All Forum Posts by: Allen Duan

Hi Yindy, I don't think this counts as a business for sale. It's not any different than selling LTRs with tenants and a property management company in place. A buyer can choose to keep the PM or hire a new one, unless you have a contractual obligation with them. And a buyer can choose to buy the furniture with the property or go with an entirely different strategy than STR/MTR. Unless you're self managing and have systems and a team in place that you're including with the properties, that's the only situation that would make it feel like a business for sale to me.

Hey Lucas, rental arbitrage is how I got my start in the furnished rental space. My business does property management now, but it still holds a place in my heart for my origin story. 

I'm in Los Angeles, so it may be similar to your market, in that long-term rents are high. What I've found in L.A. is that the delta between long-term and mid-term rent is not enough to make MTR arbitrage worthwhile here. I do know other arbitrage operators who do MTR specifically in other markets where it is definitely a viable business model, and I believe that's because their long-term rents are lower and there's more margin there for MTR arbitrage.

You're on the right track with your thinking. Short-term arbitrage will make a lot more sense here in LA and probably in San Diego as well, except for regulations. So, you have to kind of pick which path you want to take, and I agree with you that the arbitrage is a great way to get started at building cash flow. Remember, arbitrage is a business, not investing; it is a real estate business similar to property management as a real estate business but it is not real estate investing. So, you are creating a job for yourself if that's what you want - that's awesome. If it's not what you want, then just keep that in mind. 

We don't do property showings when they're occupied. For the same reason you've said, out of respect to our current guests. We're also comfortable with the possibility this turns off some leads because we have enough lead flow for bookings. If I was struggling to get a property booked and we had a great lead who absolutely needed a showing before booking, I'd consider asking our current guest if we can show the home. Maybe I'd send them a gift afterwards =)

Don't make the mistake of assuming travel nurses are the only or primary MTR guest type. There are many other MTR guest types, especially for four bedroom home. Look up comps on Airbnb to get an idea of the supply as well as how much you could rent for as an MTR. Four bedroom homes are great for insurance bookings for example. My gut tells me MTR will be a good option with the right marketing. We have a handful of four bedrooms in Los Angeles that do great.

There are some good answers here. She doesn't need her own email account per say. Her daughter can help her with that and send it to you. I'm not sure if Rentredi requires a separate account for her to esign the lease, but I would be comfortable if the daughter helped her sign electronically as well.

Hi Vanessa, this is all about market research. Just like any other business, you need to get an idea of what the marketplace/tenants will pay for and what they want to buy. But it's always going to be a prediction until you actually start offering your product and see who will buy and for how much.

The best way I've found to predict MTR performance is to look at comps. You'll get an idea of pricing, demand/occupancy, amenities and property set up.

Hi Summer! I don't think this is a problem specific to property managers. It's a problem for a badly run business. I own a MTR property management company and we do our best to respond quickly to our clients. It's a matter of priority, as well as building the systems and team necessary. As Jonathan said, if they don't cut it, they don't get your business.

I assume you're asking in context of instant book on Airbnb right?

You're totally correct. A 5 week window would kill your bookability since you'll be limited to only 1 months bookings for a very specific window of dates. Unless you're market has an overwhelming demand for 1 months stays, you'll struggle. Essentially your effort to avoid vacant gaps will create the very thing you're trying to avoid. 

Here's what we do. We have our Airbnb calendar open for 9 months out (12 would work too). And we use pricing to solve the vacant gaps problem. If someone books and creates a 2 week vacant gap, their price has a premium that compensates for that gap. This way, our listing will come up for searches for any date range we have available. And the price for every specific date range will vary depending on how it affects our calendar.

A pricing principle for MTR and STR: every booking reduces the value of the dates before and after the booking. As long as the booking value is greater than that reduction, it's a good booking.

The Schlage Encode is the gold standard for smartlocks, due to it's high built quality and software compatibility to integrate with many different apps. The second is essential if you want to set up automation to create custom codes for each guest. August locks are good if you need/want to use th existing deadbolt.

We've never worried about changing mailbox keys. I don't think the effort is worth the risk reduction.

When we were focused on rental arbitrage we had our system down to furnishing a property in 2-3 days once all items have been delivered . IKEA and Amazon in stock items will get you items delivered the quickest. Then get a few people to unpack and put everything together in a few days. I know delivery times will be longer if the property is more remote.