All Forum Posts by: Trent Reeve

 Read the description of this condo doing it at the beach where I vacation, is this how you're doing it?  "The Space" at the end of the paragraph - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/736189831965333009?source_impre...

Quote from @Suhaib Rehman:

Good day everyone, 

I am interested in purchasing either a condo or a townhouse for short-term rental. I am also open to a longer rental as long as I could use this place for 1-2 months as a second home (summer or winter break). Budget at or under 400K. HOA and insurance costs as low as possible.
Can you suggest a few good cities in the FL with lower vacancy rates and close to nature/activities?

I am open to both the Gulf side or Atlantic/east side of south Florida.

I plan to travel to FL early next month and want to have some idea of good cities/regions to start with. Your advice will be beneficial.

Regards

Suhaib

You're going to be hard pressed to find a HOA that will allow STR and therefore insurance to match. LTR is more plausible but often HOA requires primary residence for a period of time before renting it.

Just my 2 cents on condos, as a PM and broker in FL:

1 - Most do not work, whether restrictions on lease duration, or due to the numbers because HOA fees cause low ROI.

2 - Check rules in your state to make sure you are grandfathered in case HOA changes the rules.

3 - Most SFR do better than MF not just because of HOA but also because there are low barrier to entry for 1,2, even 3 bedroom units. For the 1/2 BR you are competing not only with other STR's but also in a sense hotels.

4 - The Tall Timbers being STR friendly will this cause saturation with a bunch of new units coming available in the same development?

That said I do manage some very successful condos.  They can be great if well vetted.  Good luck!

Hey Dayana! 

Depends on your market. However, you could do a mix of both, for example you could create paid advertising to promote specials/rates, partner with a local restaurant to have some type of a collaboration that includes a free drink with a stay, or you could switch to longer rentals.

There's a website called Furnished Finder that traveling nurses use a lot, it is also for anyone looking to relocate or who needs an interim solution. Has a host you pay ~$50 for the yearly membership for 1 listing, and can list your proximity to hospitals, calendar availability, photos, details etc. It will then provide you with a dashboard of all travelers coming to the area during that time frame. 

Hope this helps!! Best of luck.

Quote from @Turo Tales:

Quote from @Alex Keim:

Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:

Quote from @Alex Keim:

I appreciate everyone's feedback but I am still curious if there are any professional PM's with case studies. For example, let's say you manage 100 properties and over the last couple of years some have decided they no longer want to list on VRBO. Did the occupancy rates of those properties decrease in a way that similar properties in the portfolio did not decrease? I know for certain there are professional PM's that stopped listing on VRBO a few years back when they changed their policies, but I don't know those PM's well enough to get the relevant data.

My first inclination was "I need 5% or more increase in occupancy to make it worthwhile". So I went on the Google machine and according to AirDNA you get a 4% bump by being on both. Falls a little short of my 5% but it is close enough to make me wonder. My high value nights are going to book with or without VRBO so really that 4% increase is going to come from the lower value nights. So the increase in revenue probably ends up being 5-6%.

Maybe I am over estimating the cost though. Maybe I don't need 5% to make it worthwhile? Can you really manage both platforms without paid property management software? You have to keep the calendars sync'd, the pricing sync'd, the photos sync'd, the descriptions sync'd, guidebooks, messages, etc, etc. 

 I am not a large scale PM but from what I am reading here, others posts and yours, it seems that you want to get the answer you are looking for (that it doesn't make sense to list on both).  If you are looking to increase your occupancy and ADR, it does.  Period.  Some markets are more VRBO centric and others are AirBNB.  As I stated before, mine went from 80% VRBO for the first three years and I am now 80% AirBNB - no idea why.  You are overcomplicating the syncing process.  You set up iCal and it's automatic.  You do need to keep the listings up to date (description, photos, etc.) but that is not that much work for one property once it is set up.  My two cents and I have 3 properties.  From the PM perspective, they have larger scale and are able to drive more direct bookings but I see all the PMs in my area still listed on both platforms and others.

 Really I was just hoping a PM with a lot of properties had data to share. Definitely don't want to sound combative because I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences. However most the answers seem to be some form of "most of my bookings come from VRBO" which I don't think is that relevant unless there is a significant cost benefit to that. 

To me this is a simple cost benefit analysis. According to AirDNA the average occupancy of a property listed on only AirBNB is 54%. A property listed on both is 58%. So that's a difference of 15 days per year. My average rate in the offseason (where the difference is going to come from) is going to be around $250/night. So that's $3750 per year. So my cost has to be less than $3750 to make it financially worthwhile. And then it has to be enough of a difference for it to make sense for the time cost. Really what I'm hoping for is for someone to tell me "Don't listent to the AirDNA averages. They are wrong because AirBNB has a lot of single rooms listed that skew the data. We manage a 100 properties in a tourist area and comparable properties listed on both platforms have 65% occupancy while properties only on AirBNB have 55% occupancy". Some form of that is what I'm hoping to hear. Obviously there is a part of me that thinks this might be the case. My main take away so far is that I am probably overthinking the cost quite a bit.

 I just synced the calendars on both for free based on the overwhelming advice. What costs are you worried about? 

You don't miss out on anything. I'm guessing that you are looking at some third party that you have to pay, but it took me 15 minutes to figure it out and would have been much shorter had I followed directions the first time. There is no additional cost to do this beyond the time it takes to do it and then manage it on two different platforms. 

$0.00 is less than $3750 so it should be worth it. 

Initially I was worried about having older guests more frequently which is what I have heard about VRBO. Let's face it, older guests have trouble with tech generally speaking. So I was thinking that would lead to more "Can you come over and show me how to work the thermostat/tv remote/wifi/hot tub/etc". But from hearing others I think I might be worried about this one for no reason.

Regarding physical costs, yes, I was thinking of using a software service. Hostaway runs at $150/mo if I am correct plus like $8/mo or something like that for nightly rate management. So approaching $2000/yr. It's the managing on two different platforms I'm worried about most. I agree sync'ing the calendar is easy. But unless you are running flat rate prices and never updating photos, descriptions, messages, guest books, etc, this seems like a greater than $0 cost without a PMS solution. Guestly does it for $50/mo for one property I believe so I am going to check that out. I am convinced at this point to go ahead and list on both, I think it's going to be less of a cost than I had feared. Still if any professional PM comes along and posts the info I am looking for I would greatly appreciate it.