All Forum Posts by: Mike Smith

I went to the house.  Although the small dead end area where the house is located seems reasonable, all approaches to the house are pretty rough.  An big abandoned city school is a few lots up, lots of rough looking houses, a few empty lots with trash.

I'm pretty sure this house would NOT appeal to renters due to the general appearance of the area.

I'm going to drop this one and keep and eye out for something else in a little better area.

Thanks for the feedback.

 Thank you for the encouraging words Mr K.

So my initial idea was to make it a short term rental, higher(yea, subjective) end turnkey property, because that is the type of property I prefer to rent, trying to put myself in the position of a short term renter.

I looked up the graduation schedule, looks like 10 graduation weekends a year, Usually seems to draw a family type of crowd.  The local pickup in business is noticeable to me during those times, and i've heard it can be hard to get a hotel room on graduation weekends.  Guessing that is not the best market for an executive high end rental. 

 Great point, even within the short term rental market different approaches are required....which would i be more adapt at, which would work better...don't have an answer yet...thanks

 Good idea Mr. Timmins, i know a few people that work, will reach out to them, if that does not work i will cold call HR.  Thanks

That is a great point Mr. Konipol, exactly the kind of feedback i was asking for.  Thank you.

So framing this as a vbro BUSINESS vs a longer term rental INVESTMENT.  Yea, the more i think about it......big difference in time commitment, marketing, scalability.....

Trying to think through a month of my life as a vbro business owner.....would all that time be worth it ?  

Check-in(in person or lock box), check-out

Cleaning, dealing with garbage(curbside only, got to get the cans out-back in)

Landscaping(summer requires weekly cutting) 

Supplies - did the last guests take a few of my towels-pillows-forks ? 

Property security(not in the best part of town, alarm?, cameras?), 

City STR zoning regulations(pretty hands off as of today)

What would happen if i had to kick guest out ?  If worst comes to worst, would the police respond or would they consider it a civil matter between landlord-tenant....

How would i deal with personal vacations and occasional business travel? - take the property of market during those times ?

How do i estimate vacancy factor for a STR ? I did look at the 2 like(2bd, 1 bath) existing vbros in the general areas calendar's, bookings looked sparse, properties looked..ok at best, a little tired. I already know the property I'm on will require a complete rehab, will having a newer unit much closer to the medical area result in more bookings ?

Sure i'm missing tons of details.  I feel like i have a reasonable handle on analyzing a long term rental-investment property.....but so many more variables for a short term rental....

just found this post:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/252947-airbnb-vs-rental

Thank you moderator for verifying my question 

Hi,

I've had this idea for a while now, just looking for feedback-advice-thoughts.

Live in a mid sized city in the Southeast.  I guess we are a "regional" destination for many services and businesses, including an area of town with 2 major hospitals, a few outpatient type of facilities (for example a prominent higher end specialized cancer clinic), and tons of doctor offices and such.  Also, about 5 miles from this area is a fairly famous sports medicine hospital that draws professional athletes from all over the US, not an expert here, but I'd say it's more than a regional draw on that one.   

People travel from the more rural surrounding areas for treatments in this area, and I'm guessing that some of them stay in the area for a few days or more.  I don't have any numbers nor do i know of a way to quantify that.  There is a "Ronald McDonald" house in the area, which is a free place to stay overnight for parents with kids in treatment, i've heard it can be tough at times to get a spot, so i'm guessing demand is there......

Besides the medical angle, there is a massive military training base in the area, and hotel space is tight 10 times a year when the families come in town for graduation.

Anyway, i have been thinking about buying a property near this medical complex and market it towards people in town for medical treatments, perhaps through a vbro type of arrangement.  Another thought would be to market it towards busy medical professionals, like doctors in Residency.  In general, i was thinking about making it a nicer, perhaps higher end type of rental.

The residential area around the medical is rough(by my cities standards), lots of old cheap houses in areas where i expect many people would not be comfortable staying.

But I found a small property very close to the hospital on a dead end street.  It's kind of private and out of the way.  The other houses in the dead end have been converted to offices( the house across the street is a nice looking law office and the house adjacent is a pretty decent looking environmental consulting company).  The other houses in the area, that are not visible from the property for sale, are rough...but i do see a few that actually look nice, new paint, decent landscaping, ok looking cars in the driveway.  I've been interested in RE investing for a while, and I pay attention when ever I'm out and about town, and i smell a little gentrification starting up in this little enclave, of course it is hard to count on that panning out, and i've been wrong on that type of thought before.

The property is a small 2 bedroom 1 bath(yea not great) house, about 900 sq feet.  Its very old, guessing the rehab price would be in the same range as the ask, which is around 30k.  A few lots in the area are going for 8 to 16 k.  Nice private lot, last lot on dead end street.  A few big nice trees, kind of has an oasis in the city feel to it back there.

Sorry, lots of rambling, what questions should i be asking myself about this ?  Any advice, criticism ?

Thanks