All Forum Posts by: Martin D.

Thanks for the update Melanie. So glad I relocated to AZ from CA, lol!

Hi Mike,

I wouldn't worry too much. It seems you have your seasons a little bit off: February is a slow month for Sedona and March is when things start to pick up. So you're on track! Guests rarely book months in advance here as they travel through Sedona for a few days while on a road trip. So April and May will start booking in the coming weeks, and especially since all these new reviews you got start coming in.

You've already gotten a lot of good advice from fellow investors here and I'm sure you'll do even better once you take all of them into account.

Good luck on your journey! Sedona is an amazing STR market :)

 I studied about 10 markets around the country. My main focus points were:

- What kind of cash-flow can I get with a minimum down payment?
- What are the local/State laws around real estate ownership and landlord rights?
- What is the median price point and what are the growth projections?
- How quickly/easily can I get to my property in case of an emergency?

After researching for about 6 months, I decided on Northern Arizona and bought my first property here. I loved the experience, and wanted to see if I could repeat it, and within 6 months, I bought my second one.

I was able to drive roundtrip over the weekend, do multiple walkthroughs and put offers. I had to do that many times (and sleep in my car) because the market was so hot there was a lot of competition and ended up almost always outbid by AirBnB investors.

I'm really glad I ended up buying here because I loved the region so much that I relocated here and now do this full time. It's so much fun and I can still find cash-flowing properties on the market any day of the week!

Please send over :)

Hi @Michelle Backer,

Just like you, I used to live in a very expensive market (Los Angeles). When I decided to start investing, nothing around me made sense so I decided to buy out-of-state and settled on Arizona.

A few home purchases later, I quit my job and relocated to Sedona because life was just so much better, and cheaper.

Now, with prices blowing up like everywhere else since COVID, Northern AZ doesn't feel as affordable as it used to be anymore (Sedona median price is 1.3M, Cottonwood is 500k), although, when I explore investing in other states, I realize that cash-flow and appreciation here is still very solid. 

Don't compare prices and cash-flow to what they were up to 2022. These days are gone! This is the new normal now. 

If you can buy an asset in a good location with good population/job growth and landlord/investor friendly laws (I love AZ for this... I can evict a bad tenant in 5 weeks), then my belief is that you will thank yourself in a few years when rates do come down and you can refi after it appreciated a bit. 

With the monetary policies the Fed have been advocating, we are sure to see the dollar devalue to the ground and appreciation on assets to keep soaring upwards for decades. There seem to be no solution to our country's debt addiction.

Hah... this!

In more seriousness, I always write in my contracts that there will be yearly rent increases, and every year I have a conversation with my tenants about whether I do it or not and if so, how much I increase. I tend to be on the more generous side when my tenants are nice and I want to keep them longer. But I think it's important to keep the balance in check. Not raising rents can be seen as a sign of weakness and down the line, could have your tenants feel entitled. You definitely don't want that to happen!

Not bad for a new build. In my market you would buy a new house for 500k which rents for $2500/mo!

Can you find a good tenant immediately and fill the vacancy? 

Biggest mistake I've myself and saw my clients make (even though I had warned them about it!) is under-budgeting for remodel. Whatever you think the max budget is, add 30% to that. There are ALWAYS surprises when remodeling a home and sinking more money in means it's that much harder to pull it out when ready to refinance!

Another novice mistake is not to account for holding costs. Every month you work on your project is another 1% of your total cost going into holding costs (on average, from experience). If you project drags on for multiple more months than you expected, that could easily run you 5-10% more just by holding!

Make sure your clients understand they should have extra cash reserves to weather the storms.

Good luck!

Awesome Logan, congratulations! Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring.

Thanks AJ! Yes, seller concessions are awesome. I've used them on almost every single deal this year. Mostly to buy down rate, and make payments more affordable for 1-2-3 years for the buyer–until they can hopefully refi at a better rate and get more cash-flow with their LTR/STR investments.

I just accepted an offer on one of my properties today that asked for 3% concessions. Seemed like much but buyer was on the fence before making the offer because he wasn't sure he could make payments. Given how the market is right now, I thought "better safe than sorry" and I'll give him 3% on this deal.

I'll probably get that 3% back on my next purchase anyway ;)