All Forum Posts by: Chris Watson

If I were to turn my Navarre Beach properties over to a management company I would only use Coastal Vibes or RMI to manage them.  They both take care of properties and get great rental numbers.

We go by the number of bedrooms. Depending on the property some bedrooms have two kings or queens in some bedrooms or built in queen bunks. We also have a huge bunk room with 5 queens and two twins but the room is about 600 sqft and tastefully designed. More heads in beds does not necessarily mean a better occupancy, ADR or ROI. We do not want to over pack a place. We want to attrack people willing to pay more money to have a real bed for each guest in their party. The one place we have pull out couches we don't advertise the and only have them so the cabin can sleep our family when we visit.

Are you talking about the State Farm commercial policy or landlord/STR policy? Two different policies and why I went with the commercial policies.

I self manage and closing on my 12 rental soon. I have also built or renovated another 6 that I operated then sold.  I also recommend the heavy duty all zinus metal bedframe with a zinus mattress and attach a headboard using the zinus headboard kit.  Couches we have some from Costco, Sams Club and made to order to fabric selection ones from Wayfair and they all have held up well. We stay away from pull-out couches as that is our business model.

 Some listings show YTD, but what I am finding out is a lot of realtors don't even think to include it.  There are a lot of subpar realtors out there.

With that said I am looking at a cabin right now that did $25k last year. I know I can get between $80k to $100k a year with that cabin.  Their problem is really poor management.  

This is not a jab at you, but your first point is exactly my thoughts on BP posts.  Anytime I see emoji or numbers in a post like yours my first impression is it is an AI written post and skip on to other posts. Not saying your post is AI written, but such emoji use is hallmark of many AI generated content. With that note those of us who use AI to help write listing descriptions we must be careful to put a human touch so you do not turn off potential guests.

In the Smokys building has slowed to a crawl. I am one of the dozen residential building permits being pulled this month. DR Horton is trying to build over 300 homes but locals are against it but STR would not be allowed. In East TN it takes most builders a year or more to build so the supply will not show up overnight. Actually the reverse is currently happening with STRs reverting to owner occupied or non-rented second homes.

At 4.5% most DSCR 20% down will be around 5%. This is a around 2% less than current rates. So theoretically this is close to $2k savings a year per $100k financed. On a $1.25M property 20% down it should increase cashflow close to $20k a year. I believe across all markets you will see an increase in purchases initially and if there rates stick for more than 12 months you will see an increase in sale prices. Lastly, this rate reduction would increase guests disposable income as credit card interest rates would reduce also.

I believe it is due to the funnel to the BP forums, the BP podcast, has dropped in quality leading less people to the forums.  I use to binge and catch-up on16 hrs of BP podcasts on my drive to and from the Smokys every couple months. Unfortunately now it literally puts me to sleep (bad for driving) and lacks the enthusiasm seen in the past.  I have moved on to more mentally engaging podcasts for my drive.  I use to recommend people wanting to get into real estate investing to go binge on the BP podcast, but I can't recommend it anymore.  I have talked to other longtime listeners who have the same opinion.  So the top of the funnel that feeds the forums is broken, so less newbies needing advice.

Second, STR owners can get quicker more market specific advice in market specific owners Facebook groups.

Third, I noticed a post about a month ago where all of the sudden had about a dozen people replying who normally do not post/reply.  It shows me alot of lurkers (readers/not posters) are on the forums.

I am not sure they are pulling out.  I believe like most insurers they are capping the number of policies in areas to mitigate risk.  In the Florida market I am use to this as my preferred policy underwriter caps the number policies per zip code.  I have my insurance broker checking monthly till they open up writing new policies and swap newer properties' policies to them.  With that said, due to extremely high premiums I never used Proper. The one time I had them quote properties they were close to triple my current premiums.