All Forum Posts by: Joshua Strickland

Just a personal opinion, but is seems like your a long way down this building it yourself rabbit hole. From my perspective I'd ask why not just buy a small cabin now with the money you were going to use to build? It would be an easy way to get your feet wet in the STR game and most importantly you eliminate the whole 12 month wait plus the additional 6-12 months it will take you to build. Seems like a lot of profit your giving up over the next 18-24+ months.

I speak from a similar(ish) situation. I started a new build last October and it won’t be ready until next month. Granted it will end up being less expensive than if I would have just bought a cabin last October, but I can’t stop thinking about the $30-$50k of profit I would have already made if I would have just bought an existing cabin. Not including the appreciation. 

I know this didn’t answer your question, but just a thought.

Pros - turns a liability into an asset by making income. Diversifies your income streams from your regular job.

Cons - it becomes a business so you need to be ready to treat it like one. Also to maximize revenue you’ll want it rented on major holidays versus self use.

Personally I wouldn't go below 20% CoC for a STR at the moment. Anything over 50% is a home run and still achievable depending on the market and loan strategy. Example: Buy a 3/3 cabin in the smokies for $650k. With a lot it will rent as a 4/3. Put 10% down - $65k. Should gross around $100k which nets you close to $30k - $35k. General numbers but you get it.

I'd dump it into STRs in a proven vacation market that has stood the test of time. Smokies, Orlando, FL panhandle, etc. Should be able to get a 30% ish CoC return with the right property.

Foreclosure moratorium ending soon will also be interesting. Could be some deals on flips and wholesales.

This article may help…

https://www.airdna.co/blog/bes...

I use Schlage Encode door locks. I don’t use a noise monitoring sensor in any of mine at the moment. I hear both Minut and Noise Aware are good though.

@Ryan Copeland I personally love pricelabs. If you aren’t getting bookings I would check 2 things. First check your market dashboard. It has some really good insights on whatever market you are in. Second check the rest of your settings and make sure your minimum nights and other settings align with your market. The market dashboard will help let you know what you should set your base rate and minimum nights, etc. at. I also always like to go into Airbnb and vrbo to make sure my settings are syncing correctly.

I use Smartbnb as my channel manager to sync bookings between Airbnb and vrbo and also as my auto messaging tool which saves me hours. Get a few auto messages set up and your life gets 10x easier.

Own it so you can build equity overtime. 

You don't need an LLC.

You will need additional coverage over regular home owners insurance to cover you for guest liabilities. Check out proper, foremost, or cbiz.

Agreed, but I believe the small boutique owners will still have a competitive advantage. Large corporations have lots of dough, but also lots of inefficiencies. Trust me, I work for one of the better ones and it still shocks me on a daily basis. 

It definitely could hurt acquisitions if you’re trying to expand because they can always pay more. Hopefully by that time I’ll be cashing out.

I suppose they could also try to drive market rates down to cut out small and midsize owners, but I doubt it. Corporations are profit driven and the stakeholders in those corporations are constantly trying to outperform last years numbers to earn promotions and commissions. Elon Musk says Dogecoin to the moon! I say STR rates to the moon! Hopefully at least….