[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to the Short Term Show. The show about short term rentals and long term wealth with real property owners hosting real properties who are crushing it in the vacation and short term rental space.
And here's your host, Avery Carle.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey y'. All, welcome back to another episode of the Short Term Show. I'm your host, Avery Carl, as always, broadcasting to you from beautiful 30A, Florida, the short Term Shop, the country's largest short term rental specific real estate brokerage. And we are on, I believe this is our now 6th year being on the air. So had a lot of fun over the years. Thank you guys for continuing to listen. By the way, Short Term Shop is hiring in a few markets.
The Outer Banks, the Smokies, Park City, Angel Fire, New Mexico and a few other ones. So if you have any interest, if you're an agent, any of those markets, email us at
[email protected].
now on to the show. So today's guest we have David Taylor. He is a short term rental investor in Branson, Missouri, which is one of my favorite markets because it has kind of all of the same kind of reasons people go there as the Smoky Mountains. I kind of call it the, the Smokies of the Midwest, which I hate to compare everything to the Smokies, guys. It's just what I know. So that's what I do and I'm sorry about that.
But it is one of the most affordable vacation rental markets to purchase a property in the country. So it's very accessible.
You know, you can get a property there for 250 and then, you know, you can get a big property for under a million. So great bang for your buck in this market. And I'll go ahead and let David introduce himself. How's it going, David?
[00:01:59] Speaker C: It's doing great, Avery.
It's an honor and pleasure to be on here. I followed you for a, for a long time. I think I, I came across you back when you were on Bigger Pockets with Brandon, back when he still did it. So it's, it's cool to be on the show now.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that was just almost exactly seven years ago, I think it was. Yeah, seven.
So.
Been a long time. That's the better part of a decade. Jesus. All right, anyway, enough about that.
David, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into real estate.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I, you know, you don't know what you don't know. So I mean, I. Doing some other things. I've always kind of been in construction, had some things fall through. I ended up doing Some home inspecting that kind of led me down the, the realtor path.
So I became a real estate agent there while I was living in St. Louis.
That's where I kind of started studying the investment side.
Came across bigger pockets.
Came across you guys as well.
Was part of Three Doors, which is a big investment group there in St. Louis.
Network did some different wholesale slipping and really ultimately kind of went back to construction a little bit. Just wasn't real big into the, the residential owner occupied kind of thing. I like the investment side.
And then eventually just kind of, you know, got enough, enough cash, saved up enough reserves, then finally reached out to you guys and start exploring different markets.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: So what attracted you to Branson specifically?
[00:03:43] Speaker C: I mean, when I, when I finally did reach out to you guys, I actually lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So good, good distance from Branson, but I had, through tournament fishing. I'd been down to Table Rock, the Branson area.
My wife and I really like Missouri a lot. We had potentially planned on getting back to Missouri eventually, but I mean, I did look at probably three or four different markets that you guys were in and the biggest one was just the, the affordability of it was probably the biggest one.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so you went with Branson because A, you were familiar with it, but B, the affordability.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: Yeah, 100%. I mean, there was a few other ones I kind of looked at as far as some of the beach markets go, but I mean, you, you, you kind of hit it on the heads the same way. I kind of refer to it as Branson's, the, the Smokies of the Midwest.
So having, having that 10 month market and not, you know, sweating over those other six or seven months when your property is sitting, you know, basically vacant, you know, with the beach market, with even the lake market. I mean, some people talk about the Ozarks and some of this other stuff that's up this way, but it's, you know, the affordability is not there and the, the tourism isn't, you know, nearly as strong during that off season.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Gotcha. Yeah, like Lake of the Ozarks and stuff like that.
[00:05:10] Speaker D: Thank you for listening. We sincerely hope that you find value in this podcast.
We would love it if you would use our team to purchase your next vacation home.
We sell houses in all of the best vacation markets in America and we want to earn your business.
Reach out to us anytime@the shorttermshop.com stsconsultation.com that's the shorttermshop.com all right, so what
[00:05:45] Speaker B: did you end up buying in Branson how big's your property? What'd you pay for it?
[00:05:50] Speaker C: Yeah, so I bought a, a three bedroom, two bath, just under 1200 square foot condo.
So pretty much everything in the Branson market is deemed a condo.
I actually got a new build. I was originally looking at plan on buying one that was a little more turnkey, but I was able to pick up a brand new property.
