All Forum Posts by: Paul Cox

@Vincent Chen...I'm still pretty new to this whole STR thing and REI in general, so I don't know if the numbers were good or great when we bought in the area. I just know that I needed to stop sitting on the sidelines always wanting to do this, but never pulling the trigger. My wife finally asked me "Are we going to do this or just keep talking about it?" That was all I needed to pull the trigger and 30 days later, we had an offer on a place and were in the process of getting our first cabin. We were doing great until the virus hit, but there's always something that can hit you in REI from what I've been told and read, so if its not a pandemic, it may be tenants that stiff you for rent for the last 3 months and you have to evict them or one of the numerous stories that @Paul Sandhu shares with us on this forum. I'm just new and naive enough that figuring out the numbers for CoC or ROI or any other algorithm on REI isn't my primary concern right now. I know I will learn that as I grow and will do things smarter in the future. For right now though, I'm happy that I'm in the game. Best of luck my friend and we're all here to help where we can...Paul

@leora 

@Leora Merrell, Did you guys find your next cabin?

@Alan Ford, I'd be interested in learning how you've financed # 2 and the new construction property. We purchased our first cabin back in November in PF thanks to @Avery Carl and @Luke Carl guidance and direction and @Parker Borofsky with help in the lending arena. We did a second home loan with 10% down and then prepaid the Mortgage Insurance. It was doing great until the virus hit, but we're actively looking for the next cabin. Our first cabin is a 1 bdrm with a loft and so we're looking for the next one to be bigger.  Anyway, always looking to learn from my fellow investors.  Thanks again

Paul

@Mark Miles,

I'm using AirBnB and VRBO...I pretty much mirror both links and because you can sync the calendars, I'm not worried about double bookings. VRBO seems more geared to families at maybe a bit higher price point. AirBnB always wants me to lower my nightly rate and VRBO seems to always want me to raise my nightly rate. I'm not sure why 99% of my bookings come from AirBnB. I've got the same listing (identical) on both platforms and try to keep the pricing identical as well, yet I've gotten only 5 bookings with VRBO and almost 50 with AirBnB, and that is just since November. Now with the virus issue, those bookings are turning into cancellations. So we hope and pray for a brighter future and are optimistic that our market in the Smokies will turn around sooner than later.

Paul

@John Craven

We purchased our cabin back in November and put it on the vacation market just before Thanksgiving. We were doing very well even during the slow season and were pretty much booked through June. When the virus hit and the area started closing down, I got about nine cancellations to the tune of over 5K and then we just closed the Cabin down for the month of April. I still have bookings for May and June right now, but we'll see what happens with the opening of the area.

I honestly believe it's not an if, but a when it opens again scenario...If you follow the Facebook pages on the area, people are anxious to get there as soon as the restrictions lift. So, if you can carry the cabin with your W2 and have the reserves, I would say to just enjoy this quite time, get done to the cabin anything you'd like to have done and then buckle down for the onslaught that's going to happen as soon as the restrictions lift and things start opening again.  Even if it goes into June or July, people will be back, and will want someplace to stay!  Stay well and congratulations...

Paul

Agree with @Luke Carl...We will remain positive and take this time to do some little improvements to our place. We are not over leveraged as well and so we should be able to ride this out with our 1 property. For those with multiple properties, you may have other choices to make and or issues to face if this goes for an extended time, however, I really believe that once we get through this, the Vacation destinations are going to explode with business. Best wishes to all of you as we get through this together.

Paul

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg TN, have not enacted an official ban on STRs yet, but they have pleaded with both the public and now the tourism business to stop trying to attract visitors to the area. The mayor of Pigeon Forge actually recorded a video telling everybody to please stay home and said, "We'll still be here to welcome you with open arms when this thing is over". After I watched the video, I went ahead and cancelled my one remaining guest for April and turned down two other requests to book in April, and then blocked the whole month out to try and honor their request. I just felt like it was the responsible thing to do as a member of the STR community there.

Paul

@John Underwood...Same here!

@Mike V. My last couple of cancellations which stretched into April and May, AirBnB hasn't automatically issued them a refund. They have left it up to me.  The guests have reached out to me for cancellation asking how lenient I am going to be with my policy and I've told them about AirBnB's policy on giving full refunds in regards to Covid-19...They then cancel and I have gotten the following from AirBnB:

It appears that I can reject the cancellation and collect on my policy. I'm choosing to give full refunds for all bookings up till yesterday. We'll see if AirBnB will honor my policy or if it's a moot point...

UPDATE:

So just had my first booking with my new notice that I posted above that just filled this upcoming weekend following two previous cancellations for the same weekend. Guest said he understood about all the closings and just asked if the restaurants were still doing pick up, which a number of them still are. He inquired first and then booked after I answered him. I'll take it.

Paul