All Forum Posts by: Bradley Chapman

I was hoping to pickup a few "deals" as a result of the pandemic in Charleston, but that dream ended pretty quickly as the demand for STR's in town have been on fire. Owners appear to have regained confidence and as a result inventory continues to remain scarce (which you already know).

Welcome to the Lowcountry (in advance)! Feel free to reach out with any questions related to Charleston and the surrounding areas as you begin your research on relocating and potentially investing.

Cheers!

Levi,

I have first hand experience in buying and selling operating STR's, and while you're unable to transfer an Airbnb listing there are absolutely ways to take advantage of the situation without "starting over." Partner and I recently purchased a duplex where both units were being run as STR's (very successfully). From the date of closing, the seller had 20K in bookings that we were obviously interested in maintaining, so we negotiated in the contract that seller would maintain property management responsibilities for bookings 60 days after closing to maintain continuity with guests already on his calendar. In return, seller received 10% of the booking fees. This also allowed us to have a 60 day ramp up period with our newly created Airbnb listings so there were no wasted months from the time we closed.

Lots of different ways to do these types of deals, but if generating revenue from the day you acquire the property is high priority, I would suggest a strategy that includes working with the seller for a period of time after closing.

Best of luck!

All of SC non-resident property owners participate in this wonderful tax rate.

My apologies, I should have suggested a few vetting questions in my last post. Some agents may withhold more detailed information until they have a relationship with you but a good starting point:

- Have you previously represented the purchase/sale of a STR or a property targeted to be transitioned into a short-term rental?

- Do you own and/or operate a STR? (While not the end all, those that have skin in the game should have a good sense of the market performance).

- What's a realistic cap rate for STR's in the area?

- Can you breakdown any regulations or ordinances applicable to the area of interest?

A well versed agent should be able to provide quality responses to these questions, as well as weed out the inexperienced. As to your question about finding one, that can be tricky depending on how popular the STR market is in the area you're looking. PB is a great starting point! Also, some brokerages advertise this specialty service (google search), otherwise property management companies that service the area should have some good referrals.

Good luck!

Howdy Jeff - You've already received good feedback from the others that have responded, but I would also suggest tracking down a realtor that knows the STR market in that area. As an agent in Charleston, SC I provide my clients all the necessary data to make informed decisions when looking to invest in this space. Revenue breakdown based on location and number of beds/baths, expenses, operating services (cleaners, PM's, handyman, etc...), regulations, and anything else pertinent to the business.

Track down a good agent and they should be able to help you hone in on the right property type versus trying to boil the ocean yourself. 

I agree with a lot of what's already been posted regarding STR's and future success. One area that I believe will flourish in this area as well is the 30-60 day rentals. Working from home is obviously on the rise and I believe the workforce of the future is going to take advantage of this. Obviously Sonder is all in on this and I think this is a great option for STR owners.

Living in Charleston, I've had numerous conversations with individuals who packed up their laptop and came down from NY, Jersey, and Boston and have been hunkering down until the dust settles, renting STR's on a month-to-month basis.

Lastly, investing in the South should be on top of the criteria list. 

I like Mashvisor for one reason, you can export the data and actually make sense out of what's being reported. Conversely, the reason I can't take the numbers too seriously is they do not collect and report Vrbo (or other platform) bookings. So anything on the Airbnb calendar that's "blocked" whether a Vrbo booking or you shut down for a month to do a renovation, they assume its a booking and apply a nightly average to those dates.

As for Airdna, the numbers are much more accurate since they also pull from Vrbo, however you can't see the data that makes up the reports unless you pay for an additional subscription. Again, be careful when reading the reports from the dashboard it can be misleading. They will report annual rev numbers based on a given property that may have 10 total bookings.

If you could mesh the two tools together, it would be a great source of information. As an agent and investor in Charleston SC, I've been able to acquire a lot of data from sellers as part of the process in analyzing a potential deal. Anyone looking to invest in STR's within a market they're not too familiar with, I'd highly suggest seeking out an agent in that city who can help navigate the waters. A quality agent who understands their market AND short-term rentals should be able to give you the most accurate data.

Take a look at Lima One as an alternate option.