All Forum Posts by: Chris Mury
Chris Mury has started 4 posts and replied 172 times.
Post: STR St. Augustine Florida
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Joseph Kennedy:
@Chris Mury is it possible to still buy a house in St. Augustine Beach that has a current STR permit and takeover that permit OR when purchase the property does the permit cancel at the end of the term (and I would be stuck without a permit)?
I just had a call last week with Gil at the City of St. Augustine Beach. Here's what he told me:
-The permit stays with the parcel, not the owner
-The buyer needs to apply and pay for the permit as if they were applying for a new permit
-The city will review the application, do their inspections, and then issue the permit once all fees are paid and conditions met
Basically, you need to apply for a new permit but will be granted one immediately once you meet all the conditions because there's already record of a permit on the parcel you now own.
Hopefully that made sense!
Chris
Post: 2 vacation home loans. 2 partners. 1 market. Is this possible?
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Mitch Davidson:
Hi @Taylor Robinson. I think you’re on the right track. If you were on the mortgage and your partner was going to be only on the deed, we wouldn’t look at the partner’s credit profile or real estate owned. And the same would be so when the partner makes a purchase and has you only on title.
The partner would not be able to contribute to the down payment, closing costs, deposits, or reserves, but if their contribution was old enough that it didn’t show in your most recent two bank statements (for the accounts used for down payment, closing costs, deposits, or reserves), the funds would be effectively seasoned and therefore allowed.
Hope this helps. Happy to discuss further.
Excellent advice, Mitch. I've used this exact strategy before and it worked exactly as you've described.
Chris
Post: 2 vacation home loans. 2 partners. 1 market. Is this possible?
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Ronald Rohde:
Quote from @Taylor Robinson:
Hi BP!
I'm hoping you can help me with this scenario. I'm planning to purchase a single family STR with a partner and there are a few things we are hoping to achieve.
What we want to do:
-Finance using 10% down second home loan and do the same on another property in the same market within a year (our primary residences are on the other side of the country and we will personally use the property a few weeks a year)
-Ensure both parties have a claim to ownership (e.g., if one person dies, the other person needs to be able to say "hey I own part of this property")
Other assumptions:
-Down payment would be sourced 50/50, though each partner can front this themselves and be paid back at a later date (i.e., an individual partner can qualify without needing the other)
-The parties are not in any way related, simply business partners
-Both parties have excellent credit, DTI ratios, and W2 income
One may say "why not just buy it yourself and ditch the partner if you can do this on your own" but for the sake of this question let's assume partnership is a given.
An option I am researching is to have partner A solely on the loan. Partner B is not on the loan, this way partner B can secure a 10% down second home loan in the future without being denied for having a property in the same market already. Does this mean partner B should not be on the deed? If partner B is on the deed but not on the loan, will a lender still flag this as already having a property and not allow the 10% down second home loan? If partner B is not on either one, how do they ensure they have an ownership claim? Does a written agreement between both parties suffice? Should partner B be quitclaimed onto the deed at a later date? Should the property be quitclaimed into an LLC owned by both partners? If quitclaiming, do you still have the issue of not being able to secure another 10% down second home loan or a due on sale clause?
Understood that an attorney is the best source - just getting a feel for what others have done. Hopefully this stream of consciousness makes sense...thanks in advance!
I don't think this structure works. Why not just JV both into an LLC? Vend in any personal money (HELOC, savings, etc.) then the property is secured by LLC and PG both parties.
Because you can't get a second home mortgage in an LLC.
Post: STR St. Augustine Florida
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Joseph Kennedy:
@Chris Mury - the markets are exploding in St. Augustine. I was born in St. Augustine and I'm trying to find a way back for investment purposes. I'm not sure if it's the right time to buy, either a beach side house is going for >$800K or as of today I was told that I need to do a cash offer of $600k for a house that will need renovations. A friend in that area mentioned S.A.B has capped the short term rental permits at 100 and there is a waiting list. Do you know if that is the same for Downtown or Vilano?
Hey Joseph! I agree, it's a busy market and challenging to find a STR deal that cash flows.
I think the money today is in the value-add deals that have been sitting on market for a long time. You may find a tired landlord or seller ready to be done with the property and selling process.
You're correct that St. Augustine Beach has capped STR permits for residential homes at 100 permits (and they're long gone). Downtown (City of St. Augustine) has a rental registration program but no limit on the number of permits issued. Outside city limits (Vilano, Crescent Beach, etc.) also has a registration program with no cap on number of permits.
Chris
Post: Anyone noticed an uptick in VRBO?
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Yes, definitely more VRBO recently.
