All Forum Posts by: Jarrod Kohl

I dont know anything about your market....

Any particular reason why you would want to build new/vs rehab existing? Are you building to sell or rent?

 You have them backwards:  The median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample. For a data set, it may be thought of as the "middle" value. For example, in the data set {1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9}, the median is 6, the fourth largest, and also the fifth smallest, number in the sample.

Aside from the basics (roof/systems/exterior/etc replacement times) I would check to see how each unit is metered.  What kind of rents they are getting, hopefully you can get a rent roll.  Are there section 8s in the building, any TAWs, undergrads, etc.  Some questions the agent or owner won't know or will not want to answer, but it does not hurt to ask.  

When you are saying its a "paid for home"

Are you saying that you are getting $1200/month in profit/cash? Or your rent is $1,200 and you have mortgage/expenses etc. on the property?  

Do you have any friends or family in the Midwest?  I know that I have worked with some investors in getting into markets in Ohio.  For me NE Ohio is a familiar market and way cheaper than my current market (Boston). Though I have some properties here, it is much tougher to get a good deal in an expensive market than a nice cash flowing property elsewhere.  

As others have said, start with a great management company contact and go from there.

 Hi Randall,

There will almost always be a demand for housing in Allston, aside from the huge student population it also has a ton of Young professionals and a few other populations.  The biggest issue (for you) is that many of the properties are owned by a few large landlords and they would probably not want to sell unless you were going to overpay.  

I agree with @Charlie MacPherson with some of the other locations that he mentions, but if you have your heart set on Boston (Allston/Brighton/etc) you probably want to start looking now and plan on looking for a while.  There has been the occasional deal that has popped up, but it will at best be a fixer upper or need something creative done.  At worst you buy something without a great cap rate or cash return and hope fore appreciation, but with rents already high and new construction popping up in multiple parts of the city (Southie/Charlestown/Southendish) I think you would want to be very careful making a straight appreciation play in those parts.  

 Looks like a great flip, but I am also confused how he got to $57k? It does not seem that the numbers match up.  

Also looking back, would you have listed lower?

10 years ago most people who are in real estate had heard of Short term rentals, it is not a new thing. It has clearly become a much more lucrative and easy to entry market, but to say that it is something Airbnb came up with is ignorant. I have no problem with a little balance, but I hate when the hotel lobbys push the local politicians to do regulations like this. STR become the boogeyman for low rental inventory and rising condo prices when in realty it is a very small part of the issue.

HOAs and condo associations are fine to regulate this and many have been doing so since the 70's, just look at old condo docs for the proof.   Acting like Airbnb will "destroy" a neighborhood is silly.  If you live downtown how many of the hundreds of people on your block do you know? One or two?  Is it better to build a residential skyscraper and sell the units for a few hundred million to people who will be there for less than 90 days a year?  

Airbnb becomes an easy scapegoat, but in the end it is a great thing for neighborhoods has made having a vacation home or investment property achievable for people that would otherwise never have been able to make those purchases or investments.

The only problem with buying something like that in the offseason is that it can be hard to get guests coming in to being with.  And without bookings and ratings it will be harder for guests to find your listing (especially on Airbnb) you may have a great offseason after a season of "in season" bookings, but you may need to work hard for those first few. 

Having some friends and family book cheaply and leave reviews would help.  As @John Underwood said, making it into a mountain get away and marketing it as such would be a good start. 

I would also be interested to see if anyone has been using Remine with Success. I have access to the basic version through my MLS/Realtor accounts, but it would be a big expense to have the pro plan.

Having gone through the demo with one of their salesman, I will say it does look like a powerful tool and great way to get contact info, but I wonder how much better it is than delving through the records on my own.