All Forum Posts by: Jerry W.

@Account Closed, great advice, thanks for taking the time to share.  By the way your picture doesn't look anything like Georgia.  Another reason to have a good book keeper is you have to make lodging taxes get paid promptly, you need to set up an account to handle end of year property taxes, pay insurance, buy supplies for the rental, pay cleaning staff, and of course you must make mortgage payments.  Not having that money set aside can be a big hit at the end of the year.  In my area November to March are very lean months, guess when property taxes come due?

@Alanna Schroeder, the way to tag someone is first they must be a person posting in the thread, then you type the @ symbol next to the ? symbol and a list of everyone posting in the thread appears, click on the name.  If they have not posted you can only tag them if you are connected on the forums, kind of like friends.  Then in that case you type the @ then type at least the first 3 letters of their name and a list will pop up.

My VR is in Thermopolis WY.  A very nice little town with only moderate tourist traffic.  We do get folks on their way to Yellowstone, a fair number of fishermen on our river, some fall hunters, and of course folks visiting our hot springs and dinosaur museum.  I just added a second VR this year even though my first VR made less net income than a regular rental last year.  I think the future will see some good growth, but we will see.

I plan to try spending time at a VR in a place like Branson Missouri with my wife this year if all goes well.  Hopefully I can find someone in the VR business there who I can visit with while my wife goes to every music show she can find hehe.

@Wendy Schultz I am starting my 2nd full year with VRs.  I had one for a few months, then a full year, now have two ready for this year.  We are a very small town with one stop light and most residents probably don't lock their doors.  So far every traveler I have communicated with have been great.  The odd things I can recall is getting called because they locked themselves out of the house.  I leave the doors unlocked and the keys on the table, and I have had several fishermen leave me beer and fish.  I sometimes take them out to the river and point out places to fish, so maybe that is why.  So far it is always fishermen.  There is a common driveway with one neighbor who had her foot amputated so I always tell everyone to keep the driveway open as it is the only place where she can get into and out of a car due to steps in the front of her house.  On multiple occasions I have come by to find my guests sitting outside with my neighbors drinking tea or eating hamburgers.  These neighbors are delighted to get to visit with guests.

@Ben M., there are also a lot of places you can just buy cabinet doors at and put them on if the main part of the cabinet has not been damaged too badly.  They will look super nice.  You can repair the inside damage and paint the repair spots.

@Ashley Wolfe, this is my 2nd full year of doing VR.  I am really surprised at how much I enjoy it.  It was a duplex I first used for a VR and this spring I got the other side fixed up.  Look on AIR B&B in Thermopolis and you will see them under COZY TWO BEDROOM, and THE BUNKHOUSE>  Would appreciate your input.

@Ashley Wolfe, That explains it hehe.  My first foray into vacation rentals was buying a house that had been flooded when the owner went into the nursing home and the grandkids forgot to pay the gas bill and the pipes froze and busted.  Once I fixed everything I already had all the furniture, silverware, pots, pans, etc., so I thought what the heck.  I asked a few questions here and signed up on my phone with VRBO and got started.  I have no idea why I never thought to look for a book on the subject, typical redneck move on my part hehe.

@Julie Fullmer, the way to tag someone who is already in a thread is to the @ and the ? next to each other and a list of names will pop up.  In order to tag someone not in the thread you must be "friends" with them here on BP.  Then you type in the @ and the the first couple of letters of their name.

I appreciate your problem.  Part of real estate is learning.  You are obviously working at improving.  Despite having been doing this for 20 years I am just now running into problems on collecting payments.  One of the nice things about small towns.  We have always just had the tenants bring the money or check into my office.  Now I am wanting to be gone more and actually go on a vacation.  Have to set up a system.  We don't have a 7/11 or any check cashing services in my town.  We also only have one stop light.  We don't really worry much about safety, the last armed robbery the town had was over 30 years ago and that was a drunk disgruntled employee who the cops went to his house and caught him on his way home.

First you need to run numbers to find out where the make money line is and figure out what you can pay and still cash flow decently.  Then you need to get financing lined up.  Then call him or find a spot to meet him and say that you heard he wants to sale the property.  point out that if he sells directly to you that it will save him s lot in realtors fees.  Then find out why he wants to sale and build your offer around that.  If he wants quick money then figure out to buy it and close very fast.  If he doesn't want to be a landlord despite liking monthly income ask about an owner finance.  Once you find the motivation you can craft your deal so it will be more appealing.  Just ask questions and really listen.  Try to have him give you a price first, if realistic see what you can do, if way too high explain why that won't work for you.  You simply cannot pay so much you will not cash flow.  Learn what the comps are so you know when it is a deal and when it is not.  Good luck.

Grant Cardone and a few others did a pod cast on things like this.  I would listen to it if I were you.

Wow @Ashley Wolfe, you are good at finding books on a subject.  I am very impressed.