All Forum Posts by: Alex S.

I'm known to hang around the Lowes scratch and dent aisle.

I looked into Carbondale in depth and almost bought an active AirBnB there.

I chatted with the city planning division and he was very clear that AirBnB is not allowed...but as he is personally the only enforcement, he assured me that he didn't care.  He even asked me to write a letter to the city council urging them to consider allowing STRs.  I did.

The city has a housing vacancy problem.  The university has been steadily shrinking in student enrollment and that is the only real draw, other than the regional hospital.

At the end of the day, I wasn't going to invest in an area that has banned STRs.

Agree with you @Michael Baum.  We have a ways to go before virtual learning becomes a positive step forward...if ever.  People need people to be happy and engaged.

We know that some communities are nomadic at their core.  I was in southern Oman and saw Bedouin families literally wandering through the desert (or so it seemed to my western eye).  They had their entire family and extended family with them.  That said, I've never heard of a nomadic person without a base of operations.  The closest thing would be young unmarried people, but the problem with being young is that you don't have any money.

Brandon Turner recently posted on his instagram that his latest business "monthinMaui.com" wasn't as successful as he hoped and people didn't want to or couldn't go to Maui for a month.

My prediction: we continue to see a shift in travel and preference for STRs over hotels, especially for family gatherings and vacations.  However, there is no permanent shift to MTR as a lifestyle and the pandemic was a brief blip on the radar for that behavior.

Here's the link to the full tweet: https://twitter.com/bchesky/st...

Do y'all think STRs will really turn into a new form of housing?  As the father of 4 little kids...I think we need remote schooling that works, in addition to remote work, before this can happen for "regular people."

Any of you guys transitioning to the MTR market?

Brent, don't beat yourself up over the time. You need to save the money up, start small, and build. Arbitrage with a partner doesn't sound like real estate investing, it sounds like starting a joint business. I don't know your family situation, but maybe you could deliver pizza on Fri/Sat nights (+$300/week). Sell some of your stuff. Switch up meals between PB&J, Ramen, & beans/rice bowls. You can get an FHA loan for 3.5% down on a primary residence. Buy a duplex/quad-plex and live in one unit while renting out the others. In 6 months from now you'd be in a much more powerful position to get started.

Dave Ramsey isn't too popular around here, but...he says, "live like no one else...so that you can live like no one else!"

I've been there, and it sucked.  I don't think you need a partner as much as you need the self-discipline to save some cash.  Even if you partner with someone, surprise expenses come up and you need to have SOME money on hand.

It will affect new purchases, but your CoC return metrics are based on fixed cost mortgages that don't change for 30yrs. The only other change will be repairs/utilities and they will be affected by inflation.

Will you live there also, or just an investment property?

California is actually fairly friendly toward ADUs and house hack STRs.  Davis, CA is a great spot.

@Brennan Vaughn

There isn't really a "hospitality" section on these forums...besides "Commercial Real Estate." CRE is so broad and you don't see much hotel/motel stuff on there, but a 7-unit building isn't going to follow most of the rules for AirBnBs that get discussed here all the time. So, I see why you'd ask about it here, but 95% of these folks are buying residential properties with residential loans and converting them to STRs.

As for the underwriting...who knows! The bank is going to be confused too and it'll be up to you to convince them that the STR income is sustainable and reliable. I'm sure some banks will get it and lend based on that income on a commercial loan, some won't. Either way, it would be more of a hotel/motel type of loan.

The short answer is...yes, it could work.  Can't say specially without knowing all the details of this specific place.

If there is a medium-sized population center nearby, it is likely that it'll be partially booked in the winter as well by non-vacationers.  How close is the nearest Hilton Garden Inn or Marriott Fairfield Inn?