Purchase price was right at I believe 225.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Yeah, even condo for 225.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: Yep. Ground floor, brand new.
I, I had some closing costs covered and I also had I think an extra 10 or 15,000 I got from the builder to put towards furnishing it as well.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: So it's a new construction condo.
[00:06:40] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Interesting. So is it one of those, is it a true condo or is it one of those things in Branson that looks like a standalone cabin but it's classified as condo?
[00:06:50] Speaker C: No, it's, it's a true condo.
My unit's a little, a little different. The fact that there's only two floors, so I have a walk in with a walk out, three, two and then above us is the four bedroom condos. So I mean the biggest, biggest selling point is, you know, no stairs is a big one. With the condos, the ones you're referring to, the detached condos or puds, those are typically a little bit larger. There are a few three and four bedroom versions of those, but most of those are in that five to 12 bedroom range, I would say. And you're starting to get up into that probably half mil.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Okay. And have you owned this a full year yet? What do you either. What did you gross on it if you've owned it a full year? Or what do you expect to gross on it if you haven't owned it a full year?
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I haven't owned it a full year yet. We, we closed on January 3, I believe it was. And then with having to get it furnished and getting everything up and running, we were up and running towards the end of February.
So I mean I had a couple bookings in February, but really March on.
And currently I am, I am sitting at just, just under 53,000 gross,
[00:08:14] Speaker B: you
[00:08:14] Speaker C: know, running from basically February to the end of November.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Okay. And is Christmas and the holidays a big market in Branson? Do you expect to, you know, make a few more bucks during that time? What does that look like, Abs?
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Absolutely. My December was, has been really good. I still, still hoping to get a few more our bookings.
I would say typically it's about that seven to ten Day range is pretty common. You do get some that are, you know, closer to that 20 to 30 day range. But it, but no, my, I got a chart up. But my November, I grossed, I grossed over 8,000 in November. My November was actually just, was better than my June, just under my July.
So that's, that's one of the things out here that October, November and December are almost as strong as that June and July is.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
So let's, let's wrap this all back up real quick. So you paid 225, right? Do you remember that? Right. They paid 225. And for February to November, so 10 months, not even a full year. You're at 53,000 and some change. So that's pulling up on a 20% income to purchase price ratio, which everyone on the Internet likes to say is their, you know, their golden ticket there. I'm definitely buying this property if it hits that. So we're pretty close to that, aren't we?
[00:09:46] Speaker C: Yeah, 100. 100%. I mean, again, I mean, that was, you know, not even a full year and my first year. So, I mean, you know, Airbnb, of course, is the number one as far as bookings go. So, you know, it wasn't probably until late spring, early summer before I hit the, the super host guest favorite, have the reviews.
And then honestly, I had a really poor.
August and September was, was pretty pathetic on my part. I was just, just super busy with work. So I definitely didn't implement everything I, I could have through some of those other months. I mean, I, I plan on definitely, definitely doing a little bit better next year.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Well, that's still a very respectable first year in terms of income to purchase price ratio. So I really like that. What's your, what's your.
Why can I not think of the word HOA? What's your HOA fee on the property?
[00:10:48] Speaker C: HOA is 285.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Okay. A month. That's not too bad. And what does that cover?
[00:10:53] Speaker C: That, that basically just covers the exterior.
We do have a outdoor pool pavilion area and it takes care of the trash.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Okay.
And guys, just so you know, David is now one of our agents in Branson with the short term shop. So if you're listening to this and you're like, man, this sounds pretty good. This is in my budget. I like this income to purchase price ratio. You can just reach out to
[email protected] and he can take good care of you, helping you find something to buy in Branson. So let's talk a Little bit more about this. I feel like we need to address the condo thing because so many people either with two. Two parts. A, people don't realize that most of what is zoned to be a vacation rental in Branson is going to be a condo. And B, a lot of people are like, oh, no, I don't want a condo. I don't want to pay away fees. And in a vacation rental market like this or like a Panama City beach or Myrtle beach, condos are great. They do awesome. And you don't have to worry about. Now would you go buy a condo in Chicago or Houston or somewhere where there's a bunch of people living there full time? No. That's the kind of condo you don't want to buy. But in vacation markets, condos work really, really great. So can you talk a little bit about the condos and how they do and, you know, why people should be okay with that?
[00:12:13] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, pretty much everything in the Branson market is considered a condo.
