All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

Yes, with the right principles in place this would be a great steppingstone for you to get started! For some reason Biggerpockets won't let me tag Jake Mercer, but there's a link to his profile. He has been successful with arbitrage and shared a lot of his story on this form. If you're looking for a course or group of people to learn with, Michael and Elizabeth Chang have created a place for new people to learn. They've been very successful with arbitrage and have purchased millions of dollars in real estate with the money they earned!

Best luck as you begin your journey! 

All depends on how high of a ROI you want. If you're looking for a well preforming STR in a seasonal area, then yes by all means hire a STR designer. If you're ok with mediocre returns and possible concerns on keeping your calendar full, then don't worry about spending money on a designer. A good designer would probably cost well into 5 figures, so it would be an investment.

I'm not sure of an upsell company that could help with this, but have you considered using the resort fee option on Airbnb for the grill cleaning fees? That might help you know who gets what amount.

This all depends on the person, what they want to manage, and the ROI they are looking for. As all ready stated, there is no right or wrong answer no matter what anybody says. It's completely up to the investor and what their goals are.

Quote from @Marcus Auerbach:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

I've heard oodles and oodles of stories of how the proper asset protection helped an investor, or how the lack of proper protection caused a disaster to someone's business and personal life. We haven't experienced it yet, but unfortunately it can never be ruled out. Clint Coons and Toby Mathis with Anderson Business Advisors, weaves in so many interesting stories during their webinars...some are free and open to the public...and their hundreds of YouTube videos on their channels. For those truly interested in learning and hearing the stories from long time attorneys, the videos are easy to find and can be listened to as you're doing a hands-on project.   

Toby Mathis shows up in my YouTube feed all the time selling his asset protection workshops, so I would imagine he has lots of stories supporting what he is selling. Of course you are right, it can never be ruled out, the risk is always there and we do a lot to mitigate against it, including LLCs. But it puzzels me that I can't seem to find anyone who even has a friend who got saved by his LLC, yet setting up an LLC is the #1 topic for newbies getting started.

There not just selling a "product" but an arm of your business. We can literally check off tons of legal items, federal/state laws to keep track off, an attorney on call whenever we need one, and even our mail, by joining their membership. It's a not only a lifesaver but a HUGE timesaver for us so we can focus on other things. 

Bill Faeth just purchased a property in MT and has been talking about it a lot on his Instagram account. Might be something to look into, since his properties make over 50% more than what Airdna would predict. So, I know there's some good areas in the Whitefish, MT area!  

There's always a need for more ADA compliant STR, so I would try to make the property accessible to those with disabilities.

Yes, I saw this. I would be interested to see Pricelabs, Wheelhouse, etc. plan for this new policy. 

Many people don't realize this, but your location has a lot to do with what percentage of bookings come from Airbnb and VRBO. Do a quick check on the OTA's and see who holds the most listings for your area, if it's a bit lopsided that would be your answer. 

Also, what is your guest avatar and who would be looking to book your property? The younger generation prefers to spend less for a STR and shop on Airbnb, while the opposite of that tends to gravitate VRBO.

Hopefully that can help you figure out why your bookings are lower on VRBO.

Guesty Guesty, if it's not one complaint about them it's another. I feel like they really need to figure out what's going on before they lose a bunch of customers.