to cash flow with 5% down.  Our plan was to move in, rent out the nicer unit and fix up the one that needed work while we lived there.  We didn't end up closing but my point is they're out there if you stay patient.  

Hey @Paul Graham welcome!  Have you thought about doing a live in flip?  That might be a good idea if you don't have a ton of cash to work with since you can put less $$ down.  One strategy I'm pursuing now to obtain rental properties in our very expensive market is buying a new primary residence every 1-2 years and converting into a rental when we move out.  This allows for a 5% down payment and keep the cash down to a level I can replenish every few years.  If you don't have a realtor @James Carlson is awesome and can help you out.

Hello BP world! I’m looking to connect with owners of single family homes on the Florida Panhandle, specifically around 30-A in Walton County that use their property either part or full time as a vacation or long term rental. I am interested in buying a second home and renting it out on Airbnb/VRBO etc but have found a lack of good information on revenue projections, occupancy etc. Any and all thoughts and shares are appreciated!

@Bob Huggins if you're trying to get more organized as a property manager, the single best decision I ever made was hiring a bookkeeper.  I have a great recommendation for a guy who does P&L for each property plus generates great looking monthly owner statements, sets up vendor bills (for housekeepers), prepares 1099s and does all bookkeeping.  

When I was managing 20+ in Denver Airbnb kept them all booked (Booking.com, VRBO, etc never provided any value, just a time sink to use a clunky channel manager), I use Price Labs for pricing, which is the most customizable price tool if you have a good base knowledge of your market.  

@Mike Zupan I wouldn't worry about HOAs changing the rules on ski in ski out condos.  99.9% of them are short term rentals so I think its pretty low risk to buy condos very close to the ski areas.  Silverthorne I heard is thinking about regulating them like Denver but that might be because it is more of a "town" with locals vs. purely a tourist destination. 

@Julia Bykhovskaia from my experience in Denver, I aim for 100% monthly occupancy with several other targets.  I'm of the school of thought that if you have 1 open day you lost out on some amount of revenue.  If the demand for that open day is less than the minimum price you're willing to accept, then you're better off leaving it unbooked for safety, security, peace of mind reasons.  

First target is 50% occupancy, 30 days out.  At any given time you should have at least 50% occupancy over the next 30 days, higher than that your pricing might be too low.  When people brag about being "booked out for 6 months" that is a very bad thing in my mind.

Second target (which I got from Beyond Pricing I believe) is 30% occupancy 90 days out.  I rarely have any bookings outside of 60 days but its nice to have a few in there as a safety net. 

I use Price Labs too, but it lacks good occupancy targets and uses a green light, yellow light, red light system to alert you when occupancy drops too low.  I try to focus on raising prices as high as possible on days with high demand.  Just doing a blanket raising of prices across the board doesn't make sense to me, as you watch overall occupancy drop.  

If your weekends get booked up quickly but weekdays are slow to book, keep prices the same during the week and raise them on the weekends.  Pricelabs is so customizable you should be able to learn your market over time and maximize your revenue without leaving a bunch of days unbooked.  

@William Garcia once you get it going you can manage 1 property remotely very easily.  I would say I spend an average of about 2-3 hours per month on my rental.

1 - I switched my homeowners to a vacation rental policy and it was no additional cost.  I use American Modern but there are a bunch more that offer it.  I had USAA before and American Modern is partnered with them so it shows up on my online banking dashboard.  I would give them a call back and ask again.  However I have yet to hear of a company who will cover you if you rent out multiple rooms to multiple parties.  These policies are for full home rentals.

2 - have you tried posting an ad to Craigslist?  Most cleaning companies aren't set up to do STRs so I've had the most success using 1099 contractors.  Get them access to your online calendar and you don't even have to communicate with them unless there is an issue. I pay $60 for a 550 SF 1 bedroom and was paying around $90 for a 2 bedroom.  I also had contractors I paid $20 an hour. 

3 - That is correct.  I use price labs for my pricing software, its awesome.  As a gut check plug your address into AirDNA rentalizer and see what it says.  Then look at other listings to get more comfortable with what you can charge, assuming its legal in your area.

4 - Yes but I've yet to find anything that provides actual value.  Most of the other marketing platforms are a lot of time spent for 1-2 bookings a year.  If you can find a niche with military travelers that could be great at finding a steady stream of tenants.  

@Andrew Royce I'm more familiar with the panhandle but in that part of Florida a lot of the condo buildings are "non warrantable" so the financing is tough to get and they can require 20-30% down.  Just something to think about.  

I can help you with the analysis as well with a vacation rental.  You need to factor in cleaning fees, restocking, property management (unless you self manage), etc.  AirDNA is a good starting point for finding ballpark gross revenues and then factoring out your expenses.  What I've found, at least in the panhandle, is that you have to self manage or find someone cheap.  The 25% management fees can erode any profit you planned on making for the year.  

@Christopher Eckerdt have you thought about moving into your potential investment property? You can put 3-5% down on a multi family unit up to 4 units if you live in it, Airbnb one of the units (if it is an ADU), rent out the others and if you factor in your portion of the mortgage you might consider it cash flowing. Very tough to find but its possible in Denver, otherwise do what everyone else says and research the hell out of other markets :)