Recently I posted an idea I had for a business on this thread:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/as...7528-using-interior-designer-flip-houses.html
My sister-in-law and I are working on that with two duplexes I am buying to flip.
In the meantime, I came up with another business idea I am pretty excited about, but am not sure how to go about developing it. I'm hoping for some advice.
My parents and in-laws are (were for my parents) snowbirds. They live in colder weather climates in the summer and go down south to warm weather places in the winter. They have homes in both places. So for half the year, one of their homes stays vacant and the other half of the year, their other home stays vacant.
What if you could help people like this rent their place out with sites such as VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner for a night/week/month at a time?
The 6 month time period means it is not great for traditional renters, and the places are already furnished - which is perfect for vrbo.
I have a friend who is doing this with a house he bought specifically for this purpose. He makes $75K a year in revenue. He has a cleaning crew come in after each visit, and a neighbor who just checks to make sure there is not a lot of damage. Otherwise he processes everything from his phone.
Here's why I think it would work for me and be scalable:
Here are some drawbacks:
My realtor brought me a house yesterday that backs up to a lake in an exclusive part of town. On the other side of the lake is one of the premier golf courses in the US. The PGA was played there a couple of years ago. The owners are in their 80's and really want to sell. It needs about $30K in work to update it and get it out of the 70's. I am thinking of working with them to update it and make it a vrbo to try this out. They are moving into a rental apartment and want their mortgage paid.
Otherwise I was wondering how to get this going? Specifically:
Any other advice would be much appreciated. Of course, anyone who has start up business experience who would like to work with me on this would also be appreciated. Thanks
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/as...7528-using-interior-designer-flip-houses.html
My sister-in-law and I are working on that with two duplexes I am buying to flip.
In the meantime, I came up with another business idea I am pretty excited about, but am not sure how to go about developing it. I'm hoping for some advice.
My parents and in-laws are (were for my parents) snowbirds. They live in colder weather climates in the summer and go down south to warm weather places in the winter. They have homes in both places. So for half the year, one of their homes stays vacant and the other half of the year, their other home stays vacant.
What if you could help people like this rent their place out with sites such as VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner for a night/week/month at a time?
The 6 month time period means it is not great for traditional renters, and the places are already furnished - which is perfect for vrbo.
I have a friend who is doing this with a house he bought specifically for this purpose. He makes $75K a year in revenue. He has a cleaning crew come in after each visit, and a neighbor who just checks to make sure there is not a lot of damage. Otherwise he processes everything from his phone.
Here's why I think it would work for me and be scalable:
- There have got to be a ton of snowbirds out there who would love to get some income to offset two mortgage payments.
- The snowbirds are generally an older demographic who may not be the most computer literate people out there.
- People who can afford homes in two different states generally own nicer homes which would be easier to market
- They would not want to do all the marketing and processing on line when they could just get a check
- I manage 8 rental properties (soon to be 10) and have done it since 2006
- If this works, it might be something that could expand to people who have to move due to a job transfer etc. and can't sell their home because it is underwater.
- As the snowbirds get really old, they may want to sell at least one of the houses and you could help them sell through wholesaling/lease option/ or turn it over to a broker for a traditional sale
Here are some drawbacks:
- Older people may not want strangers in their house (my in-laws are a prime example)
- You're renting out homes in states during their bad weather months (think Minnesota in winter, Phoenix in summer). However, people still want to visit family/attend weddings/attend graduations/attend funerals/have business projects. Those are the people this service would cater to.
My realtor brought me a house yesterday that backs up to a lake in an exclusive part of town. On the other side of the lake is one of the premier golf courses in the US. The PGA was played there a couple of years ago. The owners are in their 80's and really want to sell. It needs about $30K in work to update it and get it out of the 70's. I am thinking of working with them to update it and make it a vrbo to try this out. They are moving into a rental apartment and want their mortgage paid.
Otherwise I was wondering how to get this going? Specifically:
- How should I find and market to snowbirds
- vrbo and other sites charge several hundred dollars to have an annual membership per home. Would I just charge the homeowner that? Might be a tough sell if they are trying for the first time. Could I take it out of the first rental income?
- How do you get this started? I have not done it before, so how do you convince homeowners to try it?
- I would like to market to corporations in case they have a team coming into town for a couple of months to work on a project. Any tips on getting in the door at these places?
- It seems like you need a website to process payments/show properties etc. Or do you just use the web to market and do a lot of the marketing and processing offline (postcards/mailers/presentations etc.)
Any other advice would be much appreciated. Of course, anyone who has start up business experience who would like to work with me on this would also be appreciated. Thanks
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