All Forum Posts by: Patrick Diamond

Hi all!

As our business has been growing, it's becoming increasingly difficult to manage our leads, contacts, etc., and the problem can't be ignored any longer.

We use PropertyRadar for our acquisitions, and are also on-boarding "Insightly CRM"...  I originally had planned to export our lists from PR into Insightly as leads and was going to have our acquisitions teams in the field use Insightly...  

That said, there are several "CRM-ish" features in PropertyRadar which I really like, such as the interest level, the notes, etc.  I want to make training and the understanding of these systems as easy as possible for our team...  

I'd like to ask what those of you in the BP community do in terms of utilizing a CRM with PR.  Any tips, thoughts, ideas, would be very helpful as to how these workflows should be set up.

Some info about our structure:

We have:  

-A division which handles our STR/Airbnb properties
-A division which handles both acquisitions and our flips, with teams who go out on the street door knocking for acquisitions and     wholesaling deals we find which don't fit our footprint or we don't have the time to take them on
- We also have an in-house legal team and broker who need access to contacts and projects, etc.

Thanks for your help in advance!
 

How's this going @jairus king?

Hi, @Dave Foster, and thanks for taking the time to respond.  

I had anticipated an answer such as the one you've given...  I am thinking that the same thing will happen, but we shall see!  :)

Perhaps someone will come along who has run into this or has a solution around the issue, perhaps by getting the paper traded off?  

Thanks again, Dave!

I am hoping someone can shed some light on this: Let's say that an investor wants to do a 1031 exchange on a property, and there is an existing mortgage on the property... Rather than doing a seller carry, can the buyer perform a subject to in concert with a 1031 in order to allow the seller more cash up front? What are the caveats?

Hello BP:

I have an interesting situation.

8 years ago, a residential property was purchased by my client and converted to a bed & breakfast and has been functioning as one since.

Client now wants to sell, and, due to the fact that good records weren't maintained, it's being sold/marketed as a residential property.

Someone I work with in REI with quite a bit of mortgage lending background with underwriters advised me that whoever buys the home will likely have a very difficult time getting the deal done with a conventional mortgage, because during the due dilligence phase, the lender will find that the property has been running as a bed and breakfast, and therefore will shy away from it... even if the stated intention is to use it as a primary residence.

Can anyone with background on how the risk factors of these deals are considered and underwritten, or knowledge of common underwriting practices shed some light on this?

I appreciate your time in advance!

Hi @Nick Jacaruso and welcome to Bigger Pockets.  I'm sure you'll find it useful; I know I have.

As far as Airbnb goes, you'll find several regular posters on here besides myself who focus on Airbnb, including @Al Williamson who has a course and other materials designed for landlords looking to utilize Airbnb as opposed to standard tenancies.

Personally, Airbnb has been a real game-changer for me in many ways.  It has helped me transition into other types of real estate and investing with a lower barrier to entry.

The first thing I would recommend is that you ask yourself the "why".  As in why did you decide to get involved in real estate in the first place?  

From there you'll likely get some better feedback on the pros and cons of each depending on what your interests are.

There are of course other factors to consider too, including local regulations, time you have to put into a new venture, etc.

Looking forward to seeing your posts in the future, and once again, Welcome to Bigger Pockets, Nick!

Hi there @Gabe K. glad to have another Airbnb person on the site.  I'd love to connect with you and share some knowledge sometime.

Welcome to BP!

I think @Nick L. had some great points here, at the same time I think that it is quite possible to eliminate problem tenants or having any 3AM calls, especially when you focus on the right market... 

Like anything, great ideas are only as great as the execution, and I feel that one of the ways to minimize issues can come from using a trust-based system such as Airbnb or HomeAway to get your renters from.  

You can also reach out to local hospitals, universities, military bases, etc. to ask if they would add you to their list of housing providers for traveling staff and students.

Hi Omaraya - 

I just 15 minutes ago posted a response in another forum regarding using Airbnb for markets other than tourism... You could have an opportunity with these efficiencies... I am pasting the part of the post I made that I think you'll find useful (rather than type it out again :)

What is the "low-hanging fruit" in the short-term rental marketplace? It's the tourist. Airbnb and sites like it take advantage of a low barrier to entry that already exists in renting out rooms and makes that barrier even lower, by making it safer and easier.

By providing a user-friendly and clean interface along with a more focused directive, these sites pick up where Craigslist and the local Pennysaver left off. Even with this consideration, there is still a lot of fruit left in the tree, it just takes a bit of extra legwork to reach it.

Who needs to stay less than six months in one city, yet probably more than 30 days, and is willing to pay a premium for the flexibility and the well thought out comforts of a furnished home? Here's a few of the good ones:

- Traveling physicians, nurses, and healthcare researchers
- Visiting educators and professors
- Families of individuals undergoing medical procedures or extended recovery
- Government contractors
- Military personnel and their families

And that's just to name a few.

If you're willing to put in a small amount of additional effort in reaching out to the HR department at a regional medical center nearby, the admissions office of a local university or a local teaching hospital, and other research facilities, etc., you may find that you'll be in like flint.  

I hope you find that helpful.

Patrick

Hi Steven -

The dilemma regarding 30 day+ stay requirements is unfortunately becoming one that more municipalities are forcing upon us.  That said, it doesn't mean that there's no viable business model in those properties for short-term rental... it just means a little bit more creativity is needed.

What is the "low-hanging fruit" in the short-term rental marketplace?  It's the tourist.  Airbnb and sites like it take advantage of a low barrier to entry that already exists in renting out rooms and makes that barrier even lower, by making it safer and easier.  

By providing a user-friendly and clean interface along with a more focused directive, these sites pick up where Craigslist and the local Pennysaver left off.  Even with this consideration, there is still a lot of fruit left in the tree, it just takes a bit of extra legwork to reach it.

Who needs to stay less than six months in one city, yet probably more than 30 days, and is willing to pay a premium for the flexibility and the well thought out comforts of a furnished home?  Here's a few of the good ones:

- Traveling physicians, nurses, and healthcare researchers
- Visiting educators and professors
- Families of individuals undergoing medical procedures or extended recovery
- Government contractors
- Military personnel and their families

And that's just to name a few.

If you're willing to put in a small amount of additional effort in reaching out to the HR department at a regional medical center nearby, the admissions office of a local university or a local teaching hospital, and other research facilities, etc., you may find that you'll be in like flint.  

Some other hints:

Consider creating a domain name and pointing it to your Airbnb profile... If you have multiple listings, you can create subdomains for the listings and point each one to it, and once you're in contact with the housing coordinators, etc., just send them an email with a new link to new listings.  

This will make it easier for you to talk to people about your listing over the phone and get them over to your awesome listing easier... "www.hospitalityrescue.com" rolls off the tongue a lot easier than https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/5855439... see what I mean?

There are also some other options you can employ, like using a software such as Kigo (www.kigo.com), which allows you to broadcast your listing out to (and manage it on) many platforms, including VRBO, Homeaway, etc.

The bottom line is that there's a lot of ways to make money via Airbnb and short term rentals... they're definitely not all from tourists.  A little bit of additional due dilligence can help you sidestep regulatory hurdles and make more money with less housekeeping turns, management overhead, etc., than shorter stays.

All the best, and happy hosting!