All Forum Posts by: William Beck

If you want to chat about vacation rental investing, I've helped thousands of buyers in real estate space. Just let me know if you'd like to connect @Skylar Sigurdson. I'll share what I know. 

You're probably booking out like crazy right now. That's awesome

Whereabouts? Minocqua/Rhinelander/Eagle River area? or more Hayward area?

Beg Bug Mattress covers. I would highly highly recommend these for all beds at the property and potentially an annual bed bug inspection. 
You want to kill your vacation rental's performance? Have one guest leave reviews about bed bugs. 

I'd personally be super hesitant because of regulations in the city. Like @Mark Reitman mentioned it's kind of a pain from what I understand to go through the process. Not impossible, just a big challenge. I personally would stay away from big cities based on that dynamic that just tends to be more prevalent in major metro areas. 

Regulations. What's the regulatory environment for vacation rental ownership in the Denver metro? I was under the impression that City of Denver only allowed primary residences to file for a permit, and the city was considering allowing accessory dwelling units. What are your thoughts on regulations currently and the impact it has on vacation rental property ownership?

Not to shoot down the PCB idea, but I know it's pretty tough to run the #'s there when their HOA's are like $700/mo in some cases. You get quite a bit of facility amenities but still, it's a crushing weight to bear financially ... indefinitely. COA fee's also tend to not get decreased.
I myself own a condo and I hate writing the $328 check every month for my property here in Missouri. If it were $400+ I'd really start to reconsider, and if it were $500+ i'd definitely sell it off immediately. It's always a hard balance with the COA fee since they can cover quite a few things for what you pay for. 

I really like your idea of the flip & hold STVR. That's what I'm considering. Currently with market prices where they are at nationwide there's something to be said about buying a beat up property, maybe just outside of the primary market area, with value add rehab work that could be done and then hold as a vacation rental to generate a good ROI. The pricing for turnkey vacation rental investments is out of this world and unless you find something off market, you're most likely going to be getting a C grade or worse investment.

Since it's in your immediate vicinity I would personally just self manage. The time it takes to set up a vacation rental is the most lengthy but after it's all done it's just a bit of maintenance for guest comms, updating pricing, etc. 

The most important DONT: ... Don't use a fixed nightly rate and ignore dynamic pricing. That's where all the money with vacation rentals are made. I've seen people botch this and undercut themselves thousands and thousands of dollars, OR price themselves too high and not get any business. 

The most important DO: Just provide a good customer experience with all the things one would normall expect for a vacation rental. Safe, clean, guest ready, as advertised. "If you build it, they will come." Field of 'vacation rental' Dreams

If you buy a beach condo, watch out for those HOA/COA fees. They can be a deal killer. It's a rough surprise when they come out to be higher than the mortgage payment!

@Chaits J. If I was personally interested to purchase in a ski market I would be looking in periphery markets to the main ski markets. I don't think it's going to even be close to cash flowing if you are buying  a ski-in/ski-out property since those are generally overpriced relative to what they will bring in for vacation rental income. The ask for there to be 30-40% occupancy in non-ski seasons is tough because ski markets also tend to have a saturation effect where when it's ski season, demand spikes and everyone gets booked but when the snow is not there, the traffic doesn't make sense. For example in Summit County in Colorado the epicenter is Breckenridge. Breckenridge will command the highest prices, but during shoulder seasons/mud season for April-May & Sept-Nov. there are definitely people that go there, just not in the same swells that you see in peak season. The majority of condo properties in those markets sit vacant during those times. If I had to invest in a ski area property in Summit County, I'd be looking at Fairplay/Alma just down the road. I think you'd be able to pick a cabin that has a $/sq ft that's more favorable than in Breckenridge or Dillon/Silverthorne and will have more sleeping capacity and will allow you to charge a higher rate. The pricing and availability in that area has gone nuts since last summer so I have no idea if it's still viable but using the data I had for trailing 5 year performance numbers, that's the play. Another option would be Granby/Grand Lake area. These areas are still close enough drive to Denver metro where you can still get strong traffic and let the guests pay your vacation rental investment bills! Hope this helps.

*Final quick edit, short answer TL;DR: Don't go to ski markets if you are looking for a cash flow positive property.