All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

Unfortunately, it would be best if you would get your own contract from an attorney. Yes, it can be expensive but some of us have paid quite a bit for our different contracts, so it's rather hard to just give them out. Also, if something happens where the contract is broken it wouldn't go back on anyone before you....plus you can tailor the contract to just your needs!

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

I might have a contact for you....I'll DM you

I reached out to a STR group I'm part of and have a couple more names for you.
YourRelaxedStay.com         www.alchemyreinc.com

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Sarah Kensinger, I am not sure exactly what you mean. You mean you don't offer management services for free? I get that.

Do you mean you don't have people whom you mentor for free?

Either way I get it. Personally I give away all the knowledge I have on any topic. But I am not trying to make a living on most of it.

That is why I am glad BP exists. So many of us with hard won experience give away our knowledge to those that look for it. It is a cool place.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should have charged all those college interns I hired over the years instead of paying them. :)

Our marketing strategy is 90% help (free) and 10% offering a service. My input here and my blog that is slowly coming together shows that, not to mention the people here who have reached out to talk. There are way too many people charging just for a "coaching" session as a side hustle with their co-hosting or management company.  

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

So how much does Roman make? Let's say my house rents LTR for $2000 per mo. Add 25% and I get $2500, right? So where does Roman get his $$ and how much?

Depends on the person or company. I know the large companies like Evolve or Vacasa charge close to 40%-50% of each booking plus added fees. If you want a small company or person looking after your STR usually it's around 15%-25% of each booking, sometimes with an added tech fee and sometimes without. So, off your monthly profit that percentage would go to whoever is taking care of your property.

For us and the model Roman was asking about, we usually wouldn't take on a property that would only bring in a couple thousand a month. The numbers work better for everyone if it's around $4,000. 

Yeah, the numbers wouldn't come close to working on a $2000 house. Once you take away the 25% for management, that negates the extra 25% that you say we could make, right? So now you've got a property that could just be a LTR, yet someone is running it as a STR with those inherent problems.

I suppose there are scenarios where this is a win/win, but I'm not seeing it. However being a long-time entrepeneur myself, I like to see people thinking outside the box! I hope it works for you guys.....

 Exactly! That's why we would analyze each property before committing, or in this case offering anything to the owner.

Quote from @Carlos Ptriawan:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

So how much does Roman make? Let's say my house rents LTR for $2000 per mo. Add 25% and I get $2500, right? So where does Roman get his $$ and how much?

Depends on the person or company. I know the large companies like Evolve or Vacasa charge close to 40%-50% of each booking plus added fees. If you want a small company or person looking after your STR usually it's around 15%-25% of each booking, sometimes with an added tech fee and sometimes without. So, off your monthly profit that percentage would go to whoever is taking care of your property.

For us and the model Roman was asking about, we usually wouldn't take on a property that would only bring in a couple thousand a month. The numbers work better for everyone if it's around $4,000. 

 are you sure ? evolve only charges 10% and vacasa is about 22% ?

 Maybe with the additional fees is closer to 40%-50% then? I heard it was far more than that unless you did cleaning and maintenance, but if that's the case it totally explains their service! 

Quote from @Courtney Kelly:

We have been looking to purchase a multi family in Massachusetts for the last year but unfortunately (after about 10 offers) have still not been able to secure anything. Considering changing gears and purchasing a second home or an investment property in the Woodstock/Lincoln NH area. We spend a lot of time skiing in that area and are considering a property that we could both use and rent out. Looking for guidance on this. From what I understand the second home interest rates and down payment required are lower- and we would qualify as long as we used the property for 14 days per year or 10% of the total time we would rent it. I would appreciate any input from someone who has done this in terms of tax benefits, preferred lenders for a second home, and any input on having a second home in another state from your primary residence. Thank you!

We just watched an interview about this topic a few days ago! We know of so many people that have used the 2nd home mortgage to get into the STR space, and we've even had 3 different loan companies tell us that it is allowed. But it's also a big debate on if you can and some will even tell you you'll go to jail for committing mortgage fraud. 
Apparently it all depends on how knowledgeable your lender is in the STR world, but yes you can use a 2nd mortgage to buy a STR. The biggest requirement is you need to live there for 14-15 days out of the year, and don't have another 2nd home mortgage within 40 miles. The interview was with a loan officer from the Mortgage Shop, but I'm not sure if the service NH. They might be worth checking into and seeing if they have any recommendations for your area. 

I might have a contact for you....I'll DM you

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

I'm not getting the benefit to the property owner. I saw a possible 25% uptick in revenue? But what about empty/slow months? Do you arbitragers still pay the lease?

If you have leased the property in rental arbitrage, you are bond by law to pay the monthly rent you agreed upon. So, in slow months you obviously still have to pay the lease. Again, this is not rental arbitrage, there is no lease just a contract like with all other management or co-hosting companies. Do you deal with STR? Since you're on this forum I assume so. You should know about the concept of an Airbnb management company, and this is the same thing. But instead of the owner seeking the company out, the company seeks the owner out. And from stories I've heard, usually you only have to do this a handful of times before the references start coming in.

Benefit to the owner....If you know STR you know that if the property is in a good area and preforming right, you usually make 30% more through STR then LTR. But many LTR owners don't realize that until someone starts showing them data and numbers. Hence what @Roman Katz was asking about.

 So this sounds even worse than arbitrage if your not guaranting to pay a predefined lease amount.

I'm guessing the model of self-managing is so prevalent on here that hiring a company is a novelty. Last I checked Evolve or Vacasa don't pay owners a lease to run their STR, and this is no different. What is difference between advertising your business through all sorts of formats, or advertising AND showing up a REI meetup to form connections in an area. Once you have done that it's not hard to show them the numbers of a what a STR can do.

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

So how much does Roman make? Let's say my house rents LTR for $2000 per mo. Add 25% and I get $2500, right? So where does Roman get his $$ and how much?

Depends on the person or company. I know the large companies like Evolve or Vacasa charge close to 40%-50% of each booking plus added fees. If you want a small company or person looking after your STR usually it's around 15%-25% of each booking, sometimes with an added tech fee and sometimes without. So, off your monthly profit that percentage would go to whoever is taking care of your property.

For us and the model Roman was asking about, we usually wouldn't take on a property that would only bring in a couple thousand a month. The numbers work better for everyone if it's around $4,000. 

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

I'm not getting the benefit to the property owner. I saw a possible 25% uptick in revenue? But what about empty/slow months? Do you arbitragers still pay the lease?

If you have leased the property in rental arbitrage, you are bond by law to pay the monthly rent you agreed upon. So, in slow months you obviously still have to pay the lease. Again, this is not rental arbitrage, there is no lease just a contract like with all other management or co-hosting companies. Do you deal with STR? Since you're on this forum I assume so. You should know about the concept of an Airbnb management company, and this is the same thing. But instead of the owner seeking the company out, the company seeks the owner out. And from stories I've heard, usually you only have to do this a handful of times before the references start coming in.

Benefit to the owner....If you know STR you know that if the property is in a good area and preforming right, you usually make 30% more through STR then LTR. But many LTR owners don't realize that until someone starts showing them data and numbers. Hence what @Roman Katz was asking about.