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All Forum Posts by: Wendy Schultz

Wendy Schultz has started 10 posts and replied 333 times.

Post: Is investing in Chicago brilliant or ridiculous...go!

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

Illinois is a mess financially and taxes are outrageous so I'd stay away but that's just me. My family is from Chicago and it's a fun and beautiful city so it's a shame their finances are not so good. This is an old article but there are plenty others out there about the financial crisis there. http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/29/investing/illinois-budget-crisis-downgrade/index.html

Post: Do you consider mortgage payments an expense?

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

I've debating in my mind if I should consider the mortgage payment in my expenses when determining profitability. Only the interest is truly an expense but a mortgage payment certainly impacts cash flow. How do you determine profitability? Or do you just consider cash flow? 

Post: How much monthly cash flow should you get on a rental property?

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

I invest in short term rentals to maximize cash flow. There is more work involved and some seasonality but I like the higher cash flow (around $1000 per month) I also like the fact that we get paid up front and that we can get into our property in between guests to maintain it. 

Post: VRBO Withdraws on bank account

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

Yikes! I've not had that issue either but thank you for the heads up. They recapture payments that were made for guests who canceled before their stay according to the cancelation policy we have set up but I haven't seen other cases of them withdrawing funds. 

Post: Any experience with First Choice Loans?

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

Has anyone had experience with First Choice Loans in CA? I have been offered the loan I would like but need to pay a sizable insurance sum. Is that normal? I'm concerned that it's a scammer posing as a legit company. Anyone know much about this? I haven't worked with any lender that's not a traditional bank up to this point. 

Post: New str not ready to rent yet

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

I have brought several properties online late in the season. In fact, I have brought most of my properties on board at the beginning of the peak season or right before. It's just how the timing worked out. I haven't had issues with the properties not booking because I'm too late to the game. I also have a 2 night minimum so get a lot of last minute bookings. 

Post: Short Term Rentals Strategy

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

It depends on a few things like the quality of furniture but I tend to say anywhere between $6k-$10k. It's a broad range, I know. Be careful to read the bylaws of the condo you wish to purchase. Not all will allow short term rentals. Ours does but we still run into issues with the condo association. I am leery of purchasing another condo due to the issues we've had. 

Post: Vacation Rental Need a Theme

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

I agree with the others. A true theme is good in areas like Disney but a style is good everywhere else. As Lucas  mentioned, the cabin feel is the style of Pigeon Forge but it's not really a theme. I tend to buy in beachy/coastal areas so light and bright and airy are my style. If I were to buy in the desert, I would take a look at the style around me and try to incorporate that into my rental. 

Post: I want to sell my property to an AirBNB investor - Need some advi

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

I would agree with the others. Not enough cash flow for the added work and risk of a STR. What are the risks you may ask? Occupancy is a big one. You don't have a steady renter in there so you have to get enough on your nightly rate as a STR to cover the days no one is there. You have to have enough to cover seasonality. For example, we have a property near Lambeau Field. We get $995 a night during Packer season but there are months it may sit empty during the freezing cold Wisconsin offseason. We try to fill them with month to month rentals and also get people stay for weeks at a time or weekends but there is still vacancy risk. The next risk is high monthly costs. We pay for electric, water, cable and internet, gas, snow removal, lawn care, etc. Need good returns to cover those costs. Third risk is that municipalities and HOA's can change regulations about short term rentals. Fourth risk is damage to the furnishings you provided in the home. There are other risks but those are the 4 I can think of off the top of my head. So long story short, as a STR investor, I would research the properties on my own to find them or I would be looking for one with a strong track record.

Post: Orlando? How can out state break into that market?

Wendy SchultzPosted
  • Property Manager
  • Wisconsin and Florida
  • Posts 346
  • Votes 227

@Courtney Bass We are just in the process of buying so I can't give you a true evaluation yet. I do believe that there are good returns to make there though and agree that the closer the better. We are property managers for short term rentals so we do all our own bookings centralized for all the properties we own and manage and then partner with boots on the ground cleaning, maintenance, etc. We also charge 20% of gross but I like to be on the lesser side so that the owner makes more and we also strive to get the highest nightly rate that we can for our owners and optimize their properties for max ROI so 20% is sufficient for us at this point. I am also a property owner and investor so I know how big a hit property management that can be. I paid 48% at our in house rental manager at a condo! We never made a dime. Ridiculous. That's how we got started on this crazy property management journey. Now our property and the properties of other owners who were fed up make good returns. Clearly not all property management is created equal.

I tell my owners that I don't like to compete on price or be the cheapest in town. That's a losing battle. We want to be unique enough that  visitors will pick our property on how beautiful or cool it is rather than it's the least expensive. I've noticed that almost all the properties look the same with deep reds and golds when light and bright interiors is what's popular now. We will be doing theme houses and/or brightening up the interiors a ton on whichever places we choose. Also, I'd rather have 50% occupancy with $60,000 gross than 70% occupancy with $60,000 gross. Less wear and tear on the property, less maintenance requests, etc. 

We have the advantage of seeing side by side comparisons of the properties we manage and I tell my owners that the more updated properties go first and the less updated properties go last (shouldn't be a surprise) but it is also interesting to see that the updated properties will have an advantage over less updated properties even if the less updated property has an advantage such as a water view. They tend to make more gross as well. It's been fascinating to see. 

If they go with a property manager, be sure that they are actively marketing their property rather than just putting it on their website. Also, work with someone who offers a consultative approach and can optimize the property.