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Short Term Rental

Flooring is a Vital Part of a Wise Property Investment

LVT is the Superior Choice for Short-Term Rental Flooring By Fred Harris Short-term rentals are a great investment in 2023, but a wise investment must be backed up with wise expenditures. Smart spending goes a long way to help overcome some of the challenges you may face with short-term rental investments. Flooring is one of the most important expenditures you will need to make, and here is what you need to know to choose the right one. The Factors In order to make a wise flooring choice, there are several factors that you have to remember. Materials Cost When choosing flooring, it is easy to spend much more than you need to. Floorings can vary greatly in cost, often with little visible or functional difference. Beauty Regarding style, you may be tempted to think that flooring does not matter, but remember that flooring spans an entire space. Tenants will see a stylish space and feel they are getting good value for their money. This means higher rent and better returns. Longevity The lifespan of flooring ranges from three years to a lifetime. The five main factors of floor longevity are scratch resistance, water resistance, durability, cleanability, and whether the environment is commercial or residential. Ease of Installation and Repair If you’re doing all the labor yourself, you’ll need to pick flooring that is easy to install and repair. Some floorings will require skilled labor to install or fix. When contracting, choosing flooring that is quick, easy, and affordable to work with will keep your costs down and properties occupied. On the topic of repairs, the repair needed for damage done by pets in a rental unit is often overestimated. You will make your listing more attractive with a pet-friendly policy. Sound Reduction Noise complaints can be a serious issue. Floorings with built-in sound reduction and sound-reducing underlayments can solve the problem without expensive assembly reconstruction. Make sure to look for a flooring’s HIIC score to see how much sound reduction it will provide between floors. For those unfamiliar, HIIC is the new standard replacing the IIC method of sound-reduction measurement. If the manufacturer can only provide IIC scores and cannot provide an HIIC score, they are behind the times. The Options Make your flooring of choice a wise expenditure. Here are your options. Luxury Vinyl Tile/Plank Luxury vinyl flooring (also known as LVT or LVP) is the best option for durable and completely waterproof flooring with affordability in mind. LVT is so easy it can be installed by almost anyone, not just professionals. There are several kinds of LVT flooring to fit any need. LVT can feature polyurethane wear layers of up to 28 mil as well as microscopic ceramic-bead integration for further damage deflection. Choosing the right wear-layer thickness is key to a long-lasting floor in both residential and commercial environments. If you desire the cushion, sound reduction, and heat insulation that carpet provides, a good, thick underlayment can provide all of those benefits as well as moisture protection. If you are using floating floors, make sure the manufacturer specifies that the underlayment will not compromise the flooring’s clips. Looselay LVT is a great option for residential rental spaces because it is extremely easy to replace single planks. LVT can take a beating, but if a looselay plank becomes damaged, replacement is quick, cheap, and does not need to be done by a professional. Carpet Carpet is on the opposite side of durable, rental-friendly, and DIY flooring. It is undoubtedly the most easily damaged and stained. Carpets may loosen over time, requiring the expense of stretching. Carpet can be a challenge to clean thoroughly, and even when it appears clean, it may be trapping allergy-inducing dust, dander, pests, and more. Carpets have also been known to off-gas harmful VOCs. Finally, carpet tends to have a lifespan of about five to seven years. Tile Tile made from stone, porcelain, or ceramic is a beautiful, durable, and waterproof option for short-term rental flooring. It definitely adds value to a property, but the high cost may be a problem for large projects. Tile can be uncomfortably cold and hard for people and pets alike. Tile is also a poor choice for sound reduction. Tile requires technical skills and experience to install and may be easily damaged. While damaged tiles can be replaced, it is a costly, dirty, destructive, and time-consuming process. Cork The main selling points of cork flooring are natural cushion, sound reduction, and sustainability. However, it is susceptible to scratches, dents, and moisture damage. Laminate Laminate is meant to closely resemble hardwood flooring and is a close competitor to LVT, but it fails to match up with regard to water resistance. This may be a big problem in vacation spots where tenants often return from a swimming pool or a snowy slope. Hardwood Although beautiful, solid hardwood is one of the most expensive flooring options for rentals. It can absorb liquid, resulting in permanent warping and stains. Depending on the kind of wood and finish, solid hardwood may also be very easy to damage. Support animals and pets can be a real danger to solid hardwood flooring. Solid hardwood is also one of the worst options for sound reduction. Engineered hardwood is an alternative that still suffers from similar problems to solid hardwood, just less so. Bamboo Bamboo flooring is similar to solid hardwood flooring, but when made properly, it is generally more durable and water resistant. As sustainable flooring options go, bamboo is a decent one, but its vulnerability to moisture and scratches, poor sound reduction, and high cost make it less than ideal for short-term rentals. The Best Option LVT is the superior choice for short-term rental flooring. No other flooring comes close to providing the overall form and function that LVT does while still remaining affordable to install and replace. Your short-term rental investment will succeed if you make all your expenditures with this kind of care and consideration.

