All Forum Posts by: Travis Rasmussen

@Bob Mueller Jr.

I would first also ask, What type of real estate are you looking at investing in? That will help dictate where you want to invest.

@David Graham

As someone who invests in STRs, I would invest in cities that already have laws and regulations in place. It just makes it easier for the long term to know the laws have already been decided on.

@Joshua Savage

I guess that depends, will this be your primary residence? Both my wife and I do NOT consider our home an "investment". We bought knowing the market could turn in a year, because we plan to live here for a minimum of 10 years, and could live here for 30 if we needed to. 

If you are buying for an investment though (not your primary), I do believe this changes things. 

@Jason Malabute

Are you talking about small cities outside of Houston/San Antonio/ and Orlando?

@Account Closed

@Nicholas Weckstein

I LOVE my used car. I got my prius with 130K miles for only 6k and it drives great. 

Back in the day I use to work for car dealerships and let me tell you, I was never surprised when Toyotas came in with 300k+ miles. They were the only cars the accomplished this feat and they were still running fine. 

Until I have enough wealth were I do not care about bleeding money will I buy a newer vehicle. Until then, I don't "need" a one. I see it as a way to "flaunt" money and is an enjoyment. Right now, that money goes back into Real Estate. 

@Account Closed

Agreed, it's difficult because my friends and family are here. But man, moving out of state would save so much money.

@Ashley Dennis

What type of Real Estate are you starting your investing in? Congrats btw!

@Carl Mccrory

It was great for me and I recommend it to pretty much everyone, but as @Jon Crosby pointed out, you need to get entrenched in the data.

You also want to price out "booked up" properties with lots of reviews. You do this by pricing out a 7 day stay for different months and seasons. This helps you compare data.

Also, a point for us it we made sure we wanted to be the "best" Airbnb. Make it look like a model home, not just a "Short term rental...." We wanted people to be "WoW'd" with ours, I think this helped us get right on the data points correctly by providing this quality of product. 

@Jay Hinrichs

How to find the price--2 ways

Go to Airbnb, search your area, and look at what places are "booked up" and price out different months for a 7 day stay. This will get you an average per night for different seasons.

2nd, go to AirDNA (extra fee as you probably know) and put in your city. I like to look at the "Top 10" Airbnb's in my city and look at their stats.

As far as people destroying property, it definitely can happen. What I've noticed helps prevent them are 

1. Do not accept day of bookings

2. Avoid 1 night stays from locals

3. Get cameras for outside the property

Also make sure you jack the price up for Holidays, this helps prevent parties.

It is a pain to try and get anything back from Airbnb from past experience.

Hope this helps!