All Forum Posts by: Patricia Andriolo-Bull

I may be in the minority here. I mostly read of others discussing he power of leverage and I get it but I've been a firm believer of reducing leverage as much as possible and has worked well for me. Starting from nothing I have ~$5M in real estate (one primary residence, the other 3 a mix of STR and LTR, self managed and property manager) mostly unleveraged. I worked hard to pay off mortgages and sacrificed in other areas. One property (my STR which does well has a small mortgage to help offset taxable income). I retired at 49. I bring this up because I am about to 1031 into a property with only 6% CoC. After reading your post I questioned by decision but it works for me. It's a $2M property that also doesn't achiever the 1% rule. But as someone that is W-2 retired, I look at this as a longer term appreciating asset that will give me monthly fixed income. I expect to cash flow $11K / month on this property. I could purchase more properties and garner higher income but will require more work. I have traditional brokerage account investments also. This is a way for me to diversify and take a longer term real estate play. So think about your overall strategy and not just what other investors say you should try to hit from a CoC return or any of the other investing rules.

Quote from @Justin Cabral:

Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:

I live in Marco and also own a vacation rental there. I purchased it before the market went crazy. I try to follow the 1% rule. It is difficult to hit that with prices where they are today. I had a very good 2022 and start of 2023 but I'm starting to see some softness both in pricing and in occupancy. New STR regulations may make it a bit harder, too. I self manage but spoke to some PMs early on. At 20%, makes cash flow a bit more difficult. That said, if you can take the hit to help subsidize a vacation rental, it is a beautiful place.

 Hi @patricia andriolo-bull

i'm not familiar with new STR regulations. Could I ask you to elaborate please? Do you rent your place as STR or longer term?

how did you go about finding the person or company that cleans for you in between reservations? 

I’m willing to take the hit to somewhat subsidize the vacation rental but only because my current townhome is paid off. I would prefer that then upgrading to something bigger where I live in Miami. Prices here are stupid right now. 

The STR regulations are quite long.  They were voted in for last month but then were put on hold because of some lawsuits but there is a lot of fighting on the topic.  I suggest you google it as I would not be able to summarize it fully.  They are very intrusive, however.  My rental is a condo so the STR regulations don't impact me.  Also, I only rent my place as a STR.  MTR and LTR rates are significantly less and I don't like to stumble into tenant requires in FL so I limit to 29 days.  

I post on FaceBook and NextDoor Neighbor to find cleaners, etc.  It's worked fine for me.  

Interestingly, I find prices stupid crazy in Marco Island and have been looking for investments in Miami / FLL.  I purchased my home in 2018 for under $1M....it's now worth well over $2M.  I purchased my condo in 2020 for under $500K and it's now worth over $800K.  All to say, it's a tough market to get into to make money now.  I am on track to gross over $80K in my condo this year but I go out of my way on all the little touches.  I think I am on the high end when I look at airDNA and do my own research.  Have you looked at airbnb and VRBO to see what nightly rates are?  My waterfront condo goes from under $200 per night in low season to $600 in high season.  It's pretty dead in Sept / Oct / early Nov but I do decently on occupancy otherwise.  Homes surprisingly can bring in the same low end but higher end homes (which sleep 12 or more) a bit more.  There is a lot of inventory and it is hard to make your property stand out.  But it sounds like you are looking for a vacation property as much as an investment, so none of this might matter. 

I live in Marco and also own a vacation rental there. I purchased it before the market went crazy. I try to follow the 1% rule. It is difficult to hit that with prices where they are today. I had a very good 2022 and start of 2023 but I'm starting to see some softness both in pricing and in occupancy. New STR regulations may make it a bit harder, too. I self manage but spoke to some PMs early on. At 20%, makes cash flow a bit more difficult. That said, if you can take the hit to help subsidize a vacation rental, it is a beautiful place.

I'm in Marco.  Just be aware, expenses are all going up.  Insurance is harder to find but depending on your price point and expenses, you can still find a deal here and there.  I saw the comment re: Cape Coral and the summer season, if you aren't familiar with the area, I was a bit surprised.  SWFL does pretty well all year except Sept to early November.  ADR off season is a little lower but you still get rentals end of spring and all summer long.

Quote from @Pierre E.:

@Patricia Andriolo-Bull  This was GREAT perspective. Definitely helpful because it gives me insight on what to watch out for, and what to learn more about. Some times we take things for granted due to what we are used to here in the US. Thank you so much for sharing that. I hope I can return the favor in value in some way in the future! Specifically I will look into the following:

- Legal
- Tax Rules
- Network + Friends + Connections
- Language Barriers
- Payment Transactions and Recourse for Fraud
- General/customary behavior among vendors and contractors in the area (good and bad)

 Good luck. Maybe one day we will both have property in Grenada! 

