All Forum Posts by: Martin D.

Here in Northern Arizona, the cost of building new is the same cost as buying something beautiful turnkey. The only advantage you would have going the building route would be to create something very unique from scratch.

I've done full gut jobs in about 1 year versus 3 years for a build from acquiring the land to listing on AirBnB.

Buying a distressed property at a bargain and doing a full remodel would be the way to go, in my opinion, and for my market (Sedona, Verde Valley, etc.)

I know MTR is not a real term but I love it. I have one property that I do that with and plan on purchasing another one this year. 

Returns aren't as good as STR but better than LTR. Turnover and wear-and-tear are not as bad as STR and it allows me to self-manage pretty easily. There's plenty of demand. Over here, people escape the snow in the winter. They escape the heat in the summer. They just want a break from the big cities, or just work remotely from a beautiful scenery.

And, sometimes people need an MTR while they're looking to buy their own home and relocate. Good deal for me, since I'm a realtor ;)

Hi @David Dickerson 

I have a great experience with MTR. Although I know it's not an official term, I define that as a furnished rental by-the-week or by-the-month.

Returns aren't as good as STR but they are better than LTR. Turnover and wear-and-tear are much closer to LTR than they are to STR. People are more respectful when they stay longer in the same place.

I like it because it's easier to manage and the cash-flow is still good, and the demand is always there (people traveling with the seasons, people traveling for work, people wanting to get out of the cities for a while...)

PS: I live in Sedona, AZ

I'll jump in and answer your question since I know the property he's talking about. It's worth around 500k.

Yes, it seems that 'Americans are bracing for a recession' and are being a bit more cautious with their spending. 

I have many friends/clients who own STRs in Sedona; the feedback I'm getting is that booking requests don't come in 1-2 months in advance as they used to, more-so a couple weeks in advance with a lot more last-minute requests too. But in the end, they still experience 80-90% occupancy rates! 

I see small niche markets like Sedona doing really well through tough times. People are always looking to get out of the cities and breathe some fresh air and what better place to do that then in the beautiful Red Rocks! :)

I've looked into building my own home on an exquisite lot. I got it under contract. My budget was on point. And then I started inquiring with contractors and everything blew out of proportion!

I released that lot and went on to buy a house. One month later after a bit of rehab, it was ready to produce income. 

Unfortunately, with labor shortages, supply chain issues, material inflation, now is not the time to build! 

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks guys!! You're right!! Learned my lesson on this one!! 

Got a Honeywell from Home Depot for $40 and I have a lot more peace of mind now.

Wishing everyone happy holidays :)

Hello BP,

I've been dealing with a massive headache for the past 10 days and I'd like to get some of you guys' opinion about thermostats in rental properties and how you do it.

Obviously, our number #1 priority as landlords is to make managing our properties as seamless as possible in order to continue acquiring and growing our portfolio.

A couple months ago, the A/C in one my rental properties stopped working and I used that opportunity to swap out the old ugly thermostat for a "super cool" Google Nest thermostat that my electricity provider had been hammering me about. I installed it with the help of a technician over video and everything was working fine.

10 days ago, the thermostat said the batteries needed to be changed and my tenants decided to try on their own and ended up factory resetting the Google Nest. No big deal you would think...? Except they couldn't figure out how to set it up again and called me 2 days later saying they were out of heat at the house (it's starting to get pretty cold here at night).

I've gone a total of 3 times back to that property and spent over 6 hours on the phone with google customer service, and they even sent a replacement. Long story short, I have not been able–for the life of me–to make this Google Nest work at all.

And now it got me thinking, was that even a good idea to begin with? Do we really want Google Nests in rental properties? Do they make our life and the tenants' life easier or more complicated than it needs to?

At this point. I'm considering eating the loss and just calling an electrician to install a new "regular" thermostat again and call it a day.

What do you guys use for thermostats in your rental properties?

Thanks for the feedback my fellow landlords and Happy Thanksgiving!

@Jerry W. @Connor S. thanks guys, very insightful.

I think I was hitting a bit of a slump when I posted this last week and needed some pep talk from other investors. It's been pretty rough these past few months with the market tumbling and all my forecasts basically getting crushed, and wondering if all the sacrifices I've made on a personal level were worth it.

I've decided to be on the lookout for an opportunity to live for free in the downtown area, by house-hacking. And until I find that, I will stick to what I currently have. The $1k/mo increase in expenses is out of the window. It's either free or nothing! ;)

@Ricardo Hidalgo @Rick Albert @Nicholas Coulter 

Guys, thank you so much. It feels like everyone of you is saying the same thing but in a slightly different manner. Self-care is important, to an extent. You should reward yourself but it should also not damage your long-term investing goals. 

I've done a lot of reflection since posting this question and I did figure out that if I got lucky with an off-market deal, I could potentially find a house-hack that would allow me to live for practically free, in the city. I would get the best of both worlds: not sacrificing my cash-flow for extra living expenses, and living in a desirable place at the same time.

Granted, my cash-flow growth wouldn't be as quick as if I bought a multi-fam in a C neighborhood, but the benefit on the state of mind may actually make up for all these other sacrifices.

Now: onto finding the unicorn property!