All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

 Hi Ryan - No, I'm not involved nor do I know anyone at the Lyon's community at this point, though I will likely pay them a visit if I can find land that will support my endeavor.  Happy to share once I have done so.  

You left out FINANCIALS! :-) Does the current owner track financial data, income statements and balance sheet items? If not, what are the associated costs, e.g., cleaning, supplies, maintenance, etc...., subscriptions: cable, internet, other, insurance? Is it legal in the area, municipalities of the property? Is there an HOA/covenant and what are the terms? Why are they selling? This business should be very lucrative - you'll want to know their motivation.

Mike

I found a fabulous partner (she's not an equity partner, but she is my most valuable help) using a website called nextdoor (it's a neighborhood sharing site) and she came high recommended I absolutely recommend finding someone you can really trust as this is will make or break your STR business. She not only cleans my STR's but rotates the linens and towels out to a laundry service so I'm not paying her extra to hang around for the laundry to finish. She is also my eyes on the property and sends me photos of problems, damage or issues. I send her supplies, e.g., TP, paper towels, soap, etc.... to replenish my homes. I pay her a bit of premium, but it is well worth the investment!

I'm just beginning to explore a tiny home village as @Ethan Cooke posted above. My vision is to buy an existing structure that needs to be refurbished, convert it to a central home, then build out 8-12 tiny homes and place them on the property. I like this idea as there are a lot less restrictions and covenants in most (check this first) municipalities for "trailers" (non-permanent structures) as long as you find a non-HOA/covenent community. Here is another concept that I recently came across. The place provide the "pads", you provide the homes. It's like a BYOTH "bring your own tiny home".

https://weecasa.com/

 Hi Dan!

If you setup your property to charge a "security deposit" under pricing on your listing page, Airbnb will pre-authorize a charge to the guest and should something happen, you file a claim through Airbnb and they intervene and help resolve the case between you and your guest.  So far, it has worked well for me and Airbnb has stood behind my claims.  Just make sure you (or someone) takes photos that you can submit to Airbnb.  I worry about Craigslist as I've read a lot of stories about scams.  I tried booking - week interface and bad hosting terms, and Trip Advisor didn't provide much.  I have settled on Airbnb and VRBO for now and it has worked well in my area.

Hope that helps!

Mike

As @Julie McCoy mentioned, I had no idea BP would do this either but I'm going to try and find out :-).  

Hi @Julia Bykhovskaia - I have a good friend who is launching a fund.  Not sure what the terms of his fund will be but I am happy to connect the two of you if you want to connect with me here and send me a message I can send you his contact information.

Best,

Mike

Congrats @Joe Kim, that's a very cool story and sometimes it pays to "hold-on".  I have larger homes in Scottsdale, AZ and this time of year is "hold-on" and ignore the pricing sites and pressures that come with lowering rates.  

Mike

Some great advice here @Gary Dawson, and @Avery Carl and @Luke Carl are your team of advisers in this geography!

Hi @Franklin Tirrell.  That is one of the "holy grail's" of this business (the other is pricing).  You can look to sites like Airdna.co or a few others, but for the most part it's "point, click and do you analysis".  You'll want to also make sure you're in an area where there are adequate resources for cleaning, maintenance, etc....

Best of luck in your search and let us know if you find the Grail!

Mike