All Forum Posts by: Ben Scarborough

Quote from @JaNarria Johnson:

I would like to start a business in STR's and would like to know where I should start as far as my research, regarding, locations, what's acceptable as far as me renting the property and sub renting, rules and regulations, licenses and certifications.

Hey JaNarria! Exciting you are getting into the STR world! If you plan to only be renting your own places out, no licenses or certifications will be required to operate. As far as rules and regulations go, it is going to strictly depend on the market you decide to invest in.

To pick your market, I usually recommend that investors begin in the mountains due to less seasonality issues. If you pick the wrong beach market and you don't have other people's money to work with, it is going to be hard to build a profitable business since majority of beach markets will only rent well March-October (some even less). Some big mountain markets I still like for first buys are Gatlinburg, Blue Ridge, and the Western NC Mountains. 

Have fun with it though, a great place to start may just be a place you vacationed to frequently when you were younger. Don't overcomplicate it. Listen to where people are traveling and run the numbers in those markets to see how they check out! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, happy to help!

-Ben Scarborough

Thanks Jordan, sent him a message!

Quote from @Nicole Parry:

My husband and I are ready to invest, researched everything to death, but still need guidance from someone with experience who doesn’t want us to ‘join a program’ or ‘pay for a course.’  We are looking for alternatives to the ‘normal’ ways of investing. 
Is that possible and if so, where do we find someone like this? 

I can totally relate here as I have heavilyt seeked a genuine relationship with someone who is a few steps ahead of me in my niche, but this is certainly very difficult to find! You will get to talking to someone and feel like you have a good relationship growing with them, and then 2-3 conversations in, they tell you to sign up for their course for 10-15k, when you have spent the past 2-3x talking to them about how you only have 10-15k to invest with - in addition to the fact that it just took you 1-2 years to save up that money! Not sure if you are interested in STRs, but I would be happy to help some if you would like to reach out! I have been in your shoes before, and things aren't as far off as they may seem.

-Ben Scarborough

Quote from @Brandon Huang:

I run my Airbnb by myself but I still have a property manager and cleaning staff.

At the end of the month, I have to send the next month's reservations to both of them to inform them when to inspect and clean the property. I know that I can share my calendar but they don't have that workflow.

It annoys me so much that I have to do this manually every month. Anyone else have the same problem or found a solution?

Hey Brandon, have you tried using Guesty by any chance? One cool feature Guesty offers in addition to the capability of sharing calendars, is that you can set up scheduled messages to your team on each property that are specific to upcoming reservations. For example, you can automate it to where Guesty sends your cleaner a message when you get a new booking and again on the day of the clean (or the day before a clean) to make sure you are crossing your t's and dotting your i's. Happy to discuss more. Another option would be to find a cohost instead of a PM. This option can come out to take much smaller of a hit on your bottom line and the cohost can be in charge of making sure your cleaning team is staying in the loop with your listing for you, for example. Happy to discuss more, feel free to reach out!

-Ben Scarborough

Quote from @Ifeanyi Onyeonwu:

I am new to real estate investing and i am prepping a property for use as a short rental or a regular rental but don’t know where to start please any help with how to go about this will be appreciated 

Clueless iffy 

Not sure how far out you may be from having your STR ready for guests, but a great place to start would definitely be to binge some STR specific podcasts (there are several good ones I'd be happy to recommend) or finding a good mentor that isn't going to charge you just to tell you not to nickel and dime your furniture choices and amenities. Happy to discuss in more detail, feel free to reach out!

-Ben Scarborough

Quote from @Ryan Rock:

I have been living in Eastern Europe for the last 3 years. I had a couple STRs in the Tahoe area a few years back. They did great. I'm not as young as I used to be and decided I don't want to shovel snow anymore. Tahoe area can get feet of snow in a day or two multiple times per season. 

