All Forum Posts by: Mike Shemp

I'm not sure how it works there, but I think the state you spend majority of your time in a year usually needs to be considered your residence.  Not sure if that varies state by state, but that's what I thought anyway.

I'm guessing they setup that rule so that you can only rent it out a max of 182 days a year, and you would have to live in it the other 183?

Mike

We use Nest and Ring.  Both upload the video to the cloud.  

The Ring is nice because they have a battery operated one so thieves can't cut wires.

The Nest is nice because the interface for reviewing/saving videos is easier to use in my opinion.

We use both.

Mike

@David Klaff
There are lots of great STR markets. I don't have any recommendations for specific markets, but the process for getting established in a remote market looks like this for us...it's a slow road, but the one we like because it makes us feel like we did some homework.

1.  Visit the area ....a lot.  We take multiple trips and scout out multiple neighborhoods on each trip.  Walk around neighborhoods, stop and talk to locals, ask what they like, what they don't.  Talk to waiters, waitresses, and find out what's great about the area and what's not so great.  Drive the areas on sunny days and when its raining to see what areas flood or have water problems. 

2. Talk to a local realtor after step #1. Get their perspective on the areas that work as an STR in that market, and areas to stay away from. Check with local government on any pending or ongoing discussions on regulations or existing ones.

3. While your waiting for the right property, start researching your team.  Facebook groups for owners of that market are a great way to do that.  Just search for "Joshual Tree vacation owners" and things like that.  Ask the other owners who they recommend for cleaning, handyman, appliance, pest, plumber, electrician,  HVAC if you are not using a PM, or ask for PM recommendations if you are going with a PM.

4. When you find a house you like, review the deed to make sure there are no deed restrictions on renting it as a STR. We came across this once because the guy selling the property lived in the property next door, and he didn't want any guests coming and going, so he put that in the deed. We passed on that one.

Hope that gets you started!

Mike

You might want to look at business liability insurance after you have confirmed what John and Jason said about ensuring the owner has the correct STR insurance in place on the property. Since you would just be the middleman operating an arbitrage business, this insurance would be specifically for any risks involved in that.

MIke

If you have any crypto, you can put it at BlockFi, Celsius, and similar companies and borrow against it.

Mike

We have two in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Love that area and the market.  Lots of towns are talking about short-term regulations right now so you need to be careful though.

Mike

Hi @Ryan O'Hara,

We have 3 right now, working on #4.  For our 4th once we are either going to put a heloc on one of the existing STRs, and use the cash to help pay for the next one or do a cash-out refi, and use the cash to get the next one.

The other advantage this has is that if we are able to make an all cash offer on a home, we might have a better chance of getting the home in a hot/vacation market.  Then once we have the home we can refinance it later.

Hope that helps!

Mike

@Jonathan St.Leger

Very nice - We are in Kitty Hawk on the beach road.  Seems like every year it gets busier and busier in OBX and the seasons keep getting longer....great for STRs!

Mike

If it turns out you are grandfathered in, and the grandfathering occurs at the deed level and not the owner level, your house might be worth more than it is worth right now since you own a home that can be used as an STR without the regulations.

Mike

We would not.  

I'm sure it might work for some folks, but for security/liability concerns with a bunch of diffrent guests all in a shared space I wouldn't want to deal with that.

Mike