Post: Would love your advice on my new Blue Ridge STR
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Jack Cronin:
First off, to the OG’s on the forum, thank you so much. You know who you are...
This listing is more or less the brainchild of this forum and this wouldn’t be possible without all the wealth of knowledge from this group.
What do you think of the listing? I’m open to all advice:
PS: If you're reading this and have a question about anything STR please do the OGs a favor and search the forum before asking your question. There's a good chance it's already here.
Though the responses to the questions that have already been answered multiple times do give me a chuckle when I see them. So maybe do keep asking them?
Wow, nice place! I'm being hypocritical here because I do this too but maybe tone down the emojis in the title? You definitely got creative with the character limit but too many emojis can be hard to read.
I really love your cover photo and wanted to see the full screen version which takes me to the grouped photo page where I had to scroll all the way down for it. I've done this on some of my listings and feel like it's a little unnatural for the user.
Again, super nice place and I'm nitpicking here. This one's going to do well for you.
Post: Vacation Rental in St Augustine FL
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Richard Scott Dinnan:
Quote from @Chris Mury:
Congrats on the acquisition and rehab! You'll find that our local STR market is fantastic and growing daily.
I agree on the logistics comment. What was the hardest part for you?
Hi Chris,
The hardest part was securing a cleaning company that understood vacation rental turnover without the hidden “property management” goal and associated expenses.
I see you provide guidance on these type of investment properties specific to this location. I might be reaching out next year as I am looking to do another STR in St Augustine.
Hey Richard. Not sure how I missed this message. I agree, finding the right cleaner is the missing link.
Would love to connect. Sending you a DM now.
Post: TOT charge on Airbnb
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Christi Gonzalez-Dickinson:
Airbnb does not let you add a charge for tax, what are your suggestions on incorporating this into listing and pricing?
AirBnb definitely allows you to add a tax. There's a local tourist tax in my area that AirBnb isn't contracted to collect. I manually add the tax to all listings and remit to our county tax collector. See below:
Post: Top/Bottom Unit - Best Strategies to Address NOISE!
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Reid Sealby:
Hello BP Friends!
Last summer my fiancée and I bought a house outside of Denver where we live up top (currently) and rent out our basement on Airbnb. The basement is a completely separate unit blocked off by doors we had installed. It was built in 1960 and tends to creak and moan as old houses do. With basement guests, we can hear some muffled noise - nothing crazy, but some! And, when we're downstairs, you can hear footsteps and creaking from up top.
In the near future we plan to move out into a new home, and rent this current house as 2 units (top & Bottom). Initially, we thought we would Airbnb both the top and bottom, but some other friends who Airbnb both units have had negative reviews about the noise, mostly caused by the top guests, affecting the bottom guests stay. There are 3 Bedrooms Upstairs and 2 Bedrooms Downstairs. All that being said, the strategies we're considering are:
1) Airbnb-ing both units, but limiting upstairs occupancy to two guests (still allow 4 downstairs).
Pro: Still optimizing revenue with STR, noise mitigated by limiting upstairs guests
Con: Miss out on opportunity for up to 6 guests in 3BR upstairs.
2) Long-term rental upstairs, STR in basement. Offer LTR Tenant a below-market rental rate, under certain agreements to limit upstairs noise since we will still be running an Airbnb business downstairs.
Pro: Fixed income from top unit, respectful upstairs tenants
Con: How to find a Long term tenant who would agree to this kind of agreement?
3) STR entire home as ONE unit.
Pro: Allow for up to 10 guests, high revenue potential
Con: One unit revenue > two units revenue, higher likelihood of parties/damage/issues
Sorry for the long post - I would really appreciate some insight from STR hosts with top/bottom units as to the best way to go about maxing revenues and avoiding bad reviews from the noise! Thank you all!
What about LTR in the basement and STR upstairs? Disclose your plans to your LTR tenant and offer discounted rent for the noise potential. Still move ahead with some of the sound-proofing measures discussed above. Sounds like the upstairs is bigger and has more income potential.
Post: Top/Bottom Unit - Best Strategies to Address NOISE!
- Realtor
- St. Augustine, FL
- Posts 180
- Votes 100
Quote from @Michael Baum:
Hey @Reid Sealby, there are some things you can do. You can reinforce the floors. Use some screws to tighten down the subfloor.
In the downstairs unit, you could apply Green Glue and add a second layer of drywall. That should dampen down the sound quite a bit.
https://www.greengluecompany.c...
https://soundproofguide.com/ho...
I am building a home theater at our primary residence and I will be using Green Glue on the ceiling drywall with double sheets and Roxul in the studs.
I'll second Green Glue. Just did that in a downstairs unit we rehabbed and it did make a difference.