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I don’t see why you don’t buy the run down places since you say you can renovate anything. Or would you rather have it turn key going in? What about buying a lot on the lake and building your own place?
You should get advice from the upstate NY seasonal places and how they handle the winters. Some just close up. It’s totally a factor. You may have zero bookings for months. All those people will be coming to Hawaii! 
️:hibiscus:
Or look up the Airbnb listings currently operating where you want to buy…to get a sense of the market.
I guess the bottom line, owing from us experienced hosts is, it is hard to count on that income in the slow times like you do with a LTR. For example in Hawaii right now it is DEAD. And it is a pattern that has happened every year in the eight years I have been hosting. No one comes here in the summer. Well almost no one!!!
I know about the 3 “L’s”. Keep looking, also you will be able to bargain if you wait til October, November. My mum was in real estate since the 1960’s, I learned a lot from her. The house I bought was power of sale as owner went bankrupt. I had an inspection done and was able to bargain further, saved $7,000 on a $70,000 house. It’s worth over $400k now, but I’ve done major work over the last 16 years.
You guys are fantastic, it’s almost as if whoever writes dumb comments or trolls gets immediately banned, because there’s no arrogant out of place comments.
As far as buying a run-down place, I am buying a commercial property in the next few weeks, and let me tell you it’s run down run down run down. So all my time will be invested there. And I’m living in a 400 square foot $400 a month apartment right now and it’s cold and drafty in the winter and right now I’m chasing flies, the walls are infested with whatever flies infest walls with. I’ll post a picture of the four fly strips I have just outside my door in the tiny entryway. And there’s almost as many inside the apartment that I’ve killed with a flyswatter. And I only get one hour of sun, and the brand new windows are improperly installed so they’re drafty. The landlord is the nicest guy in the world, and he gives me credit if I cut the grass and I did a couple days of repairs to the apartment that he had freshly renovated, but most of the housing stock around here is turn of the century, and it’s the previous century. I need a place to live, and I lived in a mostly renovated Victorian that I converted to a duplex, and I got rid of the drafts, but our electric bill was still hefty because all of our heat was going to the upstairs renters.
We looked at another house yesterday in the lesser part of town, a block from a low rent trailer park, it’s a nice street, but there’s only a small yard, a small three-car garage, but a thousand square foot apartment above the garage that we would live in, and the main house would probably rent for $1,500 a month. But girlfriend and I did not like it at all at all at all even though it was custom-built.
It’s funny because the house that I put a picture of us a bit of the ways up, it’s just a plain old square box, but it’s just so simple and it suits our wants so well, except that it’s still on a small lot. When we drove around a couple days ago half the houses are on over side lots, and the other half are on postage stamp-sized lots, pretty weird.
Getting back to the brutal reality of can I afford it? Can anybody afford a single-family house? We’re going to wait three or four months, it’s been on the market for 2 years and the owner doesn’t care to negotiate. The house could use all new siding, it doesn’t show that great because it’s somewhat outdated, it’s just an unscathed original condition. Nobody’s messed around with it, and I can even convert the basement into something, it has a high ceiling.
I’m going to read the article in the South Carolina paper. And there’s very few rentals on Airbnb in our area, but they keep building new hotels for higher and higher night prices, and I’ve asked and they’re almost all full. We’re in Plattsburgh New York, gateway to the Adirondacks, and Montreal. And the thought of sharing are home with strangers isn’t the most appealing, but I’ve done stranger things for money.
I was a licensed auto mechanic for years, but then I became a landlord 25 years ago, but I have a feeling I’ll be going back to some type of auto repair at this commercial building I’m buying. I’m a car nut, and I know how to fix cars, but the reason I stopped fixing them in the early nineties is because they were all becoming electronic, and that’s only gotten worse with time, that’s why I drive stuff from the sixties 70s and 80s, This modern stuff is beyond me.
The crazy 5 car garage, yellow, bottom picture was just up the hill, we were just driving around, and I lifted the camera out of the window and took a backwards shot over head. The more garage space I have the better, but no idea who owns it or if it’s for sale, it was just above the house above the trailer park
Yes, many people can including myself!
Okay those flies are disgusting. Something else is going on in your house to attract that. As a landlord, you have probably seen that before…what could it be? In any event, it’s unacceptable and they need to get pest control out there asap.
Not sure what you mean about trolls. We hardly ever get them. You’ve seen comments? None of us mods remember seeing inappropriate comments.
I meant there are no trolls here.
