All Forum Posts by: William Beck

Thanks @Caleb Brown . Yeah I've worked with almost purely STR buyers here in the Branson area. I've got a video on youtube I made called "What is Branson?" if you want to find it. I can't share a link on BP otherwise I get flagged but that will give you the 3 minute pitch for why this area's a good place to consider.

I agree with @Nathan Gesner Time. How much is it worth to just spend time managing it? I Think it's worth doing for a little but just to tacitly know how much work is involved, but it's not scalable and not something that I think is very fun. I still use an STR Property Manager because I don't have time to hyper-analzye my performance, handle guest inquiries in a speedy fashion, mess with issues that will undoubtedly occur with damage claims and maintenance. It's worth at least trying self management just to get a taste, but ultimately that's up to you if you want to do that forever.

I've got some contacts if you want to PM me. 

I'll copy / paste from a former thread I replied to a year and a half ago with some updates.

I answered this question and analyzed vacation rentals almost every day for a few years in my former job. Based on that experience I would consider the following places to look.

My personal top picks:
top 3 investor markets - Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN; Poconos, PA; Branson MO (I own here and I'm a realtor here). 

Then the rest:

Hot Springs, AR.
Broken Bow, OK 
Destin, FL
Cape Coral, FL.
Blue Ridge, GA.
Phoenix Metro, AZ

I personally plan to own in the above mentioned areas

Honorable Mentions:

Hilton Head, SC

Myrtle Beach, SC

Massanutten, VA

Killington or Southern, VT by ski areas

Granby/Grand Lake, CO

Lake Travis or Lake Granbury TX

Lake Havasu City

Cocoa Beach, FL

Traverse City, MI

Black Hills, SD

Island Park, ID

@Jessica Celenza I had some great STR referral business I did with the Peter Hewitt Team and Cindy Carr Knecht. Both are highly knowledgeable of the area and will help lead you down the right path for your STR search.

Make sure to check out the regulations. I remember Door County being super regulated when I was an analyst for STR Buyers.

Branson, Gatlinburg, Destin, Blue Ridge, Hot Springs, Broken Bow, Galveston...

I don't have one there but work with STR's in Branson. Drive through Grandview all the time coming up to KC. What kind of rates are you getting?

If you have your STR in a great market to begin with, and didn't overpay you should be alright. As there is more and more STR inventory nationwide there is going to be a stratification effect where the better performers will continue to do great and take market share where under amenitized poorly located STRs will suffer with slower booking volume. As everyone is saying in this post, people still go on vacation in a recession, they just vacation smarter. Don't over-lever yourself either based on the assumption that a recession is coming. That way if bookings start to slow down a little you're not in the red on your STR Property.

Proper has pretty good coverage & experience in the space. I just met with them this past weekend at the IMN Short Term Rental Forum in Austin, TX. I didn't see any other insurance companies there so that's definitely saying something