That is what I did too back in 2003 when I hired @BuySellBA to buy 2 units for me in Soho. From the first meeting he was very clear what he would do. He didn't promise me any ROI and the first thing he said was I can't promise you anything but he opened his books and showed me their rentals and I also stayed in some of their properties to see.Yes, it’s pretty much all due to @earlyretirement- I just let him make all the decisions and manage everything. His secrets formula is to buy really high quality furnishings, electronics, 1Gbps WiFi and most importantly- mattresses. I think one of the biggest complaints from guests staying at other, cheaper Airbnb’s is that most of them cheap out on the mattresses and get rock hard ones. You’ve got to list all those benefits in the description- I’ve noticed that most of my guests are well seasoned travelers that I believe, know exactly what to look for when selecting a good Airbnb and are willing to pay for quality.
I was originally going to cash out of this house to possibly fund a bigger one, Mike had a client interested at around $300k but ended up taking it off the market since the cash flow was so good. Then I had 2 offers (I think for the same person) several months apart for $340K.
But the property that I ended up buying was sight unseen. I didn't even know the areas too well and back then Recoleta was THE place to buy. But he told me why he thought it would be a strong investment and I liked the fact he owned so many properties in BA. In fact, in the building where I bought my 2 units - Palermo Uno, Mike bought 4 units himself which I loved.
I also trusted him to furnish it how he thought. It was expensive compared to the US but prices have come down. TV's were about $1,500 back then. They are probably at least half that now with the reduced taxes. I spent over $2,200 USD for my mattress.
That is so neat. Was this your first property purchase in BA @ravingnomad? What made you decide to buy when you did? You had great timing. I contacted him when I saw he jumped back in Buenos Aires real estate in 2023. On his advice I sold one of my 2 apartments in 2017 which turned out to be amazing timing. He sent me the units in your building and I regret not jumping back in. For the price of your 2 bedroom I sold a 37 m2 studio.Yes! So I actually met him 15 years ago outside of the Buenos Aires space when he first moved here to San Diego and we’ve been good friends ever since- the only reason why I’ve even bothered to invest with him was I got a detailed behind the scenes look for over a decade at his successes- basically I got to see how the sausage was made😂. In fact, it was me that approached him about investing, not the other way around!
I come down to San Diego every now and again. I will have to ask him to arrange a lunch meet up @ravingnomad. It is good to see that people are having success just following the same formula as 20+ years ago in BA.