All Forum Posts by: Bethany Lewis

Does anyone on Bigger Pockets know the best tools for a Real Estate Investor to assess the earning potential of a rental property to determine if it's a smart purchase, and whether or not it should be used for long or short term rental? I've heard a thing or two about Mashvisor.com but not sure if it's the best tool out there. 

Thanks!

I work with a number of Real Estate Agents and I had one in Miami the other day say that Miami Real Estate Agents are limited in their interactions with vacation home buyers. He said of course they are able to sell a home to a buyer that they intend to use for vacation rental, as long as the community permits it, but that agents are not permitted to "assist with vacation rental purchases". This statement came up when discussing rental income estimates for homes that agents can use to share with their clients to show earning potential of a home.

If you're an agent out there, I'd love to hear your input on what these limitations might entail. What might "not permitted to assist in vacation rental purchases" mean?

Thanks for any input you may have!

What an amazing transformation! Glad you made a profit and learned such valuable lessons along the way.

Okay, so here's our dilemma. My husband and I bought a beautiful 2-bedroom, 1905 brick home in Englewood about 2.5 years ago. Gorgeous original wood and oozing charm, on a large lot as well. We fell in love with it and at the time it was just a little bit pricey for us but the owners loved us and thought we'd love their home too so they sold it to us for less than their asking price. Two weeks later, the Denver and surrounding area housing market skyrocketed and we were thanking our lucky stars. We love this home and fantasized that we would NEVER let it go. 1 year after moving in we found out that we were unexpectedly going to have a little girl and life shifted. We made the second bedroom into a nursery and we've had thoughts about expanding the house if we decide to have any more kids. It's simply too small if we have more kids.

We recently had an offer from a builder to buy our property for more than it's worth. They want to scrape it and build a duplex...very popular notion in Denver and its surrounding neighborhoods. Depending on how much they are willing to offer, do we sell this home that means so much to us? Where our first child was born? Our first home together, with a sweet story? And now the housing market is so crazy, if we want to move to something decent with enough room, we'd be paying close to twice what we bought our home for? We're so torn. How do we make this decision? Anyone out there with a similar experience that could share some insight?

We'll be calling them today to find out what the offer is, but...we're procrastinating because we love the home so much :(

Hello BiggerPockets Community!

Bethany Lewis here. I'm new to BiggerPockets and excited about what I've already learned. With hundreds of conversations to follow, blog posts, podcasts, etc. it's easy to find myself in a BiggerPockets black hole. It is a deep well of valuable information. I am a Denver-based marketing professional currently work with Evolve Vacation Rental Network, which is on a mission to help vacation home owners make the most of their properties and help them keep up with the ever-changing, lightning-fast online world of vacation rentals. So I'm new to two industries: 1. short-term vacation rentals and 2. Real estate investment. Looking forward to becoming an expert in both and happy to be learning from so many pros on BiggerPockets!

Would you ever consider short-term vacation vs. a long-term rental? Is the home located in a part of Florida that permits Short-term vacation rentals? And if so, is it an area that might draw vacationers looking on sites like VRBO or HomeAway?

Hi @Willow Loney. Are you looking into short-term or vacation rental property management or strictly long term?