All Forum Posts by: Steven Andrews

There's lots of discussions in these forums of the pros and cons (mostly cons) of national STR/vacation rental property management companies like Evolve, Vacasa, etc. I've had good experience with a local property management company that is full service but isn't charging a 30%-60% commission and I'd like to find others. It seems like these smaller shops provide better and more personal service to owners and guests alike and I'd like to identify more of this boutique firms.

I don't care what part of the country, if you know of a high-quality full-service STR vacation rental prop management company in the 15-25% commission range please let me know. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply everyone! That gels with my experience. Anyone have any experience with 
Tripadvisor/Flipkey?

Which STR booking web sites are the best in your opinion and why?

My experience has been primarily with VRBO and Homeaway, which of course are the same essentially. They have slightly lower guest booking fees than AirBnB and Tripadvisor/Flipkey. Booking.com is cheaper but it seems more targeted to foreign customers and hotels as opposed to STR vacation rentals. And I heard it doesn't require prepayment so guests could cancel at the last minute and you're out everything whereas VRBO/Homeaway require a 50% deposit.

I also been concerned with the quality of guest on AirBnB. It seems it caters more to the crowd looking for a room or a couch rather than a more serious vacationer. But perhaps that has changed in recent years since more properties have gotten online there.

There's more but I'd rather get your input than go on and on about my own impressions. Thank you!

Biggest mistakes (and I'm still making them!):

* Waiting until my 30s to get into real estate investing after thinking about it since I was in college.

* Thinking that rental units have to be places good enough for you to live in. It took awhile for me to understand that this is AN INVESTMENT and SOMEONE ELSE lives in the unit, not you. So it doesn't matter what it looks like, it matters what the numbers are for short and long-term evaluation.

* Buying the first property you see and letting money burn a hole in your pocket. On property #2 I had cashed out a poor-performing mutual fund to grab another rental unit. I ran numbers and evaluated and only two units really fit what I was looking for vis-a-vis my budget and location. So I jumped on a marginal one instead of patiently waiting a few weeks or a couple months for better performing units to come on the market. It worked out fine and the unit is profitable but better units came on the market in the weeks after I went under contract.

* Not insisting that the seller deal with more that comes up in an inspection or obvious issues pre-contract. In the unit above (a 2/2) the seller had used sharpie to mark measurements on the linoleum floors to change the flooring pre-sale. He changed his mind and put the unit on the market instead. After inspection, we asked for the seller to put in new flooring and he refused. I should have adjusted the offer price to reflect the cost and didn't and since it wasn't an inspection-based defect the cost was on me. (Fun fact: After using 20 different products nothing really gets sharpie off of linoleum.) Lessen learned.

I have plenty more but that's enough egg to wipe off my face for one post.

Thanks guys for the good analysis. It does seem like spreading the leverage and getting into multiple properties is the way to go.

Definitely gives me a lot to chew on. And nice to see the consensus! 

@Tim Schroeder
@John Underwood
@Colton Fairchild
@Jon Crosby

If you're good with walking away from the house then that could be the best option. Just keep in mind you'll eat more in closing costs selling than a refi. But your lender is right that you lower your debt to income ratio this way (though you could use income from the properties to pay off the loan faster). All about your priority...

I 'm trying to determine the best path to take on investing in another short-term rental property and would appreciate some input.

I'm 12-18 months away from having enough to purchase an inexpensive ($100K) unit all cash. The idea of only covering taxes, HOA, prop management and upkeep expenses and otherwise having a unit that is netting $1000 a month give or take is enticing.

At the same time, after running the numbers, it seems like purchasing two $100K units @ 20% down with financing the rest may net more - combined as much as $1600 a month.

The 2 units might bring in more/month even with mortgages but then there's all the interest over time on top of that and it seems like that would make it less profitable long-term than the one all-cash unit.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Steven

Definitely would suggest using a cashout refi and putting 80% the 350K into properties, especially with the low rates right now. You could easily buy a couple all cash turnkey 1-2 bedroom STRs @ around 100-125K each in the hot vacation rental markers and have them producing 1K+ net income/month. 

Just bought a STR ourselves in Pointe West. I'm no local expert but I've done considerable research on properties there and would be happy to share what I know and would love to learn more from others with experience in the Galveston area.

I own three rental properties and all are 2-bedroom units -- two LTRs and one STR. They are performing really well. The LTRs tend to cater more to young couples, retirees, a single person who wants to make one bedroom an office/guest bedroom/man cave, etc. We never have any issues finding tenants/guests.