All Forum Posts by: Brian Barch

Depends on your goals.
do you want to use for personal use?

How long to you plan to hold?

As a general rule for newbies, I recommend inexpensive places that have upside via modest design changes.  Smaller the better.

1) easier to clean

2) small places tend to have higher occupancy 

3) lower initial investment

4) lower risk while you learn

I like SFH, less direct competition and no HOA.

1) LTR and STR are long game strategies. Be okay with that

2) I would learn on a smaller, less expensive property. Better occupancy, easier to clean, less risk

3) the more mature the market, the more you need a property that stands out. 

4) know what amenities are expected for your target market

Have been to myrtle beach for golf trips For decades. If Hilton head is white collar, myrtle beach is the blue collar cousin. Great beaches, affordable, kitschy as hell (a la Branson, gatlinburg, Wisconsin dells, etc).

Do note the seasonality and make sure it’s well baked into your numbers. I golf there in march, and it’s somewhat of a ghost town. That said, if you want to compete for golf groups, you need to package the room fee with course packages

I would stick with NY for the following reasons:

1) close to more population

2) lower cost

3) smaller places in general are holding up better to slowdowns

4) Topton isnt close enough to the smokies, or Asheville, or Atlanta, it’s in the mountains but not seen as a destination for mountain activities

These answers won’t tell you much of anything about your situation. Those that timed the market well before the maturation of STRs when interest was cheap will have vastly different financials that one buying today. 

Broadly speaking, anyone that says it’s passive income, or that touts replacing their W2 income in a short time span is either lying, or in the top top of their class. Real estate has always been a get rich slow technique for most. I don’t necessarily think STRs are a shortcut, despite being a fan of them.

We bought in late 2022 (we weren’t naive to the market dynamics/timing, we simply finally had the down payment at that time and it serves as our vacation home as well).

We put 10% down and probably cash flow $500/mo, but hard to fully say as we are just now entering busy season. Even at that, we are outperforming our peers in the market by a solid 20 pts on occupancy

Awesome. I would use dynamic pricing if you want to maximize revenue. Also, VRBO has dropped off for me, such that AirBnb now makes up 100% of my bookings

“Smokies…”

lol

I like smaller:

it appeals to more people
has higher occupancy

Easier to clean

Even when managing from afar, I had many opportunities to talk to locals. The call to set up my internet, the calls to get handyman quotes, the relationship I built with the plumber, etc. we had to set up hot tub maintenance. All these people were a wealth of information and referrals. Also, reach out to other Airbnb hosts in the area.