All Forum Posts by: Matt Jones

@John Underwood I tried some of that but I did not see where Airbnb or VRBO would let me look at past bookings further back than the current month and looking at future bookings can be misleading because the vacant dates may continue to fill.

@Jeremy England Awesome, I'll text you later today.  

@Reginald Ross congrats on the new place in Gulf Shores! I had thought about lower occupancy and lower rents in the winter so I planned to not touch summer profits in the first year until I had a good feel for off season occupancy.

 Awesome, I’ll reach out.  All of my units are LTR but I’m thinking about expanding! 

@Tyler Weaver that’s great info, I kept seeing that site come up as I tried to research. I’d still love to hear from some actual owners though, I know various other sites like vrbo also do well and some owners even run their own private sites for bookings.

I am trying to calculate potential returns on a short term investment property, specifically a Pensacola Beach rental. I’ve nailed down rates per season but I’m not sure how to figure occupancy.

For those of you that own a STR in a beach town, how many days per year do you have renters? If you really know your numbers, how many days for each season.

@Dylan Paul if that’s a war story just wait until you have tenants or start major renovations!

It sounds like the guy was just a bad fit for your investing strategy and probably didn’t quite take the time to understand your numbers. He was trying to push you toward things he was comfortable with hoping to help and it just didn’t work. He missed one of the key early lessons I learned in selling real estate: don’t assume you know what people want/need, ask and then actually listen! Glad you found a better fit and good luck with your RE journey!

Side note: on all of my first deals they were so ugly/smelly that friends, family & agents said I needed professional help! They are still some of my biggest cash cows. Don’t let someone else’s perception scare you off pursuing your strategy.

@Sean Mcmahon I’m an investor and a full time agent but I do not keep all the good deals to myself. I’ve been adding 2-6 doors per year to my portfolio but I don’t even come close to buying every good deal that I come across. It’s been mentioned in previous replies that most people do not have unlimited resources to buy every deal they find. In addition, like most good investors I have a fairly specific strategy so not all good deals are right for me and I pass those on to other investors that work with me.

More than worrying a good investor/agent will hog all of the deals you should be worried about how to show up on their radar. If you want an agent to bring you deals rather than someone else in his/her sphere: be specific about what you are looking for(this is huge, people tell me all the time to send them deals without telling me what that means to them), show that you are capable of buying, be ready to pull the trigger if they bring you a great deal, be respectful of their time and listen to their advice.

Hope that helps & good luck!

Absolutely amazing job Ben!  It is fantastic to see how it turned out knowing what it looked like before, and the pictures don't show quite how rough it actually was!  I'm glad the market was there for a higher end renovation as we thought it would be and I'm blown away by the design & finish of the work.  You and Chandler do great work and have a bright future in this business.  

Side Note:  One of the amazing things about real estate is that this is your second deal, you mention having trouble with permits & contractors and despite those challenges you are still able to create over $31k in equity with this project!

@Donn Milton III yes, PIG(Pensacola Investors Guild) has a website and is on Facebook as well. Meets every second Tuesday of the month. Your first visit is free and then they ask that you join.

Has anyone that self manages used a professional property management company to cover for you when you are going to be out of town for an extended period of time?

Do any property managers offer this service? If so, what do you charge and how do you structure this service?

I have a relatively small property management company and have received requests for this type of service several times. I would love to figure out how to make it work for some of the clients I sell investment property to that plan to self manage but need a back up plan when they travel for a month or two at a time.