All Forum Posts by: Nancy Bachety

@Christina R. I called a broker (who owns STR's herself in Fernandina Beach) and I'm waiting to hear back from her. I'm reaching out to Foremost and American Modern too. I'll post findings.

@January Johnson Wow- if you can get a vacation property for $150K in PCB, I'd say that location sounds like a winner. A quick look on airbnb shows good rates for that whole area, from Fort Walton Beach to Port St. Joe's but prices on Zillow vary by a wide margin. Seems like FWB and PCB have good cost to rent ratios, based on a quick search. I'm still not sold on condo's or townhouses but they do have some advantages. I'd like to visit within the next several months. There's military there too. What airport is closest? 

@David Gerber Everything @John Underwood said. It sounds like it's a place you would like to use too and that matters because you will be trying to make the numbers work in order to support your vacation home. Profit isn't necessarily your motive in this case. If you just want to run a STR the numbers might not support it as an investment if it's very seasonal. And run an exit plan: would it rent as an annual and at what rent?

@Jeff Small The reason I don't like Teflon is they get hard to clean over time, most of them anyway. The reason people like them is to reduce the amount of oil needed. That is not a concern for hosts, we just want them to be able to be cleaned. Stainless cleans well. I don't leave spray oils either because they tend to leave residues.

@Jami Kloet You've had great responses. Here's one more. St. Augustine, a year-round tourist destination, drivable for many vacationers, on the Atlantic Ocean, national monuments, history, the oldest city of america, etc. I own in Naples too, where it's warm like you like. But for STR the demand where it is HOT is not the same as in St Augustine where the demand is even greater in the summer. I would never voluntary spend time in SW Fl in the summer. For me, it's akin to the cold and staying indoors in the winter in NY.

I want to visit Destin and PCB too but we've never been there yet. 

Good question @Christina R. I am also shopping for a better insurance product for my primary (which we, like @Tyler Work airbnb a portion of) as well as proper liability product for our dedicated whole-SFH STR. I'm calling American Modern tomorrow and Foremost. I also want an umbrella policy.

Additionally, we have a SFH that we've been doing STR for 2 of the bedrooms to two separate people, something I just learned from @John Mocker is a different animal to insure. That house will be a LTR for college students (incl. my daughter) in Aug and I will cease doing it as STR before than. Currently, we have our daughter as a co-host for one room and a host for the other and she manages it. I expect I'll use a landlords policy for this house at that time.

Upon checking out both recommended insurers on this thread, I noticed that Foremost offers business insurance. Question for Tyler is this: do you use Foremost to insure your Cobnb business, or do you use Foremost to insure your other properties that you own and rent on airbnb? I'm asking because we are now co-hosting and consulting and I'm considering the need for business insurance, aside from my personal STR homes.

This is from Foremost: 

Business Personal Property Coverage

Insurance protection against losses concerning the property of other people while it is in your care, custody and control.

Cozy compares to buildium, according to cozy, but it is free. I haven’t tried either one but I am looking now like @Fisayo Ijamakinwa. 

I’d like to again thank you @Nicholas Aiola for being so helpful and generous with your vast knowledge! Both are awesome. 

@Gaurav A. What attracted you to Ft. Pierce? What attracts you to STR? As a newbie, what makes you want to start with it, and why there? Your answers might get you different responses. Identify potential hosts in the area, read their descriptions, who are they trying to appeal to, write up an inquiry and ask them straight out what their numbers are.

Good luck.

@Brian Corbett Pleasantly surprised at the turnout and quality of information at yesterday’s Meetup. Kudos to BP and networking and organization. Frank and I can be around on May 12, Saturday if that fits in for another Meetup. @Rob Jones When is your next visit east? Would love to manage a meetup when you're visiting, if possible. Brian will be sharing contact information and Ellis might help out with your refinancing needs. Also, can anyone recommend a window installer for a SFH with 12 -15 windows?

@Darnell J. If you have a mortgage, my experience is the terms are better in your name. Hosts will than buy a separate umbrella policy, or add it to their current umbrella policy, or commercial insurance policy. 

@Julie McCoy I thought at one point you said you have your STRs in one llc as well as your co-hosting business in the same llc. Am I right? If so, does the co-mingling concern you from either a tax or liability standpoint? And do you have one insurance policy, either a commercial or umbrella, in place for that llc? 

I will be co-hosting/booking and thought of running it in the same llc we have for one LTR. I wasn’t sure if that was the best approach or just buy a commercial insurance policy for my co-hosting/booking company. As we read, Airbnb only allows cohosting for individuals and not businesses. 

@Timothy Church Good question. I focus on maximizing income within the fewest nights. It’s like the 70/30 rule, sort of. Weekends get the most nightly rate and we don’t discount them. They book 100%. So when 30% of the month(weekends)  brings in good money to net cash flow, we’re good. Less wear. We can decide to lower weeknights accordingly, if desired.