All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

I would turn this little room into an amenity space, game room, spa, gym, etc. It'll solve your problems and these days the right amenities raise the ADR more then another bedroom.  

What is most popular in your market? Once that question is answered it helps to narrow down amenities. If you have enough room, it's always great to have one extra amenity that not many other properties offer. So, depending on your budget, space and how close you are to neighbors and their level of patience with the noise, maybe you could do both. Robuilt did a case study on his pickleball court ROI, I believe he has a video on his Youtube channel about it.

Depending on the state would be a huge deciding factor in how your entity is set up. I've heard bits about TN but don't remember enough to quote anything. Instead, I would recommend you look up Anderson Business Advisors and Tax Toby Mathis on YouTube. They have a lot of valuable content and sometimes talk about the different states and how asset protection entities should be set up to work around taxes etc. For example, in FL you must have a land trust or you're paying a lot of money in for an LLC, but in Ohio land trusts don't offer asset protection and an LLC isn't taxed as heavily.

If you want legal help that isn't a rip off and would offer a registered agent and mail services, check into Anderson Business Advisors or Prime Corporate Services. We are clients of Anderson Advisors and love using them, along with their yearly mail package. I have also heard many good things about Prime Corporate as well!

I've never heard of anyone telling their lender a property it's changing to a STR, after living there for a couple of years. From my understanding you can get a conventional loan for a STR, but you must live in the property for at least 6 months before changing it over.

Insurance on the other hand is a big deal! If the homeowner does not have the correct policy even a tree falling on the home is not covered. Proper insurance is the best option, but there's also Erie and Steadily. Just make sure you read over the policy on the last two options and make sure short-term rentals are not excluded. I've heard of that happening with those companies.

Our market is the same way, either spend the money on a hot tub or expect much lower revenues!

Connect with @Christopher Price, he does STR in Seattle and can give you advice!

I know liability is a huge concern with golf carts, especially since you don't know who is going to be driving it. Most STR hosts just team up with a local vender and offer a discount to guests, then they can just rent a golf cart from a company that is set up for it.

I haven't seen any online forums but if there is one, I bet it's a Facebook group. 

You have to stay on the ball with Furnished Finders and not expect guests to come to you. I've heard the host needs to spend time on the site searching for people to host. Many are finding Airbnb to be a better option for long-term stays, and they can negotiate a better price then what hosts get off Furnished Finders.