All Forum Posts by: Jason Wolohan

Thank you for making my life a lot easier with that furnishings/supplies list! And great tip on the travel insurance. My family just had to cancel an Airbnb booking late ourselves recently so I definitely know the value of rental insurance. I haven't seen many hosts offer it, but I could see the benefit in being upfront about it in your listing. Thanks!

Are you nearby to your STRs? I had thought about this, but it will be an out-of-state property for me, so I won't be around much to check the status of the propane. I guess I could have a couple tanks available and make sure they are replenished the couple times of year that I make the trip. How do you handle it?

This is great feedback. Thank you. Do you have an insurance broker you go through for STR properties? I hadn't really considered this.

I can definitely be guilty of analysis paralysis. I agree a lot can be learned from mistakes. I'm not afraid to make them and I know I'm not immune to them. Just looking to learn the lessons without making too many myself. Good encouragement to not sit in the analysis too long though!

I'm analyzing deals for my first short term rental. I'm doing all the research: podcasts, books, webinars, articles, etc. along with finding markets where I should have an easier time finding a cleaner and handyman. I'm pretty savvy with Excel so I've built a spreadsheet that does the ROI, etc. and am working on some formulas that spit out average occupancy/rates when I dump in data from PriceLabs. I'm also in the process of building a checklist/shopping list for items I may or may not need (depending on what conveys).

My next steps are to connect with a realtor and lender.

But I don't know what I don't know. So, for those that have been down this road before, what did you learn from your first STR purchase that you wish you had known before you jumped in? Or what would you do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

Tony uses a tool call Price Labs. It's got an API into the Airbnb platform and allows you pull out data in an Excel spreadsheet. It's not free but it's cheaper than the paid data you get on AirDNA. Check out this video. He does a better job articulating it than I'd do here.

edit: if the link doesn't work, the title of the video is: How to Analyze a Short Term Rental Real Estate Investment (Step by Step Guide for Beginners)

@Sophie Steilen

Ever since I heard Tony Robinson talk about his STRs with Brandon and David on the podcast, I've been consuming a lot of his content. He and his wife have a YouTube channel - The Real Estate Robinsons - with a lot of great stuff. They share some good tools for analyzing deals.

@Gerald Pitts thank you sir! I've got the website pulled up now looking at events to attend.

Hey BP Community!

We bought our first investment property in June 2021. It was an out of state investment in which we had some family in the area (northwest Arkansas). We had a builder offer a multi-house discount and we locked in a price before the pandemic ramped up. Although it was much more delayed (a whole year) because of issues breaking ground on the community and then hindered distribution lines for materials, it ended up being a good deal for us.

We’re getting a 13% CoCROI and the appraisal came in for 8.5% higher than the purchase price. This is a LTR.

As I look at what we could have done better and preparing for the next investment, I’m curious for some input from the BP community:

• - When you’re investing out of state, do you build relationships with banks local to the area you live or where you are investing? In our first deal we just went with the builder’s preferred lender because they offered to pay our closing costs if we did.
• - When you're setting up an LLC, do you get the mortgage in your personal name and just have the LLC on the deed? Do you do this after the fact or during the process? Right now, both the deed and mortgage are in mine/my wife's name. How would you go about transferring to an LLC?
• - For those of you investing in STRs from afar, how do you get the property setup? I’ve found plenty of resources for the management of them, but not as many on the initial setup (from a distance). Do you travel to them to close on the property and spend some time doing the initial setup yourself?
• - How do you find off-market deals out of state? I’m not opposed to driving for dollars or local meetups, but those are not feasible from a distance.

Between now and the end of the year, my goals are to:

• - Read four REI books, including David Greene's Long-Distance Real Estate Investing
• - Analyze 200 deals in areas that we’re interested in purchasing some STRs
• - Build a relationship with some banks and real estate agents

My goal in 2022 is to purchase two or three properties. Preferably, at least two of these will be STRs in a vacation destination where we can build a proof of concept, get our processes setup for managing from a distance, and then attract other investors with capital to share in the proceeds of future deals.

Financially, we should be ready to pull the trigger on our next property around February/March. Also, now that my W2 has gone fully remote due to the pandemic, we’re considering relocating our family out of the DC area and settling down in the Carolinas somewhere. We’re considering the Smoky Mountains as an area for STRs and potentially landing in the Greenville, SC area, where I’d also like to find some LTRs. If anyone is familiar with those areas, I’d love to hear your input.