When I return to the US, I plan to go full time in an RV, just me and my dog. I would like to buy a couple of STRs. Maybe one in Arizona and another in Oregon. About the only thing I dislike more than shoveling snow is heat and humidity. I never thought I would be interested in Arizona but now I'm seeing some appeal for the winter months. If I had an escape route for when it starts to get hot in late May, or early February or whatever, I could get out of town. I could use my STRs when I'm there, or not even very much. A bonus would be having a place to park my RV that would not disrupt guests. 

I've got 350 liquid and would plan to pay cash. I've looked at Lake Havasu and Brookings, among others. LHC has tome condos with long parking spaces for boats. Brookings is more rural so RV parking might be easier. I think I'll be avoiding California but wouldn't rule it out entirely. I was born in LA and lived all my life in the Sacramento area, so it's home.

Just kicking around ideas and looking for input.

Hey Ryan, have you looked into the Southeast markets any? Several of the 2022 top 10 states for population growth are in the southeast and may be a great option to look into if you are looking for good year round markets. Feel free to reach out, happy to discuss in further detail!

-Ben Scarborough

Quote from @Ryan McKay:

Hey folks!

anyone have any fun/clever ideas on great ways to add additional revenue opportunities by offering onsite upcharge options to guests? 

i know a few people who partner with local chefs or massage specialists, but curious if anyone has offered with a company who helps to facilitate these types of things, OR, if anyone has put their own menu of additions together with success?

Hey Ryan!

We recently added bike rentals to our beach property using a new software called Mount and it may be an idea worth looking into... If you haven't heard of it yet, Mount is an upsell software that gives you the capability to rent out amenities at your property, such as bikes, paddle boards, kayaks, etc... When you sign up with Mount, they cover you under a pretty good insurance policy that is based around amenities. Next steps are Mount shipping you a label/sticker with a QR code on it, slap that QR code onto your amenity, and then you marketing it to your guests for hourly/daily rentals.

Feel free to reach out, happy to discuss more!

-Ben Scarborough

Quote from @David Warneke:

Hey All - 

New to the platform so I'm excited to get to know others and connect with likeminded individuals. 

(Hopefully) a simple question: what are some good short term rental calculators to use? I'm familiar with Airdna, but how accurate would you guys think that is? Ideally a calculator has the Occupancy Rate and suggested rental price BUT really looking for anything.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to connecting!  

Hey David,

I have one I created that I would be happy to share with you if you would like. You will still have to get the occupancy rate and daily rate and all information needed from viable sources, but the equations are all in there for you if you would like. Just let me know!

Hey everyone!

Just got my tickets to the Real Estate Robinsons STR Summit in Austin, TX happening next month and am hoping to connect with a few other STR investors that will also be attending. Please reach out!

Thanks,
Ben Scarborough

Quote from @Lauren Huskey:

I would really like to get into short term rentals. I have two rentals that I have held since 2016 with same tenants in it and it has worked out pretty well. I would like to buy a beach or mountain house that I can also use for my family to vacation but everything just seems so overpriced. I have about $55,000 that I could access using HELOC and cash, but I am worried to try to buy anything with this market and in case short term rentals will take a hit in the next year or two because of the economy, then I would be stuck with a payment I cannot afford. I really want to continue to build my portfolio though...any suggestions? I am also open to alternative investments, not necessarily STR.

Hey Lauren, I usually recommend that anyone just starting out in the STR space begins their journey in a mountain market! STRs are not passive income contrary to what some may say, and you are running a business start up. With starting up a business, you will run into speed bumps and slow downs as you learn how to best work your systems that fit your needs. That being said, the seasonality difference between a beach market and a mountain market can be significant depending on the markets you choose! Down here in Gulf Shores, you can count on March-October being pretty steady, but November and December can be very quiet outside of Christmas and Thanksgiving. However, in a mountain market like Gatlinburg, most homes that are operated well will stay relatively busy in November and December. Please feel free to connect or reach out if you have any questions. Happy to help!