All Forum Posts by: Wendy Schultz

I've been told they consider it but after 2 years?? It's not anything I've validated so be sure to look into it by contacting a mortgage broker. As property managers, we've partnered with a company that guarantees rent to the owner. Basically you sign a lease with us and then you get a guaranteed consistent monthly rental rate all year round. You get a little less than you would if you were to manage it a STR but it's more than a LTR and it gives the banks a lease to show. We haven't tried applying for a mortgage with it but I think it would help a lot! We're in the same boat wanting to buy a new primary residence. Some banks don't know how to handle STRs so the guaranteed rent model is what we had planned to use to apply if there was an issue.

Another area that has a strong STR ecosystem is Kissimmee, FL by Disney.

As a property management company we market through social media, our website, networking, promotions etc but we still see much of our bookings come from Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway/Expedia. They're not dead by a long shot. Here's how I think about it.... they've invested millions in advertising, SEO, brand recognition and building of the platforms and you get to leverage it. Seems pretty cheap to me. 

As an example of the same concept but different company, I sold hotel grade alarm clocks as a revenue stream for several years. I sold them on my website, Houzz, and Amazon. Amazon sales were the winner by a landslide. Seriously. I didn't even need to sell them anywhere else. Why? Because no matter how much SEO I did, how much advertising, etc we could never beat Amazon at that game. That's how I feel about Airbnb and VRBO. When people think vacation rentals, they think of those two sites and that's how they book vacation rentals all over the world. You can fight it or you can leverage it! 

@Sarah B. You've confirmed what I thought might be the case. With one road in and out, it doesn't seem like the most convenient place to run a STR! I'll send you a message so we can chat!

@Matt "Roar" Gardner You're right. Good marketing is key whether you are doing it yourself or have hired someone to do it (ie property manager). 

My suggestion when investing in vacation rentals is to determine your primary goal and then work from there. Is this a property you intend to use for your family and offset/earn income with rentals or is this a place that's purely an investment? If you are planning to use it purely for investment, then the next thing I would do is to talk with someone who knows the market and what things cost and what the average gross rent is for the area. ie, I've been told Destin is about a 10% annual gross revenues of the cost of house. A $800,000 house will bring in about $80,000 gross annually. @Matt "Roar" Gardner would be a good resource for you. Other areas like Kissimmee can get closer to 20% gross annual revenues. Currently, my rental there we bought for $365,000 and we have gotten about $40,000 ytd in its first year. I expect that number to continue to grow. When there are a lot of vacation properties for renters to choose from and there's more supply than demand, you have only two ways to make money... stand out because you're the cheapest or stand out because you're the best. 

@Sarah B. There's a lot that goes into investing in vacation rentals. I've tended to invest in areas that I want to vacation with my family. Kissimmee, near the beach, in a tourist area in Wisconsin, the Smokies are on my short list. That way we can also enjoy our properties while earning some extra cash. Key West although gorgeous would not be my first choice for investing. Not only do you have the high property costs and insurance but it's also not as easy to get to for things like shipping furniture, contractors, etc (at least that's my perception). I've been toying with doing some flipping of vacation properties because that's not been my area of expertise. If you'd be open to a conversation, maybe we could partner up somehow! 

@Account Closed they sure can and it’s frustrating!

We are using a property management platform software called Ciirus and I wouldn't recommend that one. We are switching to Direct but we manage multiple properties though so it makes sense for us to have a property management software. If you are not running multiple properties, I'd suggest just doing the changes in each of the booking platforms on your own and sync the calendars so that there aren't double bookings. The property management software can complicate things and if you're not having to manage many properties, I don't think it's worth the trouble. 

@Dominik Makaneole Glad I could help. Ha ha!