Asset Management

What Your Networking Strategy is Missing

Build Relationships with Trustworthy Suppliers for Operational Efficiency By Fred Harris Networking is quite the buzzword these days. You have probably watched the TED Talks, read the articles, and seen all the research and statistics. And you have experienced firsthand the value that connections make to support solid real estate portfolio investments. But what if your networking strategy is still missing something important, such as direct relationships with your building material suppliers? The challenges of the past few years have made this gap financially painful for many investors. Project delays, missed opportunities, frustrated tenants, and slow turns are not the hallmarks of growth for a portfolio. Partnering with a trustworthy supplier can ease and potentially eliminate these problems in the most challenging market conditions. But even more important than reduced costs, a strong relationship with a dependable supplier can have a meaningful impact on the ongoing increase in value for your investments. Here are some key points to consider: Negotiate Pricing Directly Times have changed, and new lines of communication have opened up. More than ever, manufacturers and suppliers are open to direct conversations. Previously, access was only given to contractors, installers, or developers. The agreements were guarded and exclusive. Now, suppliers are not just open to direct communication, but eager to establish good relationships. This opens up significant opportunities for real estate investors and asset managers. Leverage Your Buying Power You have a lot of leverage and buying power when you walk into a negotiation armed with information about the number of units and turn rates across your properties. That is not the time to hand over the reins to someone less experienced, knowledgeable, or persuasive. That is the time to send in your expert negotiator to secure the best deal for your building materials. Discover Your Actual Costs for Labor and Materials Recent years have seen an unprecedented fluctuation in costs across all categories, including labor and building materials. The constant change has increased the risk of blind spots and potential vulnerabilities when contracting with one company to provide both labor and materials. Markup is a standard practice and can be handled in a manner that is fair to both parties, but how do you really know if you are paying a fair price? You cannot know unless you negotiate the price directly with the supplier. Removing layers of obscurity provides valuable insights about your true costs, increases your ability to forecast, and helps protect you from being taken advantage of in a volatile economy. Protect Your Day-To-Day Operations Good relationships with building material suppliers also provide tremendous benefits for ongoing operations. Teams working on-site deserve a lot of credit for the complexities and frustrations they deal with through the maintenance requests and unit turnover process. When disruptions happen, it quickly becomes like a train of dominoes. How can a direct relationship with suppliers help with any of that? Consistent Materials Improve Efficiency Nothing burns time and money like trips to the hardware store. By working directly with suppliers, you can standardize the parts and materials used across properties. This may sound like a minor benefit, but it compounds and grows with time. Six months down the road, maintenance crews know exactly which parts they need, which tools to use, and have experience to do the work quickly. This should be in the top ten of things you do not want to hear: “Well the last time work was done in that unit they used a different type of [insert-building-material-here] which is a different size so our [insert-normal-part-here] does not fit and we have to special order the part or redo the whole thing.” Consistently sourcing materials from manufacturers provides efficiency in supply, storage, labor, and training. Consistent Materials Ensure Quality Roughly 30% of all traffic accidents occur during a lane change. These accidents happen between vehicles driving the same road in the same direction at similar speeds. That is a good analogy for the increase in risk when changing the source of building materials. Manufacturers use different standards, material quality and testing tolerances, so even products that look identical cannot be trusted to be identical in performance and quality. Luxury vinyl plank flooring is the fastest growing category in flooring and has caused a flood of many similar products into the market. Yet each is designed, engineered, and manufactured differently. You will experience an unpredictable range of issues if your units have flooring from different sources. Some products will expand and contract more than others. Some will last longer and can be preserved across multiple tenants. Some products will transfer more sound and annoy occupants of lower units. Consistent Materials Stabilize Operations Asset management is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get. That is true, unless you develop a solid relationship with building material suppliers that you can rely on to get the right products for your properties. Avoid the perfect storm of empty units, upset tenants, unpredictable products, and unreliable suppliers. Level Up Your Strategic Planning Negotiating pricing directly affects the bottom line. Consistent sourcing protects the day-to-day operations. Now you are set up to score real growth for the future. As you set your eyes on the horizon, make sure these additional elements are included in your supplier agreements. Predictable Timelines Do not make the mistake of only negotiating price. The best price on the market does not mean much when delivery will be four weeks too late. One major advantage of a direct relationship with the supplier is that you can work together to ensure project timelines include the appropriate lead time. An excellent supplier will also keep you in the loop for any timeframe changes. Secured Inventory There may not be a bigger travel-related frustration than arriving at the airport and discovering that the airline oversold your flight, and your spot is in jeopardy. Unreliable suppliers have no problem selling to others the stock reserved for you. That terrible approach to business forces you to delay

