Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between.

Zach asks:

What tools do you use when researching potential short-term rentals to help influence a purchasing decision on a new property?

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Resources:

• STR Insights

• PriceLabs

Thanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Hello.

Welcome back to another great episode.

My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I am Annette Grant, and together we are--

Thanks for Visiting.

And this is the--

Hosting Hotline.

We got a hot one coming in from Zach.

Hey, Annette and Sarah.

This is Zach.

I was wondering what kinds of tools you guys use when determining

potential short-term rental income when you're looking at properties

that you're interested in purchasing.

Love the show.

Thanks.

Good question, Zach.

Zach, you love the show?

Have you left us a review?

This is a hot tip for everybody.

Leave us a review.

We'll love it.

They're all fellow hosts out there, so they know the importance of a review.

Yeah.

You guys know the importance of reviews.

For both our egos because this job is hard sometimes.

No, but really, the review counts.

It gets it to other hosts.

We want to uplevel what it means to be a host.

So let's do it.

Let's get into Zach's question.

So actually, this is a very timely question, Zach, because Annette

and I just did a whole presentation.

We spoke at InvestHER Con, and we did good deal, bad deal.

And what we did on stage there, Zach, is we took two actual properties that

were listed for sale, we built out a proforma, and we worked with the audience

to go over all the different aspects of that proforma to help us understand

what is a good deal, bad deal for all the different investors that were in the

audience, because we all have different ideas of what is a good deal, right?

Mm-hmm.

Is this a lifestyle asset for you and your family?

Are you really looking for a way--

Cash-on-cash.

Cash-on-cash, a way to offset your income.

Tax advantage.

Right.

There's so many things.

AD MARKER

Zach, you asked us what our favorite tool is, and I think a lot of

listeners out there know about tools like AirDNA, Key Data, PriceLabs.

But our favorite, Zach--

The secret weapon.

The secret weapon, and this is how we built out super detailed

proformas for that presentation that we did, it's STR Insights.

And the reason we like STR Insights is because, first of all, if you're

looking to invest in short-term rentals in general, and you are open to where

in the country you invest, and you have return on investment goals,

STR Insights can help you pinpoint where you should invest, what market.

And then when you get to that market, they help you understand the sweet

spots of that market because not all areas of any marketplace are created

equal in terms of return on investment.

We want to let you know, Zach, this is a paid for service.

Yes.

So you are going to have to make the investment, but trust us, this

is the time where you want to make the investment in your future investment.

So we just want to let you know, everyone, if you haven't checked it

out, please check out STR Insights.

Full transparency.

We are affiliates for them, but it's a product we believe in.

We are huge, enormous fans and friends of the founder and CEO, Kenny Bedwell.

He is amazing.

He spoke at our last live event.

He's coming to our next live event.

If you haven't bought your ticket yet, buy your ticket, tfvcon.com.

But check out-- that's where we would start, Zach.

As one of our beloved listeners, we are going to send you to STR Insights.

That's where you need to go to get your intel.

But also in true TFV form, how can we have our listeners run

proformas, get data where they maybe don't have to invest money?

Although, again, if you're going to invest in a property like that

-- Annette: Yeah.

If you're going to investhundreds of thousands of dollars, a

couple of hundred does nothing.

Yeah.

Because then you can base it on data and not on feelings,

or someone's opinion, or--

What your real estate agent is maybe saying.

Right.

But something you could do, Zach, and everyone out there, is if you're looking

to invest in a marketplace, you could reach out to a property management

company that specializes in short-term rentals because they might want to

win your business as your property manager in some way, shape, or form.

Some property management companies have a maintenance program.

So if you want to self-manage-- so anyway, you could call them and

say, I'm interested in investing in your market in a short-term rental.

I want to know more about the different expenses and income

that's available in that area.

They may share that information with you.

They really should because they are the experts in there.

They are personally managing properties in that marketplace, and they might be able

to share with you some insights there.

We're going to have all of the tools linked in the show notes,

but Zach, thanks for calling in.

Thanks for asking the question, and we can't wait for one of you,

listeners, to dial in with your next question,hotline question.

Yeah, if you've got a question, go to thanksforvisiting.me.

In the upper right-hand corner is a red button that says "Ask TFV."

you just press that button, and it'll take you to a page where you can record

your voice, ask your question, and we'll answer it here on the podcast.

With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--

Thanks for Visiting.