All Forum Posts by: Dan Maciejewski

I specialize in selling short term rentals to out-of-state investors!  Mostly in Pinellas County for beachy-type places, but a few in Tampa, too.  

The market's pretty hot to buy in , but the numbers still make sense at the current purchase prices -- Our occupancy and ADR numbers still amaze me!

The agent will take 10% for advertising and booking?  Will they handle cleaning scheduling and hold back taxes, and run the P&L and the rest of the PM jobs?  Do they know the seasonality and when to raise and lower rates?

If you are putting it under management, you'll probably want to go with a full service short term rental property manager.  I don't think any of them will charge as little as 10%, though.  The manager will probably have a website of their on for direct booking, and they should also advertise on as many places on the internet as possible, including Airbnb, VRBO, Furnished Finders, etc. . . 

At 45 minutes away, you can manage yourself -- you just need a good cleaning service (including a great housekeeping inspector) that's easy to schedule.  For my out of town clients, I usually advise paying for a manager to start -- that way you can be as hands-on as you want, but you have a pro watching your back.  After a while of seeing what's involved, then you can take over if you want to.

I tell my clients in West Central Pinellas -- in the sweet spot 10 minutes from the beaches, including Largo -- to run numbers at 70-75% occupancy.  You'd be hard pressed to do worse than that.  With good management, you should be getting 80%+  You will have to watch the individual city regulations if you're casting a wide net in Pinellas.

All of my clients that bought at the beginning of the year are already planning their next purchases.  I usually advise them on what to look for as far as property type and features that will sell better, and the areas and neighborhoods to focus on.

Tampa seems to be similar, but the rates don't look like the peak rates we are seeing.  My clients in Sarasota / Bradenton seem to be getting great rates with a slightly lower occupancy.  Ana Maria especially drives great rates.

I think it's worth it -- all my tenants have come through Zillow group websites.  They are much better than the craigslist calls I get!

If you're paying a realtor a lease-up fee to put it on the MLS, it should auto feed to Zillow. They use IDX like every other Realtor website now, so it "should" be automatic. I haven't listed a rental since Zillow became a brokerage, so I'm not positive, though.

I'm curious what you did eventually. Hindsight being 20/20, an STR in Florida would be cash flowing like crazy with 24 months ago purchase prices!

Vacation Rentals launched to the moon, especially since hotels dropped off for a while.  Hotels aren't predicting a recovery until 2024, but short term rentals never really fell off, while ADR steadily increased.  Especially in the Tampa Bay / Clearwater area! (not in Clearwater itself, but the area, for sure)

I hear the ROI in PCB is great. The purchase prices are still lower while the vacation demand is very high! They don't call it the redneck Riviera for nothing, though! The draw is similar to Gulf Shores in Alabama -- same crowds.

Orlando is tough; you are fighting a ton of competition.  As @Jay Brightlow said, you really want to stand out!  The purchase prices look great, but the ADR is depressed a bit because there are so many hotels, resorts, and purpose built vacation rental communities.  I'm always shocked when I see how cheap purchase prices are for newer places, but then I see the lower occupancy and ADR and come right back to the beaches in Tampa Bay!

Tampa proper is great and there are a lot of up and coming and steady areas to look at, depending on your risk tolerance.  

As @Courtney Allen said above, Tampa Heights and Seminole Heights have been improving for years and see good demand.  Ybor is going to be a bit more . . . up and coming.  Some people love it and others prefer to see a bit more development before parking their money there.  It all depends on risk tolerance.  For pricier, less risky properties, definitely look at Hyde Park, Channelside, Bayshore areas.  

I have had a few clients buy STRs in Tampa -- they actually went Town N Country / Westchase area.  They seem to be doing very well.

But, the vast majority of my clients like the beaches, and want the guests that also like the beaches. So most of my short term rental buyers look in Pinellas County. It can get a little tricky with the zoning in all the different cities, but, that's why you use a great Realtor, right?! There are definite areas where you can see ADRs that are almost shockingly high! I have clients grossing over six figures a year. That's a higher entry point, but the ROI is there. And you can conservatively see 70-75% occupancy here.

Plus, the hotels are getting into STR. Marriott is now allowing rewards members to redeem on vacation rental houses. A search on the Marriott website will show you results all over Pinellas when searching Clearwater Beach! And they aren't cheap. The points are similar to a resort hotel stay.

A lot of them book through Airbnb or VRBO.  You may as well add "Furnished Finders"  they charge a little to advertise -- I think 99 / listing, but you might score a traveling nurse, too!

@Dave Foster is in St Pete and on here.  He seems pretty solid from my dealings on the list side.

That's one of those "pick 2" lists!  The reliable and skilled ones aren't cheap, and the cheap ones tend to not be so reliable.

With the amount of work the good contractors are getting, they tend to not want the smaller jobs, or to be more accurate, they tend to not want the lower cost, small jobs.  Especially now that the Canadian snowbirds have come and are competing with the others for labor.

A lot of the kitchen/bath remodel guys companies will be able to get your counters/cabinets/sink/small plumbing done at a reasonable price -- depending on what you consider reasonable!  The good ones tend to be licensed builders or GCs so they should also have connections that can handle your other stuff, as well.  They tend to stick to the high profit kitchen/bath stuff but know the contractors around that can handle other things.  

If you're not on nextdoor for your rentals, get on it and search "businesses" by ratings or neighbor reviews.  Then you can get quotes and talk to the top 10% and see who you think is a best fit.

I would still vet the student and interview them in person, if possible.  

But otherwise, if you want to accept them they go on the lease as "jointly and severally liable," same as the kids.  Make sure they understand that rent and damages are on them.  Most do, and then you should be good to go!

Students can be good because you can get a few in the house and charge more.  They can be bad because they have a lot of friends that like to come over.