All Forum Posts by: William Beck

@John Spurlock I second that! Branson, MO. Booming tourism destination. 

I purchased a property in Branson, MO for vacation rental investment income. I put the check for my down payment in the mail at a FedEx office on March 13, 2020 ---basically the week where it felt like the world was ending, and the 2020 year performance was off for April-May but YoY increase for June-Dec. I'm extremely confident that vacation rentals are safe and here to stay, and here's why:

I think people will continue to want to take vacations even in a Coronavirus pandemic lockdown world we live in. If cruises are shut down, international travel is down, domestic flights are down - vacation rentals are a great safe option for people to enjoy themselves at a lake, beach, or mountain destination. They can socially distance if need be, no need to go through a hotel lobby or share interior spaces with anyone they don't feel safe around.  Urban vacation rentals were impacted quite negatively in 2020 and imagine will continue to be hurt until the vaccine is fully deployed at scale. @Sean McDonnell Is absolutely right. 

Interest rates are low. It's just inventory being slim pickings at the moment is the major constraint. Buyers are everywhere, but 2nd home properties and vacation rentals are dwindling. Hawaii is interesting because you might be able to buy up from a distressed seller because they weren't able to vacation rent it out and and upside down on it, but you might be buying someone else's sinking ship for however long it would take for everything to 'go back to normal.' @Joe Splitrock also points out an extremely important point on Hawaii regulatory issues. There are massive fines there for buying something and using as a vacation rental without the proper permitting and those can be really tough to get unless you buy specifically in a resort zoned area which tend to have a price premium associated with the location. 

Other than there being limited options to purchase because of limited inventory, times are just fine for buying a vacation rental. 

California is tough. Lake Arrowhead & Big Bear don't really cash flow. Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta has regulations. South Lake Tahoe is trying to phase them out. SF/LA are both basically 30 day restrictions which isn't STR.

Maybe Truckee? Maybe Arnold? Maybe Bass Lake? I would probably avoid everything in the state though because of taxes & regulations. Every considered just popping over to AZ and do Lake Havasu City area? Those do really well. 

Agree that VRBO & Airbnb will cover most of your bases for sourcing travelers. Try to get pro photos, look up SEO optimization for listing keywords, do some research on comps in the area for pricing throughout the year paying attention to seasonal & holiday shifts

The 3 pillars of success for every vacation rental property: 1) Location (which sounds like is already picked). Hopefully you're within striking distance of the beach since PCB that's a big deal. 2) Sleeping capacity. What's the most amount of people you can comfortably get in there? More heads in beds, the higher rate you can charge and 3) Interior Design & Amenities. Maybe go with a beach theme, make it feel like vacation. Good luck sir! 

@Caleb Brown I went under contract and closed on mine March 2020. That was initially scary, but ever since then everything's been phenomenal. The market has bounced back from Covid and all things are go in terms of tourism. I worked at the same company as @Tyler Henry on the Real Estate Services team and recently relocated to Branson to become an agent and look for deals. Top 3 market in the country for investors in my opinion. If you ever want to connect and chat more let me know. 

@Paul Cox Check out Evolve Vacation Rental. (10% + cleaning/maint) I used to work there. I agree, self management is probably the way to go to squeeze the most out of the property but it's a tough cookie to scale. Also, I live in Branson and am a Real Estate Agent if you ever want to chat about vacation rental investments here. I literally quit working for Evolve to move here because it's such a great investment market, I wanted to get my hands dirty and get into some deals! Already own a 3BR condo that is grossing $30k/year and I payed about $160k for it. 

@Tommy Panebianco Nobody really talks about the hybrid option which is doing the peak season as a STR then leasing it for offseason to a traveling nurse, business client, people looking to relocate in the offseason. It doesn't work in all destination markets, but I would definitely consider it for like a Phoenix. Ski areas are tough to execute that option. I haven't personally done it but it could change the investment income dynamic completely.

@Bill F. Yes, you are absolutely correct. The moment I started typing I figured, "I'm probably wrong on an assumption here, but also, It's just a fun thought exercise to whip out a calculator and sound smart."  With about 5 minutes of thought put into it. Luckily I'm not a math teacher :D I Guess I'll take that $10k/month plan then.

I think it becomes a Finance 101 math challenge and a factoring of "How long am I going to live?" 

Assuming 40 years give or take left on my time on the planet ... $10k/month x12 x40 = $4,800,000(Which isn't guaranteed because if I die next year it's only $120,000 )

Present value of $4.8MM at 40 years what interest rate gets you to $1MM = ~3.92%. Can you beat that? Probably. If you're smart. 

I'd rather take the $1M today and buy up some assets vs. going on the pension plan.  It sounds like a lot more fun doing some asset allocation than to watch the calendar each month waiting for that next infusion of some liquidity. 

@Matthew Malley I'll message you and we can connect to chat further. The Disney play would maybe work if you purchased a certain type of property in very close proximity to the park but the rumors of saturation worries are indeed true and something to be very aware of.