All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

I doubt renting a room in a multi-room house will have  much appeal unless you have common areas that can be shared as well.  There will be other challenges with schedules and guest arrival and departures.  My advice would be to do additional research on your own for a home this size.  Go to airdna.co (not .com), create an account for free, and search your area for similar size properties to view nights, rates, seasonality, etc....  If you then think you need the raw data file, buy the zip code your property resides in and drill down on like for like properties.

Great stuff everyone, thank you.  I have been buying small soap bars from Amazon because full bars are a waste as they never get totally used.  I also found eBay to be a good source for "designer" sample sizes of shampoo and conditioner.  @Valerie Rogers my units are remote as well making it more difficult to refill bigger bottles.  @Jeff Graves I totally agree, I think I can afford a few dollars to avoid a potential bad review or non-returning guest.  Many times it doesn't get used so it can be put out again so the expense is very nominal.  I think it's a nice touch and I show it on photos.

Good stuff @Garry C. and @Jim Brewer.  I prefer not to spend $5 per bag of goodies and don't spend that now.  I put out a hotel size Paul Mitchell shampoo & conditioner and small soap bar in each bathroom.  Cost on that display right now is $1.57 per bathroom - that's pretty darn cheap. Garry - do you think this branding helps your business?  I have my own brand as well, have considered what you are doing, but question the true value.  I only have 3-units so far and I think if I had 20 or so it might make sense.  

@Olivier Chaine Maybe we can get a group of STR owners to leverage some buying power. I have some emails out and can provide feedback on what I find as well. I need about 150 units (of each supply item) per year.

I have an off-investment topic question.  Anyone have a really good amenities suppliers, e.g., hotel/motel shampoo, soap, conditioner, snacks, etc supplier?  I'm finding some on Google but always looking for recommendations.  Thanks!

John Fairbairn owns Fairbairn Commercial Been in the business a LONG time, straight shooter.  He is currently listing a property of mine to lease and has done multiple large and small transactions.  PM me if you want his contact info, BP blocks it to post on the board.

IMHO I would start with analyzing the "true" income potential for a property. You list it at $2k, but where is that data coming from? There are tools to use like airdna.co (my favorite because they capture true rental data by individual property and location). I also run a cash over cash analysis to sort out my true ROI which you have most of the numbers you need above (I've tweaked one for my own use I can send along if you PM me). I will tell you that this has been the second most lucrative business venture of my career (my first is a commercial project so real estate is the right gig), but I think most will agree it has to be a "business" to really be successful. @Jon Crosby @Andrew Johnson @Justin Tahilramani all great comments & suggestions!

Not sure if they are in your area yet, but check out www.slice.is (yep that's their URL).  They have a unique approach to insurance.  They're slowly rolling out their program (my area is slated for July).  

I currently own a 7k sq ft building on a 12k lot in South Denver.  I am considering a sale of this property as the neighborhood is beginning to gentrify in an extremely good location.  There is a number of scraping and new build residential and commercial construction going on.  I may also be able to assemble two - three other owners with similar lot sizes, providing a total of 48k sq ft of land - all recently re-zoned as CMX5 (Urban, mixed use, special consideration - so really any building with a max of 5 stories).  Knowing that the property is only as valuable as someone is willing to pay, my question is how to justify a sale price based upon this re-zoning?  I have run traditional income/capitalization models but are there other models I should be considering based upon the value of the Lot x The square foot potential of the Lot?  Thanks!

I 2nd @William Leahy and @Ryanne Hodson comments.  I've also had luck with Homestore (Owned by TJ Maxx for mirrors, prints and do-dads.  Kirklands had some really cool stuff and I used a piece of their decorative iron as a headboard which bang for the buck didn't get any less expensive.  Final comment is I invited a couple to visit and she is a designer - now that was convenient.  She did cool stuff with vases, throw pillows, and blankets.  Again, simple stuff that ads color and flare to the rooms - most importantly your photos.

Mike