I was big on condos when I was kind of looking at just because again, when I initially purchased and probably the first six or seven months of owning and managing it, I was, you know, I was 16 hours away. So the fact that it was a condo, I don't have to worry about the exterior.
I don't have to worry about who's going to bring the trash cans in and out.
So, I mean, just as a, you know, something off your back that you don't have to worry about makes it. Makes it a lot more convenient.
But I mean, our. Our avatars that are coming down here to visit the area, that's. That's what they're used to. That's just what Branson and the.
Pretty much everything within that 20 to 30 minutes of all the attractions, which is where you want to be at. That's. That's what they are. Unless, again, unless you're staying in one of those large properties which, you know, looks like a single family home, but they are, you know, there's no garages, they're stacked on top of, you know, right up against each other with the shared amenities, just like a condo does.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: All right, so you're not really. If people are like, I don't want a condo because I want privacy, you're really not getting that with the, quote, single families that are zoned for vacation rental either.
[00:13:35] Speaker C: No, they're. I mean, they're 10ft apart. So, I mean, it's, you know, parking's all the same.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: You know, it's not it's not like the Smokies. You know, there's some views here, but people aren't coming up to get the privacy, get the views like they are in the Smokies. They're coming here for the shows, shopping, eating. I mean, I don't, you know, I picture most people, you know, they, they're in the condos in the morning. By late morning, they're, they're out and about especially, you know, seeing the traffic. And then, you know, they get back to their condo after dark.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Gotcha. So it's really just a nice place to sleep and hang out. And they're out running around doing all the things during the day.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: 100%.
[00:14:19] Speaker D: Thank you for joining us. Here at the Short Term Shop, we help real estate investors like you buy and sell vacation homes.
We operate in over 20 true vacation markets across the United States.
If you have more questions about buying and selling, join us every week for a live Q q
[email protected].
that's strquestions.com.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: all right, let's talk about financing a condo because I feel like this is a place that people get hung up pretty easily and pretty regularly. So people will come into a market like this or Panama City beach or Myrtle beach, and they'll say, okay, I'm gonna buy a condo. And they'll go to their normal bank and they'll say to their normal bank, hey, can you do a condo? And that bank will say, yes, we can do condos, of course. And then we'll say, okay, this is non warrantable. Are you okay with that? And non warrantable, guys, really, just a quick and dirty way of, of understanding why most of these things are non warrantable is because they are the units. There's a higher percentage of the units in the property that are investments than primary homes, which is going to be the case in most markets like this.
So a lot of times lenders will say, yes, we can do that. Yes, we can do non warrantable because nobody wants to turn business away. But it's quite possible that if you live in Oklahoma and you're using your normal bank to come to Branson and buy a condo, and your normal bank loan officer has never done a condo in Branson. Of course they're not going to say, oh, we can't do that because they want your business just like anybody. But. And there's nothing wrong with wanting your business.
But what tends to happen is they get three quarters of the way through the loan and then they say, oh yeah, this is non warrantable. We can't do this. So typically, unless you're dealing with a bank or lender who does this often in this market, they're going to try to get that property to push through as warrantable. So they can do, you know, a typical 10% down second home loan or a conventional loan. All of these good rates that you get promised is going to be conventional or 10% down second home.
Many times banks and lenders that have never done these types of deals don't actually have a product for that. And then they're going to have to push you to a commercial or DSCR loan. So David, what is your advice for people when they're getting up and running in this market and they're looking for a lender? What type of loan do they need to look for and what kind of questions do they need to ask?
[00:16:56] Speaker C: I mean again, you hit it on the head with that non warrantable condo.
I mean definitely local. I have a couple local lenders here that, you know, obviously they, they're used to lending on condos. That's all they do out here as well as a couple of the local banks that do a really good job.
I purchased mine with a second home vacation loan. 10%, there's some 15% as well as obviously the 20% with the DSCR loans, you know, the lower interest rates now that are great. But the, the biggest thing is definitely to somebody local here to the market that that's what they do is they lend on condos.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yep. So you need, with non warrantable condos, you. The. We do do non warrantable condos at the mortgage shop. Plug. Plug in. But a lot of times with those local banks that are, that are local to the market that you're buying in, not local to you, local to the market that you're buying in, they'll be really, really well versed in the condo markets in the, in the area and a lot of times they'll have better rates and things. So we love your business but always, you know, definitely check, check local as well when it comes to condos. So what, what type of loan did you end up getting, David? Out of curiosity, I got, I got
[00:18:13] Speaker C: the second home, the vacation.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Okay, awesome.
