The STR Client

Welcome to the STR Property Selection course from STR HUB. Twelve lessons, one every two days, each teaching a specific skill for serving short-term-rental investor clients. Unsubscribe anytime — but the agents who finish this tend to keep it.

Here is the uncomfortable truth this course is built on: your residential skills do not fully transfer to STR buyers. Not because you lack skill — because STR clients are buying a different product.

They buy spreadsheets, not bedrooms

A family buyer asks: schools, commute, kitchen, feel. An STR investor asks: projected ADR, occupancy, revenue per bedroom, permit status, HOA rental language, insurance cost. The house is just the container for a cash-flow model. When you show an STR buyer a property, you are really showing them a projection — and they will judge you on whether your projection survives contact with reality.

Your comp skills don't transfer directly

Residential comps price a property against similar sales. STR analysis prices a property against similar listings' revenue — ADR, occupancy, seasonality, amenity premiums. A house can be underpriced as a home and overpriced as an STR, or the reverse. Learning to read both numbers is the core skill of this course.

Why bother? The math on the client, not just the deal

• Investors are repeat buyers. A happy STR client often buys a second and third property within a few years.
• Investors refer other investors. STR communities talk constantly, and "who's your agent?" is a standard question.
• Almost no agents in most markets can speak this language. The bar is low; the demand is real.

Go deeper on the gap between a regular agent and an STR-fluent one: STR Agent vs. Regular Realtor.

ACTION: Write down the last investor inquiry you received and what you couldn't answer. This course will fill those gaps one by one.

Next lesson: the bedroom math — why the 4-bedroom that sleeps ten usually beats the cute 2-bedroom, and when it doesn't.