All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

Micheal Elefante is the person who started us on the road to starting a STR co-hosting company! One of his reels just happened to pop up in my explore on Instagram, and I just happened to notice it and clink on it. At that moment it hit me "we can do this and make money to purchase more real estate", so I started following him. He suggested/tagged more people which helped us find more reputable people and our STR circle kept growing and growing.

With that said we never took his course and have now unfollowed him. He has lots of good points and hitting on the design factor of a STR is right on par, but we didn't like all the videos about how much money he made etc. We actually followed a number of people on Instagram for months before we decided to join a course/mastermind. The biggest reason was we wanted a mentor and group that fit us and matched our business goals and, in some ways, even personality.

You questioned if it's worth the money or even needful. We paid a lot for our mastermind, $2000 is a drop in the bucket, and we haven't regretted it at all!! If you're in the right group it expedites your business and real estate goals, not only does it give you credibility but also opens up your circle of network majorly. Plus, you're not alone figuring things out, you have so many people within your group to reach out to and get help or advice. Just like who you hang out with in your daily life can either add value or drag you down, the same is true with who you surround yourself with in business as well!

Highly recommend Bernie Cesareo at Eagle Stays!

You could do either. And it will depend on what happens to the listing. 

Partnering up with a local company would probably be the best. I know there is a company that offers different rentals to hosts for their STR, but the name isn't coming right now. Maybe someone else knows and can post it below.

Interestingly enough, I was on an Airdna webinar today and they briefly discussed that STR ADR in coastal areas, has dropped the most this year and possibly into next year. So that might be something to keep in mind before you purchase property.

Unfortunately, I highly doubt it with new laws NYC just passed.

Let this right here be your lesson, and there is nothing wrong with making choices like this that can lead to lessons learned! Nothing better than the school of life! You do need to follow through with your word, so you may now have a rather steep impound bill to pay, because they do charge by the day. Maybe I would have paid the Uber ride but not the bad choice of parking in a handicap space. Like already mentioned EVERYONE knows you don't park there and a quick phone call to you could have been made! You are not responsible to cover for the consequences of a guest's choices, EVER! As hosts we are going to get a bad review every once in a while, and that is ok, it's the consistent bad reviews that do us in. 

Just set up one account known as the escrow account and then disperse the money to where it should end up. 

Not sure why STR isn't a great place to start. It's what we're doing, and thousands of others have as well. LTR is great if your fine with spinning wheels for a number of years until you have enough built up to start buying more properties that could be STR.

If you do partner up with someone, make sure to have an agreement written up that's legally binding. Outline who is doing what, as well as the general goals and plans of the partnership.

Very few people list on booking.com due to the lack of workability with hosts. So unfortunately, it's not a far comparision.