And you guys were coming out and using it some while you were still living in Pennsylvania?
[00:18:20] Speaker C: Yeah, we, well we planned on. Now we're, you know, we're living out
[00:18:23] Speaker B: here now, so vacation a little too hard, Never left.
Awesome. So when you furnished this, did it, it didn't come furnished, right?
[00:18:36] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: So the thing that I like about condos, when it comes to furnishing and decor and everything, all you have to do is just a very small space. Or if you're buying a condo that needs to be updated. That's my favorite. Updating condos is my absolute favorite because you only have to update what's inside the walls. Your inspection reports are always so much easier on condos than on single families because, again, it's only what's inside the walls. Really. The only things that are there to break are your appliances.
So anyway, the question I was getting at with David was, what did you do to furnish this? Did you just do it all yourself? Did you use some type of service or did it come furnished?
[00:19:17] Speaker C: We did it all ourselves.
With my work, I was fairly seasonal, so it worked out to work. Closing.
We came down, closed in person, and then hung out for about three weeks to lived in the condo while we went shopping.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Awesome. And about how long did it take you to get all set up from closing day to opening day on the rental platforms?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: I. Well, I didn't do a lot with the rental platform while I was there. I was focused on getting everything set up.
Probably could have done it a little bit faster. We had some bad weather roll in that typically doesn't hit down here. So there was a lot of snow and ice around the Springfield area. Branson got a little bit.
A lot around the Kansas City, St. Louis area, which is a lot of where the, you know, the packages come before they get down to here.
So a lot of the, you know, Wayfair, Amazon, you know, the stuff that wasn't getting local was.
Was being delayed.
So, I mean, it wasn't.
I wasn't working every day, but I was. You know, we spent the full two and a half to three weeks probably getting it set up, you know, talking with the cleaners and everything, getting that lined up.
And then again with being.
Being seasonal, you know, I spent a fair amount of time once I get back to the house there in Pittsburgh and got my. My system set up with owner res and price labs and everything.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: I want to get back to something. I probably should have asked towards the beginning, what area of Branson is your property, and what area of Branson should investors be looking at if they're just, you know, cruising Zillow on their lunch break?
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm kind of in the northwest corner, I would say kind of just above the Table Rock Dam, just below Silver Dollar City.
So, I mean, if. If you're not familiar with Branson itself, basically you have Taney Como, which comes out of Table Rock, that's kind of your southern end. Right there you have what's called, called the Landing.
It's a big kind of strip mall, restaurants. Right along the water.
Right across from there, you have your convention center. And then basically as you cross that street, you have more your historic downtown Branson, a lot of small mom and pop shops, restaurants.
And then that's kind of the start of the strip, which is 76. So that strip runs, I don't know, maybe five, 10 miles. And you got all your, your different shows, your, your wax museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Ferris wheel, helicopter tours, all that kind of stuff going up into up the strip. And then just above the strip, just kind of to the west, you have your, your Silver Dollar City, which is basically the same thing as what a Dollywood there is.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: And Dollywood actually used to be a Silver Dollar, correct?
[00:22:16] Speaker C: Yep.
So I mean, so I mean that's, that's kind of your area there. So. And then of course, you know, down a little further south of there, you have all Johnny Morris's stuff, which, you know, people don't know who Johnny Morris is. The owner of Bass Pro Shop also owns Cabela's now, but he has his big Cedar Lodge, the, the golf course that he designed with Tiger woods, as well as the new Thunder Ridge amphitheater that he put in just recently.
Draws a lot of, you know, pretty big names. Morgan Wallen, Pit Bull Creed been keep an eye on the schedule for this year. They've already got Avenged Sevenfold and Guns and Roses coming out to it.
So wait, wait for Taylor Swift maybe with, with Kansas City being such a big name out here in Branson, so.
Got it. Gotta watch out for that one.
But you know, I, I would say, you know, if you're staying within that 5 to 10 mile range of that, that main areas where you want to be at, you start getting too far out.
You know, it's, it's very rule out past outside of Branson.
