All Forum Posts by: Avery Carl

Thank you so much for buying the book! Yes, The Short Term Shop can help you identify the best market of the ones that we have agents/offices in:

The Smoky Mountains area of TN (Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Sevierville area)

The Emerald Coast (Destin/30A/Panama City Beach FL)

Gulf Shores, AL

Blue Ridge and surrounding areas, GA

Orlando, FL

Broken Bow, OK

The Forgotten Coast (St George Island, Mexico Beach, Cape San Blas FL)

Galveston/Crystal Beach TX

And by the end of the year we will also have offices in the Outer Banks, Boone/Banner Elk/Blowing Rock, and Maggie Valley/Bryson City areas of North Carolina

I hear great things about Scottsdale but to be honest I haven't looked hard enough at it to form an independent opinion. 

Thank you so much for buying it! I am so happy you are finding value with us! We have 1031 exchanged our interest in 2 properties that we had a partnership on. I don't know how that works but we did it with @Dave Foster the G.O.A.T. of 1031 exchange intermediaries, so direct any questions about that to him. We 1031 exchanged those proceeds from 2 small properties into 1 larger property. That's it. I'll never sell any of my other ones haha. I always regret selling stuff.

I am seeing in the 4's right now but as you know rates fluctuate.

Both! It's more about cash on cash return than occupancy rate. If I've got a property that only books one day a year, but it books that day for $1 million, what do I care if it's empty the rest of the year? But if it books 365 days a year but can only get $10 a night, that's a problem. Gross annual income is more important than occupancy rate. And then, of course, cash on cash return is the real metric to pay attention to.

Depending on the amount of tourism it can be a great opportunity. If tourism supports it, go for it. I recently bought an STR on Cape San Blas in the Forgotten Coast area of FL. There is not a lot of data there currently because 98% of the properties are run by property managers who do not use Airbnb and VRBO. However, we have seen some tourists who are over the crowds of the Emerald Coast scooting over to vacation in the Forgotten Coast because it's quieter. So while the black and white data isn't there just yet, it presents a really great opportunity to be an early adopting self manager in that market.

I have used the following methods personally: HELOC on my primary for down payment, 401k loan for my down payment, and a partnership on 2 separate occasions!

Let's shine a light on that saturation worry. Just because a market is getting a lot of attention does not mean it is saturated. Saturation happens when a property with no or few STR's is suddenly flooded with them. Basically everything that has ever been built in the Smokies, Destin, or other similar markets has been built specifically to be an STR. There were STR's on the Emerald Coast before there was even electricity to run to them. So in these markets it's not really that a ton of new STR's are entering the markets, it's that existing STR's are changing hands.

Focus on the numbers. There are lots of data sources out there with lists of the best places to buy STR's. Start there. And if the numbers look good in several places, just choose the place you'd be most excited to own something!

Holding it all baby! There has never been a property that I regretted buying, but I have regretted selling almost every time.

I am very very pro self management. Especially for investors who are really trying to boot strap and grow their portfolios. With that being said there can be a time and place for having a property manager. So if you really just feel like you do not want to do it yourself (and you absolutely can do it yourself), look for smaller management companies WHO UTILIZE THE TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE such as pricing optimization tools (ex: Haven Vacation Rentals or @Collin Hays on the forums in The Smokies). Make sure you ask about every single fee to avoid companies who practice rent shifting. Make sure that you ask plenty of questions to make sure you are working toward the common goal of optimizing the income for both you and the manager, and not just the manager.