All Forum Posts by: Matt Jones

Quote from @Matthew Dawson:

Anyone in the Pensacola Florida in the AirBNB business? Looking to possibly use our home as an AirBnB. Just looking for some info/guidance. Has it been successful? Pros? Cons?

Thanks

Matt

Hey Matt, Pensacola receives a lot of visitors between the beaches, hospitals, navy base, downtown and colleges so it can be a great market for STR(including AirBnB) investing. That said, I'll share a few pieces of information that I think will be helpful. I currently live in and operate 1 STR in the area and as a real estate agent I've helped people buy lots of STR properties from Perdido Key to Panama City Beach.

1) The STR market here is congested and there is a lot of competition. We generally have enough visitors around warm weather holidays and while kids are out of school to keep occupancy high but the rest of the year can be very rough unless..

2) It's ideal to be located in or very near one of the things I mentioned above that attract visitors to the area. It's the in town STR properties that aren't particularly convenient to any of the major attractions that have struggled the most since this market became crowded.

3) The difference between good and average or bad STR operators is huge. When accounting for location, the hosts that have a unique property with great reviews, service and pricing will have much much better occupancy than the hosts that think they can throw some bland furnishings into any old property and be successful. Anyone could do well 3-4 years ago but it's the people who take it very seriously who are doing well today.

4) You'll want to list on more than just AirBnB.  There are lots of options like VRBO, booking.com, direct booking platforms, snow bird sites and medium term rental sites.  Occupancy is important to profitability so you'll want to get on as many sites as you can in order to reach as many potential renters as possible.  The snowbird and MTR sites may be most important if you launch during the off season.  Bonus Tip: take extra care to get 5 star reviews on your early stays. It's hard to recover from a bad review when you only have a handful of good ones to balance it out.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Quote from @Vincent Randall:

I recently moved to the Pensacola area thanks to the Navy and love it so far.  I had some good luck renting my properties in San Diego and Virginia Beach so I am looking to continue the trend but now with skill vice luck.  Currently, I am focusing on getting into the multifamily/commercial apartment space but I wouldn't turn down a good fix and flip.  My ultimate goal is to develop land once I have enough passive income and financial freedom.

 Welcome Vincent!  I'll send you a DM as well but wanted to connect as I'm very involved in the multifamily market for small(2-4 unit) and midsize(small apartment complexes) in the Pensacola area as both a real estate agent and as an investor.  I put out a monthly newsletter specifically made for investors that covers multifamily and rental stats and trends.  If you are interested the latest edition went out late last week and I'm happy to share it. Good luck and let me know if I can help you with anything!

Hey @Tyler Hall!

Pensacola is a great town, I'm sure that you'll enjoy your time here.  Will you be stationed at NAS Pensacola the entire time or also somewhere else like Whiting Field for some of your time here? I ask because I regularly see service members who will be stationed at both buy somewhere in between(like the Pensacola areas off of Davis Hwy / Scenic Hwy / Near UWF or in Milton near Avalon Blvd).  If you'll be at NAS Pensacola the entire time and you prefer to be close to base then focusing your search outside the front or back gate may make more sense.  With the way Pensacola is laid out you can look in almost the entire area if you don't mind commuting up to 30 minutes.  There are good areas for rentals in pockets all over town so don't think of this like a big city where you might have to narrow down your area to one suburb or specific area of town. You can just look for houses you like and run the numbers rather than focusing on small areas.

As far as AirBnB, our market is fairly saturated so you really have to operate at a high level to stand out and/or have a really excellent location.  Downtown str's have done well and it's convenient to the front gate of NAS Pensacola but you could also consider near the beaches of Perdido Key since that is convenient to the back gate and it's a more traditional tourist destination.  Either way, you want to be close to something that is drawing visitors to the area or you'll likely face too much competition to be profitable in my opinion.  

Feel free to reach out if I can help you with your search!

Quote from @Tange English:

We have 4 home and 1 lot in Pensacola, Florida which will appraise at around 750k. We owe about 50k on a SBA loan that matures in 2027. I want to pay that debt off and renovate the houses. Most of the changes will be cosmetic and one needs a more work, so I want to pull about 150 from one of the houses. Someone mentioned the DSCR. What do you think the best way to finance the project?

This is a different question if you're talking about 4 separate properties plus a vacant lot or 4 homes on 1 lot. I'm not sure if DSCR limits the number of structures per lot but if so, and you are indeed talking about multiple structures on 1 lot, I think that a commercial loan from a local/regional bank could be a good fit if DSCR won't work. Conventional won't work in that scenario but could if you're talking multiple separate properties. Either way, the best next step for you is going to be to talk to a lender and dig into your personal situation. DM me if you need any local lender recommendations.

Quote from @Shelby Scarborough:

Quote from @Matt Jones:

Welcome Shelby!  Are you looking to invest in short, medium or long term rentals?  The gulf coast is a great market and offers opportunities in all 3 areas.

 Thanks Matt, I am looking to build a portfolio of both long and short term rentals. :)

Awesome! I'm well versed in both so let me know if I can ever help you. A quick note on STR, the market is competitive here and pretty saturated with rentals in town(specifically those not on the beach). You really need to have a great property or be able to stand out in some way to be successful with STR at today's prices/rates. Our beaches will always draw plenty of visitors in my opinion and are a safer bet because of limited land and fewer properties available to convert to STR. That is, if you can find a property where the numbers work.

Welcome Shelby!  Are you looking to invest in short, medium or long term rentals?  The gulf coast is a great market and offers opportunities in all 3 areas.

Quote from @Jeremy England:

No collapse here in Pensacola. Neighbor recently sold for 950k

That was about 15% from their list price but still.  

But i hope oos people do steer clear of florida investing.  More for the folks that live here

I did a deep dive yesterday and prices are stagnant to up slightly in basically every Pensacola and Santa Rosa County zip code so you are 100% correct that we aren't seeing a collapse currently.  What we are seeing is a massive increase in the number of properties for sale which has resulted in more competition between sellers and more of a balanced market than we've seen in a long time.

If we continue to have a high number of properties for sale and a shortage of active and able buyer's then we should have some really solid buying opportunities even if the overall market doesn't drop.  Motivated sellers will have to price aggressively to stand out in a crowded market so there will be deals to be had if the current trends continue.

Keyside Visuals and Riptide Media both do great work on STR's. Happy to share their contact info if you want to shoot me a DM.

Pensacola, and the panhandle in general, is an active area for investors. You can be successful with most strategies here if you can source good deals. Be sure to plug in to some of the local REI groups and feel free to give me a shout if I can help you on your investing journey!

Hi @Cole Payton I'd be happy to connect. I'm a real estate agent and investor. I have experience with STR, MTR & LTR and I live and work here in Escambia county.