All Forum Posts by: Chris Allen

Welcome @Karim Elsayed, I'm really glad you are getting started in real estate. I myself am an RN (Cardiac ICU). I can tell you my original plan was to go back to CRNA School, but I have since turned to real estate as what I feel led to pursue. House Hacking is a great place to start. With a wife and kid you will need to have the support to pursue real estate. I started out house hacking, then moved to a BRRRR, then after doing some travel nursing, I saved up and bought a cabin in TN to run as an STR. There are low down payment options for you to buy in your own name and plan to occupy, so I would say you might start looking there while you continue to save up. May want to look at out of state investing (I live about an hour north of Austin in a lower price point area and invest here as well as Tennessee).

@Duncan Hayes, @Travis Rogers I sent you both a DM. 

@Alyssa Markowitz I live in Killeen right now, but I have worked at Scott & White for the last 3-4 yr as a nurse. I have a house in Temple that is being remodeled and just got a house in Belton. I would love to connect with you and your husband. 

@Ryan Kelly, @Jill Addison I would also love to connect with yall and hear what all you are doing in the area. 

@Jennifer Sowers What you are seeing is likely blocked calendars. A lot of host only open their calendars 3-6mo in advance as to make sure they are getting top dollar for their property (statistically, most guest only book around 2-3mo in advance or less). I can tell you that self managing is not as daunting as it may seem, you just need to have good systems and a dependable list of people you can rely on. I manage my cabin in TN from TX and am looking to grow. PM's are great if you want a truly passive investment, but they do charge quite a bit compared to a normal PM because of the time and recourse commitment managing a STR is. If is good to have a backup cleaner, but you want to have a system in place to make sure if you are using multiple cleaners, that every clean is done the same.

As far as springboard your listing, AirBNB and I believe VRBO will automatically "springboard" your listing when you first start. I am not sure of the exact algorithm they use, but being a superhost, great review, and great pictures will really set yours apart. 

@Reed Bowling If proper is unable, I would probably lean towards what @Kimberly Gopp said. I have not personally used it, but you could also try Safely?

What are you looking for in this policy to cover? Your standard home insurance and the AirBNB insurance should help protect you from most things. And not sure exactly what the expense per reservation you are being quoted for proper, but you could always just charge an extra fee to help cover the insurance cost.

@Eddie Burkacki I was looking at Chattanooga for a while to invest and actually had a property under contract at one point. Love the area, have a cousin who lives there as well!

Besides the "creative financing" and "hustle" that is no doubt great advice, I would recommend a few different things.

- Ask your lenders "Why", and "How" you can get approved. Work on those things like your credit score.

- If you have a family member or really good friend, try to work out a deal where they co-sign on the loan with you so you can use their credit.

- If you are unable to buy a personal home with your credit right now, you may look into other avenues such as investment property with HML.

@David Taylor very normal concerns, and likely what keep a lot of people of of STR's. Like many have said, areas like where I have my cabin (Smoky Mountain), it is highly unlikely that any regulations would change due to that being the primary driving force for the local economy. This will likely be the same for most established "vacation markets". So one way for you to sleep better at night, is to focus on an area that is an established market with already good regulations (FYI, no regulations isn't always a good sign for a market).

Now another way to look at it, is if you are just wanting to run a STR, and not necessarily a STVR, then you actually might have a more protected asset if you buy correctly in a flexible area. In the market, are you able to "flex" your STR into a mid term rental for traveling professionals? How about furnished rooms for college students? Normal LTR? And if none of these work for you, then hopefully you have an awesome staged property ready to put on the market.

Consider who your target guest is. Vacationers, military, medical professionals, business travelers, event guest, job relocations, etc..

Hi there @Jennifer Sowers, I have found AirDNA to be great for market date in general, but you really need to make sure you are looking at all of the information for the properties. AirDNA will show you all of the numbers in the market, so that includes people that list their properties for one month out of the year and/or run their property as a hobby and not as a business. So likely these properties may bring down the overall market data. So I would look at all the numbers from a 1,000ft view, and then really focus in to what area you are looking at and view the other properties that are comparable to see how they do. You can also just get on AirBNB and reach out to other owners and ask how they are doing. Some may be open to sharing that info, some may not. 

What market are you looking in? Are you looking for what cost to expect from self management or what to expect to pay a PM?

Most STR PM's will charge 20%+. As far as expenses, you will have all of your basic housing expenses (PITI, HOA, Electric, Utilities, Internet, Lawn Care, Pest Control, Etc...). Other things you may consider are

- Software: PriceLabs= $19.99/mo for one property

                  SmartBNB/Hospitable: $18/mo for one property

- Security: Ring Doorbell= like $3/mo?

                 Noise Aware Monitoring= $99/yr  

- Supplies: Coffee, trash bags, linen replacements, toiletries, TP/PT, cleaning supplies, etc..

- Subscriptions: Netflix, Disney, Cable, etc..

So it is really hard to say what all of your expenses might be, as far as basic PM softwares, you can get by with less than $50/mo. You will typically charge the guest for cleaning and even more to help cover some of those extra cost like TP and toiletries you might provide.  

@Vlad Shcheglov I self manage. This is my personal opinion, but do your own research. 

Self managing, you will tend to generate more revenue than a larger management company without even really trying hard. Most larger management companies care more about high occupancy and making sure they at least have their expenses covered. For example, a collogue of mine operating in TN posted about how he decided to entertain one of the larger companies and hear out their pitch. They came back with "We believe we can generate around $35k/yr. 25% fee for the first year, 30% every year after". He obviously decided to turn them down as he was on track to do $70-75k with his cabin and would not have to pay anyone else. 

So I recommend spending a little time self educating yourself on managing STR's, and if you just really do no, I would recommend reaching out to someone like me who is on a smaller scale and would likely be able to generate more revenue with your property compared to one of the national management companies. As far as being licensed, it is more of a state specific requirement for property managers, but with STR's there is a bit of a grey area on whether or not a STR specific management company really has to be licensed.

Hey there! I was just wanting to reach out and see if there are any LTR investors in the Central Texas, specifically the Killeen, Temple, Belton area and have considered converting their LTR's into STR's.

I am looking to partner with other investors to help convert and host their current rentals into STR's and increase their cash flow.

I would love to chat and even if I am unable to host, I would love to offer any knowledge I can. 

-Chris Allen