All Forum Posts by: Craig Glendenning

I have 2 STRs and am going to BRRRR like a madman in 2023 and here is why...

- The $50k from a flip is chewed into by cap gains tax.

- If you qualify as a real estate professional (LTR) or meet the material participation rules for an STR, you can do a cost seg & take bonus depreciation (begins sunsetting in 2023 @ 80%, but still awesome). In the STR case, those losses are "active" which means those losses can offset either passive or active income. (DISCLAIMER - I am not a CPA, and certainly not YOUR CPA, so check with yours)

- Ownership of real estate is where real wealth comes from (I define wealth as "when your income from assets exceeds your expenses"). Imagine you did 10 properties with the 50k from your example. Flips: $500k gross, ~300k after tax? - BRRRR - You own 10 properties. Each property gives you (conservatively) $100/month = $1k/month. Each property appreciates ~3%/year and your equity spread grows more than that because your tenants are paying down your principle. Each property gives you bonus depreciation that will lower your taxable income (from potentially other sources) to zero and you would not lose that $200k in tax you lost in the flips. Could you do more with that $300k in your pocket than having it in real estate? You would probably come to the realization at some point that you needed to buy some property with that $300k for all the reasons we know and love, so then you are back to the original value of BRRRRing - buying & holding real estate.

Hope this helps frame the benefits of BRRRR! If you need 50k *now* (well, 30k-ish after tax), a flip looks very attractive. But stepping out and seeing the big picture over time changes everything.

Agree that Local FB groups are a great resource for finding cleaners. I found both of mine there. 

Hi! I am fairly certain that periodic checks of reviews will not negatively impact your search rank. The factors that have the largest influence, in my experience are price, quantity and quality of reviews, cover photo, listing photos, title, and listing text. It is highly unlikely that a small volume of review page views that do not result in a booking will have a larger impact than any one of the factors I listed. For my cover photo, I always think of it in the context of my competition, rather than "Here is the best photo of my property!" - That rarely creates the best conversion rate for me.

Craig

P.S. - The property management company that told you this might be technically correct, but based on other factors I mentioned, the information is irrelevant. It raises an eyebrow that maybe they are not doing a good job with the factors that I mentioned. If they have their own site AND it is listed on AirBnB, they may be incentivized to drive more bookings through their own platform for financial gain. Just speculation...

God Bless Texas: https://guides.sll.texas.gov/l...

"Once a judgment has been issued, no further action can take place for 5 days. This time gives the parties the opportunity to appeal."...Five...days. In California, I am required to host guests in my non-pet AirBnB if the guest has a doctor's note for an emotional support animal, AND, I am not allowed to charge them any additional fees for cleaning. I hear Eastern Texas is beautiful this time of year...

Hey William!

Summary: PHOTOS, PHOTOS, PHOTOS. Any questions?

I concur with others that photos are your *critical* marketing tool. I found this study of a data-driven analysis helpful, BUT...I am not a photographer so I hired one for about $300 to take interior, exterior & drone shots. I struggle with the "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself" syndrome, but I was very proud of myself for keeping my iPhone in my pocket and staying in my lane on this one. Immediately after putting up the new photos, my booking conversion rate on AirBnB increased 10x, and interestingly the AI that chews on photos decided that my photos were better than the competition now, and bumped me to the top of the list, so not only did conversion rate increase, but total "top of funnel" impressions increased. That $300 *easily* made me $1000 just that month, and continues to keep me ranked high.   

Note that my photographer did not do any staging. That is a critical part of the photography process. Beautiful photos of ugly things seems counterproductive : )

@Rob Chiang - …but seriously, I would like to hear what actually happened next, Rob.

Craig

You dumped 2 tons of trash on your own front lawn in order to make for a more delightful experience for your new tenants? 

Hi Kristine!

I would encourage you to start with a clarifying question: "What are my unsolved STR management problems?" When I did this, I came up with things like:

- I have to be involved with scheduling cleans with my cleaner

- The way I want the property cleaned is not how it is being cleaned

- When something goes missing, I have no idea which guest took it.

- I am not on the first page of search results in AirBnB

...

Then, each unsolved problem was clear which then allowed me to rank them and batch them, then find the software that solves each unsolved problem. My personal software choices:

- AirBnB: My only marketing & guest communication platform

- Hospitable.com: Manage cleaner communication, reminders (did the guest lock the doors?)

- Breezeway: manages cleaner checklists, before/after photos, distributing work between cleaners, primary/backups, etc.

- Ring: All my cameras, and my Z-wave smart door locks for visibility

- AirDnA: market research

- Instacart: for emergency delivery of a blender when a previous guest steals one.

- pricelabs: dynamic pricing

Rejected software: (If you work for these companies, or are associated with them don't be offended...they just did not work for me personally)

- Rankbreeze: I was able to construct most of the SEO related experiments myself with a google incognito window.

- tidy.com: I found it a bit cumbersome to navigate and use.

Hope this helps!

Craig

Hi All, 

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney or CPA. There are two concerns raised here: One is Lending to an LLC, the other is Asset protection.

Lending to an LLC:

The way this is typically done is to purchase the STR in your name through conventional financing, then have a title company move the property into your LLC. Your loan docs may state that the lender *can* call the loan due in full if ownership changes, but considering the ubiquity of this asset protection approach, I don't think there is much precedent for a lender actually calling the loan due...

Asset Protection:

Once the property is in the LLC, you have to make sure that funds flow correctly in and out of the LLC's bank account to ensure the veil of the LLC is not pierced. If you do not respect the LLC for what it is, a court may agree with you. ; - )

Craig

Hi Gulliver, 

https://hospitable.com/ rocks. See the attached screenshot to handle item #2 in your list (3rd item in the drop-down). As far as #1, I only use AirBnB and all SMS messages & emails happen immediately when the event occurs, so perhaps it is an issue on the VRBO side, OR some issue with the specific integration to iGMS. Dunno. Anyway, hope this helps!