My name is Dominique, and I am new to the real estate business. I live in Houston, TX, and I plan on starting in the short term rental hosting business. I am currently searching for a property to rent and sublease on Airbnb and other short term rental sites (rental arbitrage). I have done a lot of research here on bigger pockets and have analyzed the market. I am currently searching in the Spring area near the airport, the woodlands, Splashtown, and hospitals nearby. Right now, I am having trouble finding a property. I have reached out to a few property managers but to no avail. I am not sure how to find owners themselves to pitch to. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions specific to this market? Any info is much appreciated.
Houston, TX · Member since 2020 · 1 post · 4 votes
5y
@Dominique Colas This post looks a bit stale but are you still in the market for potential rental arbitrage properties? My company has a large property with great profit potential that just became vacant. We’re looking to link up with a responsible lessee including those operating rental arbitrage.
Hi Dominique! Welcome to Bigger Pockets. It's great to hear about your plans for pursuing rental arbitrage in the Houston area. I can't speak from experience, but--if you haven't done so already--perhaps consider diving deep into for-rent postings on Craigslist, Apartments.com, Trulia, Hotpads, and other similar sites. The postings created by a property management company will likely include the property management company's information in the description (they may even have their name watermarked on all of the listing photos). Listings created by the owners who self-manage are likely to be less formulaic.
With regards to opportunities specific to Houston, consider local for sale Facebook groups and classified ads from the local newspapers and websites (perhaps the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Press have relevant listings). It may even be worth posting a detailed ad of what you're looking for and proposing in the "Apts/Housing" section of Craigslist and then reposting this every few days or each week. Your post may resonate with someone who is in the process of listing a traditional rental but who had never previously considered arbitrage.
Please keep us posted on this thread on how you ultimately find your successful leads. More than anything, I imagine it's a game rooted in persistence and casting a wide net. Best of luck!
Houston, TX · Member since 2020 · 1 post · 4 votes
5y
@Dominique Colas This post looks a bit stale but are you still in the market for potential rental arbitrage properties? My company has a large property with great profit potential that just became vacant. We’re looking to link up with a responsible lessee including those operating rental arbitrage.
@Melica Thayer I’d be interested in your property. I too am having a hard time finding a property here in the Houston area. Would love to discuss further.
@Melica Thayer I am looking for properties or landlords that will allow rental Arbitrage.
As a rental owner, my advice: Come up with a pitch. Explain who you are, your experience, the #'s you came up with to show you'll have the rent. Offer a larger deposit. Explain that you're investing in the property with furnishings, etc.
You'll do a lot better than just saying "Hi can I rent your home to do airbnb?"
@Cody L. Thank you so much! I’m based in Houston, Tx. I’m a little worried when it comes to apartment complexes so I wonder if I should focus on condos or townhomes that way I can speak directly to the owners/ or landlords?
@Cody L. Thank you so much! I’m based in Houston, Tx. I’m a little worried when it comes to apartment complexes so I wonder if I should focus on condos or townhomes that way I can speak directly to the owners/ or landlords?
I have apartments and I allow it. I just don't allow "one off". So an investor has to be well capitalized. Meaning if I have a 10 unit building I don't want to lease one unit to STR. I'll do all 10. Or if there is a 10 unit made up of two buildings, or two 'sides', I'll let an STR person take one side/building/chunk.
In Montrose I have a 10 unit that's made up of a 6 and 4 unit building. A guy does STR with the 6 unit side. I have a 32 unit in Montrose with 10 units facing W Alabama (the other 22 units face into a courtyard). An STR guy leases the 10 facing W Alabama. Downtown I have a 32 unit that's made up of 2x 16 unit buildings. I had a guy leasing 1 full 16 unit building but Covid killed him (not literally) and he had to give them all up. Now he's trying to get them back but we've leased them to term tenants.
I'm in other way around. I'm looking for airbnb rental arbitrager that would like to rent out my property. Is there a website or channel that can connect both of us ?
Property Manager · New York City · Member since 2017 · 61 posts · 28 votes
5y
@Dominique Colas Nice to meet you virtually! I would recommend reaching out landlords who are doing for rent by owner. It is all a numbers again, working on your pitch to tell landlords why they should work with you.
Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2021 · 35 posts · 35 votes
5y
Not sure if this thread is still ongoing. But I am willing to listen to pitches from airbnb rental arbitragers with experience. Thanks. House is in the 77021 area, 8 mins from the medical center.
@Cody L. Thank you so much! I’m based in Houston, Tx. I’m a little worried when it comes to apartment complexes so I wonder if I should focus on condos or townhomes that way I can speak directly to the owners/ or landlords?
@Cody L. Thank you so much! I’m based in Houston, Tx. I’m a little worried when it comes to apartment complexes so I wonder if I should focus on condos or townhomes that way I can speak directly to the owners/ or landlords?
I don't know that I can make that decision or offer input. I don't do STR. I own several apartment buildings. We don't do STR directly. We have a small handful of partners who lease our properties to do STR
Not sure if this thread is still ongoing. But I am willing to listen to pitches from airbnb rental arbitragers with experience. Thanks. House is in the 77021 area, 8 mins from the medical center.
Hello Imeh, is your property still available? If so, I am interested in speaking to you. Thank you!
Hello, I know that this thread is quite aged. However, I thought I’ll go out on a limb. I am also looking for a property in Houston to start an Airbnb business if anyone has any properties available. All of the advice listed this full of knowledge and I will definitely try those methods as well.
Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
2y
I used to reply, talk in DM about what we have, etc, but at this point I've given up. 95% of the people we'd talk to about leasing our properties so they could STR never moved forward (and most of those, we just never heard back from)
So now when someone reaches out, we ask a few questions first. Starting with 'send us a list of your current portfolio and a bio'. Since we've started asking that question, we've got no replies. And that's saved us a ton of time.
We still have about 60 units leased to people who do STR. About 15 different operators.
@Shardea Miller My advice to you would be this: Put together some type of presentation, designed to 'sell' people on the idea of allowing you to rent their property for airbnb. Once you have your pitch, look for properties that are for lease by individual owners. Reach out to them with your pitch. If they follow up with you, follow up back. It's a numbers game. If only 1 in 10 will even reply, you have to make sure you're latching onto those leads hard.
To crush it in RE , you just have to be better than most. The good news is, most people are quite lazy. So it's not hard to stand out.
@Cody L. thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it!! From all of the research I’ve been doing I’ve learned that consistency it’s going to be key.
My name is Dominique, and I am new to the real estate business. I live in Houston, TX, and I plan on starting in the short term rental hosting business. I am currently searching for a property to rent and sublease on Airbnb and other short term rental sites (rental arbitrage). I have done a lot of research here on bigger pockets and have analyzed the market. I am currently searching in the Spring area near the airport, the woodlands, Splashtown, and hospitals nearby. Right now, I am having trouble finding a property. I have reached out to a few property managers but to no avail. I am not sure how to find owners themselves to pitch to. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions specific to this market? Any info is much appreciated.
Thank you.
If I can help as a Realtor (who lives minutes from Splashtown), contact me! There are townhomes and condos for lease on the MLS. We would just have to check on what they'll allow. Let me know!