The flys are are real problem. If it was my place-and I just sold 12 apts of similar era- I would strip the cold walls, (the critters are nesting-breeding near the windows) insulate, vapor barrier, and 5/8" firecode sheetrock. But it’s not my place. I’ve done a number of improvement, mostly small. His son moved away, so he lost his helper, and I’ll be moving on sooner than later… I can’t solve all of the world’s problems, but I try…
But your landlord should fix that…!!! It’s unacceptable. What kind of flies are they? Do you have cow pastures nearby?
Are they houseflies?
I didn’t think flies nested. I thought they laid their eggs on s**t, maggots hatched and then they flew away.
What food source is there? You are within your rights to call peat control about this and then bill the owner for it. No one should have to live with such pestilence. Something is wrong.
Okay, I will take your comments to mean the forum has good moderation, which it does!! 
Food source? No idea… We’re in the city, no,livestock for miles. The flys and whatever other deficiencys are why one OWNS their own house. There is also substantial deterioration to the eve and pigeons fly in and out and poop on whatever I park there… I was going to help him fix things, he pays me… But I’m buying my own place and moving on. I’ve owned many 100-150-200 year old houses, they’re all the same. Deferred maintenance, or sloppy get 'er done renovation. I’ve been there-done that, and the commercial prop I’m buying next month isn’t much better. So I can’t deal with another dump, thus the need to spend $200+ on a proper contemporary house. I will read the SC article now.
As someone who has 5 properties all for STR I second everyone’s recommendation to NOT take the agents word and read the HOAs yourself or get your lawyer too.
My best friend is our agent in Northern CA and obviously I trust her implicitly, but I still read through the HoA docs.
Absolutely, I’ll have to see who rules what there. I’ll call the town today and see what’s what
I called the town code and zoning enforcement, and he told me they were no rules whatsoever against Airbnb is in the town code, but he said the HOA was part of the deed of the property for the 250 or 300 homes, so I called the head of the HOA board, and he’s a local attorney who lives in the neighborhood, he called me back and we talked for about 10 minutes. And to the best of my recollection here is how the conversation went.
He said there are no rules against Airbnb in the HOA yet, but it’s coming soon because they’re having rich people from out of the area buying some of the lakefront houses and turn them into non-owner-occupied Airbnb, and that’s where the complaints come from. I didn’t ask him how many complaints there were. Our conversation was somewhat abbreviated.
I asked about home businesses, he said none are allowed, but some or many(?) are tolerated, and he said as long as I’m not having deliveries coming and going, there shouldn’t be a problem. I won’t quote what he said, but it was a gross exaggeration, and if he reads this, his quote wouldn’t read well, but I get the gist of what he’s saying. I told him that I had run many dozens of apartments for many years, renting some of them to students who are notoriously misbehaving and have too many friends over and park on the lawn etcetera. I told him that I ran my apartments with an iron fist, cleaning up cigarette butts on the property, whether they were from my tenants-which I categorically did not allow to smoke anywhere on my property, or just passers-by. I asked if I started running an Airbnb if we buy this house if I would be grandfathered, and I forget his response.
They have a monthly board meeting, which I had just missed, but because of July 4th holiday it’ll be held next week, so I will attend with my girlfriend, but he also said that the homeowners seldom show up, just the handful of board members. I will prepare a written list of questions, so that I don’t forget if I get carried away chatting.
This is typical of all HOAS. Members don’t come to meetings and the board rules. If you want constant headaches in a nanny state buy in an HOA. That’s why we sold our gated community socal home and bought a single family with no HOA.
Since the inception of Airbnb most HOA’s are prohibiting strs.
You will not win on this one and I really don’t blame the HOA wanting to prevent the community becoming a hotel.
Most of what you have found out is in line with what the forum members told you, WE ARE SOOO SMART! 
This is all advice will have to consider, but obviously having the HOA keeps it the most desirable neighborhood for us, it’s a double-edged sword.
The other house we looked at the other end of town, near the mall has 1.4 semi-private acres, but it’s near the interstate buzz, and the house just isn’t what we’re looking for… but but but but…
Speaking of rules and regulations, here’s a link to an article. This is a very good friend of mine, and I have one derelict truck on his property
Thanks for the summary. I just posted the same issue not realizing it was in the archives. In my situation the very first guest was loud and had a party in violation of my rules. The neighbor complaint lead the HOA to my Airbnb listing.
I am a lawyer and yes review the CCRs. I may have a fighting chance because the exclusion is to 'hotel operation" which opens the door for STRs if I am present. I am researching the issue further to see if I find an exclusion specific to my situation in Vegas. However, HOAs can amend and any advantage I may find will be short lived. But they won’t win because I will sell and split the 4 bedroom house into 2 condos and I’ll increase the income by about 25 to 30% from the present. Until Vegas bans Airbnb.
Thanks all to your excellent insight.
