All Forum Posts by: Dan Farkas

@Luke Carl Thank you. I will look into that. I appreciate the input again. Yes!  I am potentially interested in the property for personal reasons also. Nailed it! :-)

@Luke Carl I am certainly cruising the listings on VRBO and AirBnB and the prices seem very wide in their amounts. I have some for $500 per night and others at $200 per night. Many of them seem to be pretty sparse in their bookings for 2019. Some are available at $200 per night and some are already booked at higher or even lessor amounts. That is why I ask here. :-) 

Thank you for your input.

Hello all. Thank you in advance for any advice. I am looking for information to determine a realistic value on a potential STR on Lake Michigan. This property is located between Muskegon, MI and Ludington, MI and provides an excellent elevated view.

It is a four bedroom, 2 bath log home with a fire pit down by the lake and a covered front porch which provides amazing Sunsets. 

I hope a few people can answer some questions.

What is the major driving force in a choice to rent a place on Lake Michigan? Is it bedrooms? View?

Will this be rented by more than one family or a few unrelated couples or groups? 

What would be a realistic occupancy rate on the Summer season ( Memorial Day through Labor Day)? 

What can I expect for occupancy outside those dates provided that I adjust my price accordingly? 

How will a lack of High speed internet affect the price and occupancy?

Is this market saturated or overly competitive?

I have nothing to add here other than to report that i read this whole thread without popcorn involved.  

 Reach out to me. I do not have my itinerary set up for the show but i will definately be there for a few of the sessions. 

Crash or Correct? Nationally or local? Locally at least where I am from and in the area I work in. The answer is no. I just do not see any similarities between now and just before 2008. We are a pretty nice hotspot though in our state with affordable homes still. Our average sales price is $225,000 and that is pretty affordable for the amount of work we have around here. We are looking for employees in every trade (except realtors HAHAH! We have enough of those) Grand Rapids is a great place to grow and invest in. Pretty exciting times. here. Plus we need to get through the 10-15 offers on each starter home buyers before we see a crash, IMO. 

@Frank Boenzi sure. I listen to Dr. Paul Isley the associate dean of undergraduate programs at GVSU. He talks frequently around Grand Rapids throughout the year. I think he will be at the RPOA event coming up soon. 

Also Dr. Alan Beaulieu from ITR Economics and co-author of Prosperity in the age of decline Has been chatting at the annual Greater Regional Alliance of Realtors broker meeting every year also. 

They are both good to listen to! 

I attend many seminars and listen to a couple of Economists forecasts and predictions for the upcoming year for the last 5 years.  It helps me explain to my clients where the market is going and what areas to buy, invest and sell in. I am happy to say that these economists have been accurate for the past few years and has strengthened my already established professional opinion about the market. I also am exception another year of 100% occupancy rates in my rental units. 

I guess what I am trying to say is there a potential for money lost in the negotiation, knowledge and marketing that a full service, full time broker brings to a transaction IMO. 

I could comp out a home for 20% above or below actual sales price depending on the comparable I used and the time spent on it. I could quickly use Zillow to come up with Data and comps in a few minutes. Anyone could. Or you could look at data driven from zip codes, individual blocks of houses. Absorption rates..... You could spend a ton of time on that like I do. Recently I sold a home for 20% ABOVE the Zillow estimate. There wasn't multiple offers on that one. I actually negotiated that last $4000 out of the buyers agent by using a great tactic. In that case that was close to a 3% difference in price right there. 

I try to spend a huge amount of time on the data before a listing. I spend an additional amount of time with my unique marketing. I also monitor the traffic of showings, feedback and other factors to determine what direction a seller should move in with their home. 

Additionally the law looks at limited service agreements differently than those who have a full service contract. There are different requirements by law with these types of relationships and I wanted to point that out. Read the documents and understand what the agency relationship you are getting out of ANY real estate related transaction. Even full service. 

I have never said their service is second rate. I would never suggest that. Quite frankly, I don't even care how they do business as they are free to do business how they see fit. What I do care about is people understanding what they are getting out of a transaction and a brokerage. If you are ok with that I am too. I do not think it is fair to them or other brokerages (full service or not) to group the two types together for an apples to apples comparison in many cases just by looking at commission rates between any real estate brokerage model. 

Again. It is not my intent to undermine or disparage their business model and also think it is great for consumers to have options. Just know there is probably a difference in what you are getting. 

The first time I only needed to submit the appraisal that was created. The second time I used closed sales from MLS data and other Data found on public sites. I also dug up the deed restriction since there is one on this property that limits its use. I have used flood plain maps in past too. Anything that can support my opinion. I find the whole " I am an active real estate broker and I know its not worth what you say it is" doesn't fair well So I hit them with everything I can from now on.