All Forum Posts by: Joe C.

Negative on the bedjet. I bought one, returned it. It is not an AC unit for your bed, basically a glorified fan with heater option. If you don't use special sheets then both people in the bed, assuming King/Queen, share the same bedjet output. The special sheets are very expensive. There are filters in the unit to filter the air, and since they are running 8 hours per day and are small they clog up. Any of the bed cooling solutions are for personal use only, I would not use for a rental. Definitely would not use any of the water based ones.

I could be wrong, but I don't think an approved safety cover is for use when the pool is not being used daily. It might have to do with when the pool is closed for the off season. In NJ pools are open Memorial to Labor day and the rest of the time they are closed. Some people throw a tarp over it and bags of water around the edge to hold the tarp in place, which is a death trap if a kid were to fall in, they would be surrounded by the tarp. I have a $3000 solid cover held in with concrete anchors and springs all around the pool. It's the one they advertise with an elephant standing on it. I'm thinking that's what they must mean.

Incrementally increasing efficiency rarely pays for itself unless the original item has died. Spending money when the home is occupied is covered by the income produced, however when the home is not occupied all the expense has no offset of income.

Focus on remote thermostats or other remote switches that allow you to turn things down/off when the home is not occupied, then you can turn them back on prior to new guests arriving. There are remote control switches you can put on your hot water heaters also for example to turn them off (if electric).

To the contrary, in NJ the COVID pool rule changes stated:

Allow patrons to use their own water play equipment, including but not limited to goggles, snorkels, fins, kickboards, pool noodles and toys, however the pool facility
shall:
▪ Prohibit the sharing of such equipment except among immediate family members, caretakers, household members, or romantic partners; and
▪ Not provide such equipment for rent or other use to patrons while at the pool facility.

This applied to all pools under control of the bather code, which unfortunately included our 12 unit condo building. Everything except a SFH pool is covered by the bather code in NJ.

I'm currently shopping around for replacement insurance for my Miramar Beach home. 1.5 years ago I had a quote from Proper for $11K vs. Fednat for $2700. Proper included $2 mil liability but I already have an umbrella policy, it was 5% hurricane deductible vs. 2% Fednat, $600K property coverage vs $900K for Fednat, $150K income loss limit vs $90K for Fednat, etc. Proper included bedbug treatment, Fednat none I think. Is it good insurance? Sure but if you need hurricane coverage for Florida then it's crazy expensive.

Now with Fednat exiting the insurance market I have a quote for $6700 from Tower Hill and still shopping around. Usually policies will cover 10% of your property coverage as income loss for an STR if they cover STRs at all.

Bottom line make sure you understand the coverage and dig into the comparison details. It's easy to get a quote with insufficient coverage or way more coverage than you need, so take the time to understand the basics before signing up.

Be careful with looking at a "housing market" or "2nd home markets". In a given area like Destin for example there may be (completely made up numbers here):

15000 STR capable 1 br condos

3000 non STR capable 1 br condos

10000 STR 2 br condos / homes

3000 non STR capable 2 br condos / homes

7500 STR 3 br condos / homes

5000 non STR capable 3 br condos / homes

5000 STR 4 br homes

3000 non STR capable 4 br homes

3000 STR 5 br homes

1000 non STR capable 5 br homes

1500 STR 6 br+ homes

1000 non STR capable 6 br+ homes

I'd love to know the real numbers but you get the concept. Every one of these has a different investment profile, buyer profile, seller profile, etc. The same city has STR and non STR areas. Zillow and others are reporting on all of this with one percentage number. It is not equally distributed. Do you think the supply/demand is the same for all of these?

Then consider that beachfront vs non-beachfront are also unique. HOA vs non HOA. No pool vs community pool vs private pool. 1 br condo vs 8 br beachfront home with pool? Do you think the owners of the 1 br condos have the same financial profile as the owners of 8 br beachfront homes?

There are macro factors for sure to consider, but know YOUR target market and don't get caught up in the news articles that talk about a vague "2nd home market". If the people in your market are buying investment homes for cash, do interest rates matter to them?

@Vincent Chen you can't go wrong with @Matt "Roar" Gardner in the PCB area! Amazing!

@Luke Carl where's the other?

So ideally for your first STR you should invest in a place you are at least familiar with. I would not pick some random city and start trying to buy a home there sight unseen. That may be something for more experienced operators with a team but for your first you really should start a little slower in my opinion.

Narrow down your target area using the internet of course and a trusted Realtor to guide you to STR friendly areas. Within a city you may have areas that allow STRs and those that don't. Become intimately familiar with the city/town/area using Google street view, satellite view, Facebook groups, etc. Have a list of recently sold properties you would have purchased and get all their addresses written down. Get all your questions and concerns down on paper, then book a trip there and meet with the Realtor and look at a bunch of houses for sale even if they are not 100% what you want. Drive to all the ones you would have bought and see if they are as good in person as they looked on the internet. While you are there, be a tourist and see if the place appeals to you. You might want to vacation there yourself to put some sweat equity into the home so at least make sure you'd like to be there.

All of this will make you far more at ease pulling the trigger remotely when the right property comes up. You'll know the area, you'll know the parking, the attractions, how close or far from whatever the local hotspots are, etc. 

In my case, I did most of this and I even looked at the house I ultimately purchased, although I had no intention of it at the time. However after going home and reviewing all the options and researching some more, analyzing my finances more, etc. I wound up making an offer on the home. My Realtor provided walkthrough videos and pictures for me to refresh my memory and I closed in 2 1/2 weeks.

Good luck!