All Forum Posts by: Bob Lett

As the title says, I'm interested in acquiring a STVR property in an area that has both summer demand for lake recreation, as well as close proximity to ski resorts.  I have experience in the Lake Lanier GA area, but the summers can get quite hot and the winter can be pretty dead, so I've been interested in checking out Boyne City, MI.  Id love to find a place that's more pleasant in the summer in case we want to use it as an occasional Atlanta getaway as well. Does anyone have any similar suggestions for places with relatively nice summers in a lake town as well as ski resort proximity to help with winter demand? Anywhere in the U.S. could work. Thanks for any input!

 Sounds great!! Happy to help in any way that I can!

I would agree with @Logan Laperriere and say that you should look for a Multi family home to start with. I have a SFHs, duplexes and a 4-plex and would like to eventually sell the SFHs and 1031 exchange them into MFs. Cashflow is tough on SFHs and better on duplexes/MFs imo. There's a lot of competition for both SFHs and MFs in GR, but SFH owners NEED a place to live and I find I cannot and don't want to compete with them in a bidding war, as I simply can't make my numbers work.

Buy a duplex and Owner Occupy the one side.  Buy for as little as 5% down on a duplex, owner occupied, yes - you read that right - 5% down!

Live it in for a year and repeat the process, buy another duplex, hopefully with the same program if it still exists a year down the line.  Then you'll have 3 units occupied and you're be living in 1.  Rinse and repeat!

My husband and I are wanting to purchase our first property as an investment in Grand Rapids

Either multi-unit, live in one unit rent out the other(s). Or SFH, live in for a year and then rent. In Grand Rapids, do investors have more luck renting multi units or single family homes?

Another idea we’ve been dabbling with given western Michigan’s coast is short term rentals in one of the beach towns along the lake.

Would love to hear people’s thoughts, share their experiences, or give any advice regarding the GR market and surround area. 

Killington is about to pop. I think Vail is about to build a new resort there, but you may want to fact-check me. 

 Of course, but you have to add it to your favorites to give me a boost in the algo ;)

airbnb.com/h/thevermontaframe

You can also find us at www.thevermontaframe.com which has links to direct booking, VRBO and our social media. We've invested a good bit into marketing and have been building a solid email list since 2020. It's helped, but we're still considering adding a hot tub to boost our revenue!

@Bob LettYes, would definitely partner with the right person. I have done that in the past and it has worked out well for me.

I think to find a co-host, you should put it out there on BP or look for the active hosts in your area that are killing it & ask them if they would be interested in co-hosting for you. 
 

Quick clarification here after reviewing my post. 80k is the gross revenue not net. Net is a little over 40k.

Headline says it: The recent emphasis on creating direct-booking sites for your STRs and MTRs is overrated. Prove me wrong.

Work/money not offset by savings
The amount of work -- and money -- to build a site and do proper SEO to get noticed is not offset by the small amount of savings from not paying booking fees on sites like Airbnb and Furnished Finder.

It's not how humans search
Direct booking sites ignore how people search for short-term rentals or medium-term rentals. I want a vacation rental for my family? I go to VRBO or Airbnb. Who else but Boomers are slow-typing into Google "V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n R-e-n-t-a-l T-a-h-o-e"? That ain't the future, folks.

Corollary to MTR-insurance relationship
This reminds me of @Erin Spradlin's take on the current emphasis in medium-term rental world on creating relationships with an insurance company. Can it be done? Sure. But why? You've got platforms like Airbnb, Zillow, Furnished Finder that reach millions. Why tether your success to one tenant stream?

Most cynical take
Another Erin take here: The over-complication of real estate only serves vendors who want to insert themselves between you and the STR money. You lose thousands of dollars to Airbnb fees without a direct booking site? Pay me thousands of dollars and I'll set up your website to fix that. 

Similar feelings here about the expensive courses and conferences targeted to first-time investors. Give me $5,000 to teach you how to buy a home and rent it out. That's $5,000 that could have gone toward a downpayment on the first investment, which is where you'll learn the most anyway.

Where are you guys finding deals in OC? All on market?