All Forum Posts by: Terri-Leigh H.

@Terri-Leigh H.

There is definitely a lot of stuff flying around on this thread. My personal advice is be prepared for headaches. My first STR was a disaster- I had people throwing 20+ people parties in the small 1B1B apartment, someone had female issues on my light blue kitchen chair and the cops were called multiple times. but I LOVED it, made money and would do it all over. You will learned so much.

Your first one will by far be the most difficult. You will make SO many mistakes but keep pushing. If it were easy everyone else would be doing it too. Lean on your friends who have done it and gone through it all. Bounce ideas off of them. Do your due diligence, to the best of your abilities, then rip that bandaid. 

@Terri-Leigh H., there is a STR forum here on BP where you can ask specific short term questions and likely get a few more eyeballs on your assumptions. I used AirDna for my ZIP code to get an idea of how many houses were up for rent as STRs, what their income was, the lead time they experience on average, seasonality and so forth...my properties are in the Space Coast, Central Florida on the East Coast.

You are wise to use a portion of the HELOC, as using it all will hurt your DTI, similar to a credit card.

@Terri-Leigh H., there is a STR forum here on BP where you can ask specific short term questions and likely get a few more eyeballs on your assumptions. I used AirDna for my ZIP code to get an idea of how many houses were up for rent as STRs, what their income was, the lead time they experience on average, seasonality and so forth...my properties are in the Space Coast, Central Florida on the East Coast.

You are wise to use a portion of the HELOC, as using it all will hurt your DTI, similar to a credit card.

I've repaired 22 buy/holds and built 4. Your spreadsheet puts the totality of mine to shame. You are clearly ready!

Hi Terri: May i ask how you are able to be located in a no flood zone at the south west end of the Cape? I thought most of the Cape is in a flood zone. Is it your property elevation?  Thank you kindly. 

Hi @Terri-Leigh H.,

Others have already mentioned holdbacks for repairs and capex, but I would like to reiterate that those are necessary to add into your calculations. Also keep in mind that with insurance issues in Florida right now, if the property has an asphalt shingle roof, lifespan is only being allowed to reach 15 years and you will be required in most cases to replace after that

Otherwise, your tax debt is low, this should be estimated at about $5,000 annually based on a sale price of $400,000. See following link for future estimates:

https://www.leepa.org/taxestim...

One other question I had reading through your spreadsheet, what months did you account for being the busy season and off-season? My recommendation for slightly conservative occupancy numbers would typically be Oct-Mar at 90% occupancy, Apr-Sept at 50%. Your nightly rates do look to be accurate though. One way to potentially increase income could be adding a 4th bedroom if it's possible somewhere within the property and the square footage allows it

Hi @Terri-Leigh H.,

Others have already mentioned holdbacks for repairs and capex, but I would like to reiterate that those are necessary to add into your calculations. Also keep in mind that with insurance issues in Florida right now, if the property has an asphalt shingle roof, lifespan is only being allowed to reach 15 years and you will be required in most cases to replace after that

Otherwise, your tax debt is low, this should be estimated at about $5,000 annually based on a sale price of $400,000. See following link for future estimates:

https://www.leepa.org/taxestim...

One other question I had reading through your spreadsheet, what months did you account for being the busy season and off-season? My recommendation for slightly conservative occupancy numbers would typically be Oct-Mar at 90% occupancy, Apr-Sept at 50%. Your nightly rates do look to be accurate though. One way to potentially increase income could be adding a 4th bedroom if it's possible somewhere within the property and the square footage allows it

Great info. Thanks Terri. We are building in Cape Coral and still deciding to go STR or LTR. Let us know how you are proceeding.

fyi. The property management is usually 20% for STR , are you doing the listing?