Quote from @Dado Vucak:

@Patricia Andriolo-Bull late response here but I've been using HostTools for around 6 months now - I love it! 

I have the Pro plan so it integrates with my August smart lock. This was critical for me since I wanted the code generation for the guests to be fully automated. I've also leveraged their webhooks to automate additional things on my end like setting the thermostat to the appropriate temperature an hour before the guest check-in and turning it off after they check out. I didn't want to have to remember to do that myself every time. I've also leveraged that capability to build some pretty cool dashboard on my end to occupancy, revenue, and cancellation rates across all platforms. 

It's worked out great for me so far and I'm very happy with it, especially at the price point ($10/month). 

My only critique is the VRBO integration. It seems to me that whenever I get a message or booking from a VRBO guest, it takes it a little while to show up in HostTools whereas airbnb bookings seem to be instant. 

 Are you still using HostTools? How are you liking it?

 Hi.  I very much like HostTools.  VRBO is having a bit of a glitch right now and loses connection at times.  It forces me to call VRBO to reset the account but luckily they are easy to get a hold of and fix.  I'd love to learn more about how to use Webhooks.  Is it easy to set up with Nest thermostats?

Quote from @Pierre E.:

@Patricia Andriolo-Bull

Anything specific you could share as advice from your experience?

Yes, they speak English which is one reason I was considering Grenada. The language barrier was the most difficult piece in my experience but I also ran into legal issues where the party that defaulted on their contract was connected so there wasn’t much I could do to get what I was owed. Essentially the developer / property manager didn’t pay our contractual rental income for years (a sum of nearly $30k) and I didn’t have much recourse. They still owe us money. Also, their taxing system was difficult. I couldn’t just expense expenses. I needed to provide vendors an “RNC” number that they used to provide the government with the expense. Many vendors (for obvious reasons) either wouldn’t do that or didn’t do that so I couldn’t qualify deductions from my income. Just a few examples…

Quote from @Pierre E.:

@Patricia Andriolo-Bull

Any new insights?

I would love to hear from others who have done STR in grenada as well, ( or even a similar/non bahamas-jamaica-aruba Caribbean island that isnt on the top of the list for us tourists but still worth it)

 Hi.  Nothing new from my end.  I did not move forward with Grenada, at least not yet.  I am heading there on August 8th and may change my mind.  I am in the process of selling my condo in Punta Cana and it reaffirms my issues with purchasing abroad.  Even the selling process if very difficult

Quote from @Pierre E.:

Anyone have short term rentals in Grenada? Any ideas suggestions or thoughts on the market? Or general thoughts on investing in similar islands in the Caribbean? I know some people from there living here interested in investing, me as well.

Seen some nice places there on AirBNB but feel like a… fish outta water… when it comes to carribean/international investing?

I recently looked into Grenada. My daughter is starting vet school there in August and thought it might be a good place to invest. There is an opportunity to invest around the medical / vet school. I am just divesting from the Dominican Republic. It wasn’t the best experience so I’m a bit hesitant to jump into another Caribbean island. A few points, different tax laws and language barriers made it more difficult. 

Quote from @Richard F.:

Aloha,

A spreadsheet alone does not provide much evidence on your behalf. Do you have lots of detailed photos for move in condition, and signed move in condition form? Lots of move out photos? Actual invoices for making repairs noted? If you are well documented, I would not hesitate to present to a Judge. Just remember to keep your responses to the Judge very short, concise, and without emotion or story-telling. Let the Tenant talk themselves into a losing position.

Also, are you required to use an attorney, or does your LL/Tenant Court operate more informally as many "small claims" Courts do?

 Thank you.  Helpful.  The spreadsheet has links to either repair costs or product replacements ( I would print these out if I do go in front of a judge).  I took many photos of the home the day I turned it over and the day after they left.  The challenge is we didn’t have detailed photos of every single thing (for example, pots and pans).  I have photos of how they left them.  This is a 3300 SF furnished, upscale home so it has top end finishes and items.  I did not take up close photos of my counter tops - never could I have imagined the level of destruction in that short tie.  I also don’t have receipts from the original items (e.g. vacuum and outdoor sectional), so I’m not sure if the judge would say that I’m trying to replace with something more expensive.  

I need to learn more about the court proceedings.  I have a week to respond.