All Forum Posts by: Tyler Work

Hey @Chris Baber, I'm a manager myself so take this with a grain of salt, but in my mind there are 2 types of management companies.  National providers and local providers.  Vacasa, along with Evolve, Turnkey, etc are national providers that will manage pretty much any listing anywhere.  They have centralized offices and sometimes don't have anyone from their company actually working or living in your area.  Local providers are smaller shops like mine where your manager meets you in person and you know the name and number for the person taking care of your home and listings.  Hope this helps! 

Hey @Josh Pociask I ran numbers for beachfront condos a few months ago and pretty much everything on the market for a 2BD/2BA condo was $400k+, and they never worked out.  I think if you can find a foreclosure or something for under $300k with 2 bedrooms you can cash flow positive, but those units either don't exist or are very hard to find.  

I do know a couple who owns 2 condos on Okaloosa Island and do fairly well.  They cash flow on each property and also use them as a vacation spot.  I think they got lucky and found reasonably priced condos with low HOAs to make it work.  

I don't own a home in Destin but have done a good bit of research and the general consensus seems to be what @Marc Middleton said.

Ironically, Panama City (just down the road from Destin) was ranked the "#1 city to buy a vacation rental" and Destin was ranked #2 in 2017.  Rented.com is a fairly reputable source but their data has to be off or has huge holes.  

At any rate, thought this group might find this interesting:

https://www.rented.com/150-best-places-to-buy-vaca...

@Amanda M Laird you could try selling it as a "vacation rental business" to a local property management company.  They might be willing to pay a little over market rate since you have proof of rental income.  

Hey @Chuck Masters I am not an insurance agent or know the answers to your questions but why do you have 2 policies?  Why don't you find 1 landlord policy that covers liability for your vacation rental as well as damage.  My insurance covers my liability ($1 million per property) plus covers dwelling at no additional cost.  The only caveat is you have to find a policy that works for short term rentals. 

Hey @Carl Mccrory Those numbers sound about right, but there is a catch. They include cleaning fees and are gross revenue figures. If a 2 BR condo is $120 to clean you'll spend about $1,000/month on cleaning and another $500/mo on PM fees (I've assumed 20%, I have no idea what rates are down there). When you back those out you're at $1800/mo (assuming $40k revenue) and that doesn't include HOA fees, expenses, etc. Is that enough to cover the mortgage on a $400k beachfront condo? Probably not.

I use AirDNA data all the time as a starting point but, in general, they can be very misleading.  I've reverted to doing my own projections based on the properties I actually manage.  

@Julia Bykhovskaia has some great points!  

Hey @Josh Gold I think its a great idea.  My 500 SF 1 bedroom generates about $2200/month in rent revenue which is net of expenses in Denver.  The vacation rental model is cool because you have the flexibility to block out dates and allow your friends/family to stay there.  It can also generate much more income, especially in small spaces.  People are much more willing to stay in a tiny space for 1-2 nights vs. 1 year.  

I would be careful, however, on how much you spend on it. I've seen 2 car garage ADU plans that cost over $100k so try not to get carried away.

You can solve @Travis Rasmussen's only con by hiring a great cleaning person.  Give them access to your Airbnb schedule online and they can schedule themselves.  

@Melissa M. my one piece of advice would be to run the numbers as if it were a long term rental and make sure the numbers work in that scenario. If running an STR isn't for you, you will have a sound long term investment to fall back on.

Thanks for this @Robin Searle.  Would love to stay updated with the outcome.  The one listing per parcel rule is exactly what we have in Denver.  Over here the intent was to keep people from renting out individual rooms in their homes essentially turning them into hostels, but it does suck that it hurts owners of multifamily units.  

Hey @Andrew Hemminger I know a few people who do this successfully.  They consider it a "corporate rental".  I would start listing it as a furnished rental on Craigslist to test the waters.  If you don't have any luck there are management companies who specialize in marketing to corporate clients as well as travelling nurses.