All Forum Posts by: Warren Marshall

Hey Sam,  I have looked into this before as well, my biggest barrier to entry is the land cost.   If you already have the land in a high traffic area you have the a great start.      In my opinion the best start is to reach out to an earth work contractor for pricing on pre-grade and gravel prep (make sure they dig some test holes- earthwork prices can easily double without the right understanding of what is underground).  I would also reach out to a fencing company for quotes on chain link and security options.   In my experience these are the 2 largest expenses for a RV lot.    Once you have the land prep costs it should be a bit easier to run the numbers based on the going rates.    Through my job i get the opportunity to price things like this every once in a while, if you have questions on how to find applicable trades feel free to reach out.    I hope this helps.  

Hey Kyle,   

Always nice to see other investors from Red Deer.     I grew up in the construction industry and I have found the best way to learn the price of things is to get quotes.   Most companies will give you free quotes, just make sure to be honest about your situation and try not to waste anyone's time.    I like to find a property that fits my requirements then start calling around to trades asking what they think I need in order to get to the finished product through using photos and measurements from the listing.  I haven't read it yet but I have also heard great things about the "Estimating Rehab Costs" by J Scott.   

Let me know if I can help,

Warren

Hey guys, 

We just went conditional on our second Airbnb property, this one is a was considered a "Flop House" by the sellers agent.   Which supposedly is a drug house that the door is always open so people can sleep there when ever they want...    We will be changing out the floors, and paint but we need to know how to be confident there isn't danger to the renters or construction crew.    Does anyone have helpful tips?   Main concern is Fentanyl as I understand that it is very high risk and hard to get rid of. 

Thanks in advance, 
Warren 

Last week we had a husband, wife and their 8 month old book at our airbnb.   Currently due to Covid our province (Alberta, Canada) has very strict rules such as: 

- No public gatherings indoor or outdoor. 

- $5000 fine to households that are hosting gatherings, as well as $1000 to each person at the household. 

- etc... 

Well, we noticed on our Ring doorbell the family checked in around noon and had 3 others joining them (total of 6).   We figured they were just local friends, and we gave them the benefit of the doubt.     Later that evening my wife noticed they had a total of 8 people at the house around 8pm, she sent them a message reminding them of the covid rules as well as our #1 house rule stating "Any un-authorized guests on the premises will force the cancelation of the booking immediately". We gave them until 9pm to respond- No response.   We called the guests and after being lied to, threatened and lied to again we decided to take a drive to the property.    Noticing that the tenants were obviously drunk and outnumbering myself, my wife and 6 month old we decided to call the police for advice.   They sent over a police officer who spoke to the tenants, kicked out the extras and told us there wasn't much we could do since they were paying guests and too drunk to drive.    

After a sleepless night of imagining how they were destroying the place my wife called Airbnb to see what options we had. We had to provide proof of police presence, negotiate a refund (in hindsight we probably could have refunded half, but we thought it was better for them to think that they won rather than stressing over another night of this. So we gave them 100% back.) and after a couple of messages to the tenant they were out! No Damage! ... all 8 beds were slept in, smelt like smoke and booze... but overall we were very happy with the Airbnb eviction process and would highly recommend getting a ring doorbell if you don't already have one for your STR. Its not only convenient for scheduling cleaning but gives peace of mind.

- Warren and Taryn 

Owners of: The Paddle-Inn

@Basit Siddiqi thanks for the input. Currently my wife is on maternity leave and she is cleaning the bnb. Would she be able to make receipts and consider it a write off? I’m assuming it would add to her income... not sure if there is still a benefit in the end. Thanks again.

Hey guys, 

Like many of you my wife and I manage our Airbnb on our spare time, this includes cleaning at every turnover.     We try to be very diligent collecting any receipts for tax time however we don't know how to properly claim our cleaning time since we do it ourselves.   Any good legal ideas? 

Thanks in advance,

Warren

Hey guys,   investor from Red Deer and always excited to meet others from alberta.

Keep us in the loop on what you end up doing.   Also interested in what the reno costs come in at.  

Hey guys, exciting to see this happening in Alberta. Are you guys still meeting monthly? if so i would be interested in joining.

I agree with Aaron K, my family has been in the foundation industry for over 45 years.  What the seller is saying doesn't quite add up.  However for an experienced foundation contractor this is an easy thing to determine.  Call a foundation contractor, send them photos of the concerning areas and there is a good chance they could help you determine a rough estimate without charging you or coming to site.   We do it often as it helps us to learn more, feel free to send me photos of the undermining areas, cracks and outside foundation walls.  I can try to help however a local would be more familiar with pricing.  Good luck and let us know how it goes