All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin
Jon Martin has started 36 posts and replied 1090 times.
Post: 3/2 or 2/2 + Game Room?

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
3rd bedroom over game room. Depending on the market, a 2 bedroom may not even attract the guest avatar that would regularly use and appreciate the game room. The more rooms/heads, the more likely they are to want a game room because more people can enjoy it together.
I would definitely convert the garage so long as you have ample parking outside. Garages go mostly unused by STR guests. a 2 car gives you a lot of space and options, because a pool table with clearance will take up that entire master. With the garage you have double the space, so you could do a pool table in one bay and still have the other side for arcades, shuffleboard etc
Post: Perspective from being an Airbnb guest (also a host)

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
Quote from @Christina B.:
@Jon Martin Lol. Can't rent an Airbnb without seeing it from host perspective. Currently staying in a half-assed STR with a great location. Reached out to hosts with issues. Received canned response (and nothing done). Debating if I leave a review knowing nothing posts if either party does not leave a review.
Thanks for the Clifs Notes! I think if you reach out to the host and give them a fair chance to address the issues, and in response they are complacent and making no effort, then leaving a negative review is absolutely fair.
Post: Perspective from being an Airbnb guest (also a host)

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
TLDR
Try to condense and get back to us
Post: Travel + Leisure's Top 15 Cities In The U.S.

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Quote from @Garrett Brown:
Quote from @Jon Martin:
Been operating in Greenville SC for 2.5 years, slightly outside the city limits as mentioned above by @John Underwood
Have looked at a fair number of properties in #1, 3, 4, 13 & 15. Santa Fe has great numbers and I was close to putting in offers until I spoke with the city last fall. They were close to their STR permit limit at the time and were waiting until the spring to open up the application process, at which point they were likely to exhaust the remaining supply. Could still be a "outside the city limits" play.
Honolulu, NYC and Boston seem like a no go between regulations and entry prices. Nashville, Charleston and Austin seem tough as well.
Good info! I do think most of the list is not the best place to invest if people are searching for random markets. Greenville and Savannah seemed like the STR winners when just looking at their data. Interesting to hear investors in Savannah say it's slow for the first time for them though. I was surprised they had Santa Fe at #1 on this though
Santa Fe has similar revenue to Sedona but much lower entry price. Greenville and Savannah are still affordable as well and have very good occupancy year round.
Post: vinyl wrapping kitchen cabinets

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
Can they be painted?
Post: Travel + Leisure's Top 15 Cities In The U.S.

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
Been operating in Greenville SC for 2.5 years, slightly outside the city limits as mentioned above by @John Underwood
Have looked at a fair number of properties in #1, 3, 4, 13 & 15. Santa Fe has great numbers and I was close to putting in offers until I spoke with the city last fall. They were close to their STR permit limit at the time and were waiting until the spring to open up the application process, at which point they were likely to exhaust the remaining supply. Could still be a "outside the city limits" play.
Honolulu, NYC and Boston seem like a no go between regulations and entry prices. Nashville, Charleston and Austin seem tough as well.
Post: Oven or Dishwasher in STR?

- Posts 1,101
- Votes 968
Agree with the above, although I would limit the number of dishes/utensils that you offer so your cleaner doesn't get stuck with a sink full of dishes.
Post: Garrett Brown's top markets in each state

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Quote from @Myrtle Mike Thompson:
I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And while I love my hometown, I'm very curious how it garnered the #1 spot for the state!
You'd be surprised at the occupancy rates of some of these mid-sized cities. Could be #1 from a profitability standpoint
Post: Did anyone attend the "Short Term Rental" conference in Nashville last week?

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- Votes 968
Yikes, sounds cringe. My guess was that it would’ve been less attended overall because of decreased interest in the space. In a sense I was somewhat right because it wasn’t well attended by those who were interested, more so out of desperation.
All the coaching, design, tech stacks etc in the game won’t help you if the market fundamentals aren’t there.
Post: Making sense of PriceLabs data?

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- Votes 968
I have a property I am planning to sell but decided I would try Pricelabs first to see if I was leaving money on the table. When I download the recommended prices for the entire year, I get a total of $74K. If I multiply by 60% occupancy, I get $44K, which is closer to reality. Yet when I run their estimator, I get $25K. When I compared my July from this year to last, there was little change using their prices.
Another strange item is that it is predicting ADRs that are $30-50 higher for weeknights in shoulder season months in 2026. Are they extrapolating based on market trends?
Overall I think it's a good tool to be sure you are getting more on key dates for events you might not be aware of, but it seems like the numbers overall are a bit aspirational?
Curious to hear others experience here.