All Forum Posts by: William Leahy

Hi Alexa, Welcome to the best place for life changing information on the internet. Couple of random thoughts. Best ways to "add value" to your bungalow. If you can add a bedroom or living square footage . If you can add a finished basement apartment or ADU. If your place has 1 bathroom and you can add another , that will add value. SLC has an abundance of 1 bath bungalows. Owner occupied investments can have alot of advantages, particularly starting out. You get best borrowing terms and rates and access to HELOC. BP money podcast co-host , Mindy Jensen and her husband generated substantial wealth with the "live in flip" strategy, google it, there are alot of podcasts and youtube videos with her story and others. House hacking is another powerful strategy for the owner occupant with many variations. I am working on completing a "luxury house hack" at my residence .Craig Cuerlop is the BP Maestro and author on that strategy. Check out the bookstore, really good content that will answer alot of your questions and help you grow your path. Best regards, The guy on the ski lift

I have found value in Robuilt, Avery Carl, Bill Faeth , Mike Shojgren. Sean Radkidzich is an urban arbitrage guy but he is sharp and has some good stuff about airbnb algorithm .

On a 1 mil purchase price ,as a rough rule of thumb, I wouldn't look at anything less than 12% gross of purchase price.  Preferably 15% . So a gross of 120 to 150k. 

Any thoughts about Brian Chesky "2022 winter release"?

Dynamic pricing just means that your pricing is adjusted by demand fluctuations. It can be done manually or with an algorithm. I have tried both and switched back to doing manually based on the specific parameters of my market. Cape Cod has a short season but the summer is mission critical. I may switch back to using the software for shoulder season and keep my hand on the wheel for July and August.

Great job. It is wonderful seeing entrepreneurs breathing life back into these older properties. 

I have seen some success with two things in the shoulder season to bump up weeknights. With further lead time, I bump min nights to 3 . I also set individual weeks for weekly discounts. I dont like setting blanket discounts but in airbnb you can set for individual weeks and months.

If returning guests are important to you or word of mouth referrals, it is a good idea ( branding). If you own or plan to own multiple properties it is also helpful to avoid confusion when you have to respond to a challenge (we don't call them "problems) at a particular property. Pick something unique if you want internet searchiness (SEO)

I had one bad experience , that ruined it for everyone. I got ahead of the problem and put big candlestands in the fireboxes until I eventually replace them with gas sets. In fairness I'm in a beach market and most of the time it doesn't come up. I also compensate with outdoor firepits. Like I did with my kids, I'm always trying to lure guests outside anyway.

 THAT is a great idea! Is there a particular set you use? I have those fireplace multi candle stands now in my houses.