All Forum Posts by: Blake Dailey

I love this strategy! My wife and I do the same with a detached apartment on our property. When you are just starting out its important to know that over 70% of all short term rental guests search and book with Airbnb. The other 30% or less comes from sites like VRBO, Trivago, Booking.com, etc.

Many will preach that its best to be across all these sites in order to attract all of the potential guests looking. I disagree, however. I think that if you target everyone you will miss a lot of people. 

In Short Term Rentals (STRs) pictures and reviews are the most important aspects that cause guests too book. GET PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS. It's worth it. After that build up your reviews.

The best way to build your reviews is focus on one platform to get the most guests and thus the most reviews on that platform. And it makes the most sense to start with the largest. So start with Airbnb only, build up your reviews and become a SuperHost. Once you reach this point you will start to see more bookings and higher revenue. At that point it would make sense to list across all the platforms as the Airbnb will be optimized and you can then slowly do the same across the other platforms. #SuperHostTip.

I think the availability of good deals is up to your ability to find good deals, and even more so to recognize good deals. You can absolutely find the spreads, even now. Maybe not in every market, but the principles apply everywhere so you can go can find a market that works.

I have a bank that does 80% LTV commercial loans with no seasoning for my refinances. It's a local credit union who does portfolio loans, so they have more flexibility and less strict standards. And I am not the only one that I know who gets loans like these, and this is not the only bank. But I also found this bank by calling every bank in the county and knowing the questions to ask. So again it goes into putting in the work upfront. With that being said, plan on 75% LTV because that is found more often.

And the soft costs can be that low if you pay cash, which you can do if the deal works and you know you will get it back upon refinance.

BRRRR still works. David Greene says it in his book and I know Brandon Turner has mentioned it in his book: the key to BRRRR all starts with finding a good deal. You have to buy at a value where the numbers work. And yes there are still areas where the numbers work, but with how competitive the market is right now it will take work. They generally don't exist directly on the MLS, and if they are then they are hiding. So, one has to find AND recognize good deals and have the knowledge/connections to execute.

I've done this with South Oak Title. I deal with Emily there and she's great - she works with several other investor friends of mine so she knows the drill. They would be worth a call. 

It will depend what your end goal is and what kind of financing you expect to get. I refinance my BRRRRs into commercial loans with a local credit union. Doing so generally requires an LLC and to set up a bank account with them. To setup your LLC and get and EIN (required to set up a business bank account, like a social security number for businesses) it can be done pretty quickly online and for $200 or less. The perk is that it limits your liability to the holdings of that LLC, so I would recommend based on that.

You can get lower interest rates with non-commercial loans but will eventually hit your limit. But with commercial loans you can also keep them off of your personal balance sheet.

I've done BRRRR'bnbs here in Panama City and they have worked out really well. There is more consistent demand year round compared with the beach market but also lower gross income during the high season. But mine still stay full with beach goers all summer as the affordable option for vacations 20 minutes away from the beach.

What takes more time to achieve financial freedom? Putting 20% down on a rent ready property, and waiting while saving to do it again with 20% down OR using the same cash every 6 months (or less if you find the right lender) to build your portfolio of cash flowing rentals with velocity. I'm willing to take delayed gratification and work hard today so that I can relax the rest of the week. I think the same is true with BRRRRs. You do the work upfront to achieve velocity and reach your goals faster with less basis (money at risk).

This week we will be talking short term rentals, have an around the room as always for people to share, and then open networking. Hope to see you all there!

@Steve Oswald I am transitioning my long term units to Century 21. I've talked with several in the area and recently decided on them to free up some time and energy. My contact there is Phillip and he has been on top of it. They do a flat 10% so that's nice too that there are no extra lease up fees, etc. Hope to see you Wednesday at the meetup!

@David Li renting on Airbnb can be a game changer if you are in a good market for it. For my market Airbnb income is at least double what long term rental income would be. A great book to read if you want to do Airbnb is Optimize Your BNB. It’s one I had to pause reading to go implement on Airbnb so it was solid.

I know a lot of investors in the area are using Lending Home. They might be worth a call to see their terms. I'm not sure what they currently are but I believe usually about 9-9.5% with 2 points.