STR beginner here looking at PCB

[Clinton Davis]

I have been a LTR landlord for 20 years now but I've been recently wanting to expand my strategy and possibly looking at trying out the short term rental scene. I normally vacation along the Florida panhandle like Perdido key, Panama city beach etc. and so naturally, as a real estate investor my antennae go up when I travel there and my curiosity starts to tug at me wondering if this is something viable for me. I would love it if you could give me some idea on what kind of expenses I would be running into. I am looking at doing a condo and perhaps managing remotely myself and listing on airbnb and/or vrbo. But I know Florida is very seasonal. How much Occupancy do you have through the seasons? Peak seasons and down seasons what can I expect? HOA fees, insurance, property tax etc etc. What should I expect? With a condo do you need hazard insurance still? Sorry but this is like a whole new chapter that I want get the first hand details from experienced STR owners. Thank you

[January Johnson]

Quote from @Clinton Davis:

Quote from @January Johnson:

Quote from @Clinton Davis:

I have been a LTR landlord for 20 years now but I've been recently wanting to expand my strategy and possibly looking at trying out the short term rental scene. I normally vacation along the Florida panhandle like Perdido key, Panama city beach etc. and so naturally, as a real estate investor my antennae go up when I travel there and my curiosity starts to tug at me wondering if this is something viable for me. I would love it if you could give me some idea on what kind of expenses I would be running into. I am looking at doing a condo and perhaps managing remotely myself and listing on airbnb and/or vrbo. But I know Florida is very seasonal. How much Occupancy do you have through the seasons? Peak seasons and down seasons what can I expect? HOA fees, insurance, property tax etc etc. What should I expect? With a condo do you need hazard insurance still? Sorry but this is like a whole new chapter that I want get the first hand details from experienced STR owners. Thank you

Thanks,@Michael Baum!

Clinton, I work for The Short Term Shop (Avery Carl). We ONLY work with STR investors, and I also own and operate my own STRs in this market (for 10 years).

Property tax will run you slightly over 1% of the purchase price annually. Insurance on condos is an HO6 policy, and that will cost about $1,500 (+/-) per year. Other insurance is included in the HOA fee. You will also need to pay your own electricity, but all other items are included (water/sewer/trash, upkeep of amenities and grounds, security, exterior insurance, and Internet/basic cable).

Peak season is March 1 - Labor Day with bookings running into October (still great time to be at the beach).  Nov - Feb is slow, but Jan - March is Snowbird season, so you can still get some rentals in these months but they will not cover ALL your expenses. (Some money > no money.)

Happy to speak to you more about this.  Here's my calendar to schedule a call if you'd like:

https://calendly.com/talktojanuary/emeraldcoast

PS:  I'm from Panama City, and my territory runs from Destin to Cape San Blas, so I'm intimately familiar with STRs all along the coast.

Ok excellent info.  So the short term shop is it a management company or str lending broker?   

I imagine the turnover (cleaning and resetting) will be a large portion of expenses but as a guest in a str I see there is included a cleaning fee but I don't know if this covers all of the cleaning fee from whatever company administers that service.

As far as location goes, my theory is that the closer to the Gulf the better (obviously) however, there is predominantly condos along the coast. @John Underwood made a good point about oversaturation leading to lower nightly rates with condos.  But Im thinking that would affect all rates everywhere no matter location or building type.  

So in your time of doing str's and managing etc.  What path do you recommend?  What would you do if you were a beginner with your current knowledge?   

Sorry for all the questions but I really appreciate your valuable information.  Thank you again for your time.

No, The Short Term Shop is a real estate team. We are in 20 STR-friendly markets in 11 states. Our CEO, Avery Carl, wrote 2 books on STRs, both published by BP. Her latest is

https://store.biggerpockets.com/products/smarter-short-term-...

We help people find STRable properties and help them gather data to run numbers and decide if the properties meet their investing goals.

We also come with LOTS of recommendations for vendors to build your team.  

If you'd like more 1:1 info, please book a call with me.  I have way more info than I could possibly type/text here.  :  )