A lot of narrow, winding roads. And then you factor in the traffic and you know, it's, you know, you get too far out, you're going to be looking at 30, 45 minutes an hour to get someplace.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I almost, I'm not going to talk about it on this one because I've talked about it on past podcast episodes, but we almost died in our RV on one of those windy roads that was going straight down with all these switchbacks. We made a wrong turn and I've never been so nervous in a vehicle in my Entire life. Anyway, go back and listen to some other Branson episodes that we have if you want to hear that. So not really that interesting. Just my husband and I yelling at each other. Anyway, so keep that in mind as you're looking at these properties. So are there. I know Branson is pretty specific about what the vacation rental zoning is and isn't. So as somebody who's new, who again might just be cruising Zillow on their lunch break, what should they look out for when they're looking at listings as a tell that like, okay, this is probably not something I can short term rent or maybe the opposite of what are all the short term rentals tend to be other than condos?
[00:24:46] Speaker C: I mean, again, if, if you're looking at what looks to be your traditional single family house with a garage, good chance is probably not a rentable property. Unless. Unless it's way out in a different county, in which case, you know, it's going to take you an hour plus to get to Branson.
Yeah.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: And you don't want that anyway for your guest. Location is always most important.
[00:25:12] Speaker C: Yeah. So I mean, if it's, you know, again, big thing to look for in the verbiage, I think most agents are smart enough to put, you know, rental in the verbiage.
So that should show you it's a rental. If it doesn't mention rental, there's a good chance it's not.
Obviously, if it's a traditional looking condo, it's good chance it's a rental, you know, and then again, the, the single family ones that are the detached condos, I mean, they're in communities, so I mean, it's pretty evident that it's not a traditional cul de sac subdivision type property. I mean, they're, they're stacked in there, you know, with half a dozen parking spots right in front of them, no garage.
And then again, they're, they're going to say it's a rental. They're going to say they got whatever amenities, whether it's an indoor pool, hot tub, outdoor pool, pickleball, whatever they have that's included with them.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Okay.
So pretty, pretty good bird's eye view of what's going on in Branson. Again, one of the most affordable vacation rental markets to get started. If you guys are new, maybe you just kind of want to dip your toe. You're not one of these people that wants to go nuts and do a big super, super property right out of the gate. Branson's a really good place to get started.
And David, before we get to the last three questions of the show.
Is there anything we haven't covered about Branson that you feel like our audience would benefit from hearing?
[00:26:45] Speaker C: I mean, exactly what you said. I mean if you're, you know, it's, it's great for seasonal investors but I mean if you're somebody newer, you know, you don't know what you don't know, you know, you're afraid of making mistakes. I mean, you know, buy a property that's, you know, 250, 350 instead of spending, you know, 5, 600,000, you know, it's a condo, you know, you're not worried about, you know, the, the outside, the exterior, it's a little less worry on you.
And then again with being such a strong 10 month market, you know, if you, you know, you're a little slow to get started depending on when you, what time of year you're buying, you know, you're not worried about your property sitting vacant for, for five, six months out of the year. We basically have January and February, that's obviously a down season. A lot of things are closed, shut down.
But March, March through the, through the new year, it's, it stays pretty busy here.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for telling us all about Branson today. So now we're to the last three questions of the show. We ask every single guest of the short term show these questions. First question, what advice would you give 20 year old David if you knew then what you know now?
[00:28:03] Speaker C: I mean, don't know what you don't know. So I mean if I would have known, you know, again what I know now and was able to get started sooner, be a lot further along for sure.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we all feel that way. And number two, what advice would you give a new investor who's looking to get started today?
[00:28:24] Speaker C: I mean, you got to pull the trigger. I mean you can't stand on the sidelines. It's never going to be the perfect time, the perfect scenario, 100%.
You just have to get out there and if you make mistakes, you learn from them and you, you move on.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Also great advice. And last, what's your favorite book that's impacted your mindset?
[00:28:47] Speaker C: I got two of them that are pretty big and I'm sure they've been mentioned a hundred times. But Rich Dad, Poor dad, that was probably one of the first ones I read. That's a big one. And then profit first.
I mean I've owned and operated several businesses that, you know, utilizing just that system alone just has really made a difference.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Great recommendations, both of them. Don't, I don't care how many times they've been recommended. Those are both really great books that everybody needs to read.
And last, David, if our listeners want to work with you and maybe find a property for themselves in Branson, how can they get a hold of you?
[00:29:29] Speaker C: Yeah, like I said, I work for the, for the shop now. So David, at the short term shop, be happy to, to educate him on the, the short term rentals, the, the Branson market and get them started.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: All right. Well, David, thank you so much for coming on. And listeners, we will catch you next week.
