All Forum Posts by: Wesley Sherow

Hey Trevor, i'm not quite an Oneonta local, but i'm in Albany NY which is a stones throw away (about an hour, in case you're mickey mantle). Happy to connect! 

Whether it helps or not, there are some real estate groups I work with where the deals are all handshake. Buddies work together all the time, and they don't even put their names on contracts - just work on trust. To preface this, I  do NOT recommend doing things without contracts/agreements, etc. However in those circumstances I'm sure you could imagine how they'd handle it. Beyond this, do consult with an attorney. 

Hey Rob, I'm frequently in Halfmoon for other properties that I manage. I would be happy to take this one on. If you're interested please DM me with details, including ads, pictures, description and address/access information. 

 I agree. AirDNA I don't think does it intentionally, but they have a computer determine market averages, when there's thousands of listings that weigh it down either through inexperience or bad management. Overall i've found AirDNA to be like 15-20% under almost all the time in markets with high competition. That said it doesn't change much as I am using AirDNA's api to plug data. I do however modify it a bit for some easy improvements. Like sometimes AirDNA will report a 2 bedroom to make $100, while a 3 bedroom to make $60. Usually because there's not a lot of 3 bedrooms in an area. So I put in logic to say; a 3 bedroom will not make less than a 2 bedroom generally, so never report less than the -1 bedroom equivalent. 

 Wow! It's the first time i've seen the enemy method after a quick google search. I like most of the points but I somewhat disagree with #1: 1. MUST be Stelf-Managed. AirBnB is becoming more professional, and the top tier managers are getting more income from the listings. I don't think it's worth discounting their income, in fact their methods can be used as a market litmus test on how to operate. (in many cases but not all) 

Hey John, thanks for the feedback! This is not to replace your own research - I've underwritten hundreds of STR deals using a spreadsheet. In general after doing so many it takes me about 30 minutes to modify an entire sheet and scour the web. This is meant to simply be a time saver for those who's 1 hour of work is worth more than $20-30. I don't dispute that good ol' excel is the tried and true method for everyone who wants to. Personally, I've been plugging properties into here recently as I have clients that want quick underwrites of deals. I end up charging them $45-60 for my review, and i spend $10 on my own site (redundant I know but it feels like the right thing to do lol). Overall it takes me about 5-10 minutes now.

Bigger Pockets Community,

I've been working on an underwriting tool to pick and choose Short Term Rental investments that are most likely to cash flow highly, and generate returns. Also, to verify that an investment is good before jumping into it. I'm looking for feedback from my my absolute favorite real estate community online. We're live in New York and Florida for testing, and going national next month.

Here's the site: www.strbrain.com

Use code VIP2022 to purchase a report at the same cost it is for us to pull the data from across various websites and data providers. Please share your feedback on this post, or in a DM. I've been using it for myself recently and I'm pretty happy with the site so far, but obviously after looking at this website for over a year it's easy for me to overlook potential shortfalls, or gosh, even spelling mistakes. 

Thanks and happy real estate hunting!

Brian, I agree with Nathan above. I would recommend starting out with some people you can talk shop with, and learn from each other's mistakes and successes. Although I've partnered with people on the bigger pockets community many times in the past, often these are people who already have their feet wet and know real estate, or are bringing very applicable skills to mitigate their risks. If you're looking to chat, feel free to reach out to my link below. I invest in the capital region primarily in value add deals. 

Once you get around to picking a software, consider AppFolio. I've found it extremely powerful though a bit tedious to learn. Most aspects of management are automated there, which helps greatly reduce workload. 

I use an accountant in Albany NY names Justin Bachus. He's not cheap, but he does all real estate clients and knows his stuff very well. He's also proactive and recommends subsidies, returns strategies, etc. Hope that helps!