Buy & Hold

Make Your Flooring Go the Distance

Flooring Advice for Real Estate Investors By Fred Harris Statistics show that 95% of flooring issues experienced at an investment property can be traced back to improper installation and have nothing to do with the flooring materials. Manufacturing defects can occur, but most hard surface flooring materials available today should be expected to last 10 to 20 years and still look great. Carpet has an expected lifespan of approximately five years, even when installed and maintained properly. Hard surface flooring is the obvious choice, but how do you ensure it lasts for a decade or two in your investment property? Here are three pieces of the best flooring advice for all real estate investors: Do the moisture testing, do the subfloor preparation, and use trained installers. Do The Moisture Testing Today, waterproof flooring is the norm. However, people often accept the term without really understanding it. What does the term waterproof mean? In a lab, waterproof means that the material does not retain water and is not transformed by water. This makes the flooring incredibly resilient for the normal drips, splashes, and spills of a household or business. Waterproof does not mean that the flooring is immune to every type of liquid or chemical and a concrete subfloor is where this matters most. Concrete always has some level of moisture, and the levels change over time under various conditions. High levels of moisture in concrete make it likely that flooring will be exposed to moisture from below during the lifetime of the floor. When that happens, it is never pure water. Moisture coming up from the subfloor contains a harsh chemical balance that damages flooring materials or the adhesives used for installation. For this reason, there are international industry standards that require the same testing for humidity and pH before installing all types of flooring. In practice, moisture testing is rarely done. What may appear to be a good shortcut can easily turn into an expensive education of moisture related flooring failures. You should consider moisture testing and mitigation an essential part of your due diligence for any investment property. Do The Subfloor Preparation Doing a job well often requires a significant amount of preparation in advance. Professional painters will tell you not to be surprised when the prepping takes more time than the actual painting. Flooring installation is no different. The quality of a completed floor project is primarily determined by the condition of the subfloor beneath it. Preparation requirements vary depending on the type of subfloor and the type of flooring being installed, but there are four common elements across the board. Level And Flatten the Subfloor It always surprises rookie renovators that walls are not straight, rooms are not square, and floors are not flat. Even buildings constructed with great care by professional craftsmen will end up with some variation in every dimension. Each type of flooring available has well-established industry standards providing clear tolerances for how flat and level a subfloor must be and exceeding those tolerances will cause flooring problems in the future. Correcting an issue in the subfloor will require some time and effort, but it will always be less time and effort than the future flooring repairs that will arise. Thoroughly Clean the Workspace Things get dirty during a renovation project. Drywall dust is everywhere and there seems to be an endless supply of wood pieces, cardboard, and rocks and dirt. The electrical wire droppings of the fast-moving electrician are well known and documented. Cleaning up is a dirty job, but even small pieces of debris left on the subfloor can easily become big expenses down the road. Over time, those pieces of debris will compromise the materials and begin to telegraph through to the finished floor. The unsightliness and visible bumps or cracks that develop are just one part of the problem. The debris left behind puts additional stress on the flooring joints, which can cause physical damage and become a liability to you as the owner. Bottom line: a good broom and shop vacuum can provide an excellent value for ensuring a good flooring installation that lives up to its promises of longevity. Protect Against Moisture with A Moisture Barrier The downfall of even the best moisture testing is that it cannot foretell the future. Unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and other environmental factors cause moisture levels to ebb and flow throughout the lifetime of a building. The smart move is to install a moisture barrier regardless of the current test results. Adding an extra few cents per square foot in advance can protect against huge losses down the line. Use Trained Installers When you want a flooring project done right, do it yourself, if you are a professional flooring installer with the appropriate level of training and tools required for the job. Unfortunately, general contractors and even professional installers are not always properly trained to install flooring. Ask questions to verify credentials and experience with the specific products being installed. One clip system is not the same as all the others. Different adhesives have varying cure times and application techniques. Some primers and adhesives should never be used together. And techniques used to speed up installation can end up compromising the integrity of the entire floor. For example, using fans to dry primer or adhesive is a common technique, yet it is such a bad idea. Every manufacturer provides the guidelines you need to know for their products. Great suppliers will provide training and consultation for free or at a minimal cost. Get the details right and avoid expensive repairs, claims, and legal costs. Hard Surface Flooring Is the Smart Choice You want your long-term investments to provide great returns and increase in value. Sometimes that requires a little extra investment upfront to reduce expenses and protect your assets in the long run. Do not put yourself in the situation where you must redo the flooring in 4 years because of a problem that could have been avoided from the

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