Any experience owning a rental vacation home?

[mr. tegu]

Curious if anyone has had a vacation home that was rented out or any other experience with it. Is it worth it? One issue I’m unsure about when it comes to cost and logistics is general maintenance and turning it over between renters. I know companies are out there just for that but really unsure how much they would cost.

I want to get a condo in Estes Park so this would definitely be property focusing on vacationers as opposed to long term rentals as far as I can tell.

I’d be happy if it just paid for itself but I do think it could make a little profit but that really is dependent on all the extra costs associated with me not being near by and just general costs like utilities. Those things add up quickly.

[loochy]

I think it's pretty easy going if you just hire a property management company to come clean, repair, take care of booking, etc. Just provide the up front investment.



I've never owned one, but I've stayed in tons. For the price we've paid per night and we've seen the generally full availability schedule for most of them, these things have to be raking in a massive profit. For example, the small two bedroom condo we stayed in in Colorado was $350 per night and the schedule was booked back to back to back for that entire month, at least. That's a LOT of income and surely enough to pay what needs to be paid.

[BWillie]

Rent it out when you arent there.

[Shoes]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Rent it out when you arent there.

Holy shit BWillie, are you a real estate mogul? You're just giving out life changing advice for free?

The strategy of renting out his rental vacation home when he isn't there is the most profound piece of information I've ever heard. If you could let me know when your next seminar is, I'd love to partake.

[htismaqe]

If you're going to have an out-of-state rental, you definitely want a good property manager so you don't have to handle shit yourself.

I don't have a vacation rental but I do have a rental property. Job 1 is finding quality renters that won't wreck your shit. #2 is making sure you have someone to cover all the piddly shit that your renter will want fixed - drip here, light switch there. If you're really lucky, #1 and #2 are the same person but in your case, getting a property manager is the better call because you won't have long-term renters I would assume.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by loochy

I think it's pretty easy going if you just hire a property management company to come clean, repair, take care of booking, etc. Just provide the up front investment.



I've never owned one, but I've stayed in tons. For the price we've paid per night and we've seen the generally full availability schedule for most of them, these things have to be raking in a massive profit. For example, the small two bedroom condo we stayed in in Colorado was $350 per night and the schedule was booked back to back to back for that entire month, at least. That's a LOT of income and surely enough to pay what needs to be paid.

We’ve stayed in a lot as well which is where I first started thinking it could be a good investment. The idea of having a place to go whenever is great as well of course.

Obviously I will need to figure out monthly costs beyond mortgage/taxes in the specific location though as that will determine if it’s best to put down as little down payment as possible or if more is better.

From what I’ve seen it seems like 60% occupancy throughout the year is sort of a conservative estimate to work off but I’m guessing it’s higher in Estes as there aren’t many high density hotel options.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Shoes

Holy shit BWillie, are you a real estate mogul? You're just giving out life changing advice for free?

The strategy of renting out his rental vacation home when he isn't there is the most profound piece of information I've ever heard. If you could let me know when your next seminar is, I'd love to partake.

Im sure sorry for talking

Step 1. Do not have children
Step 2. Do not get married.
Step 3. Sell all rental properties
Step 4. Cash in crypto
Step 5. Hookers and blow.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

If you're going to have an out-of-state rental, you definitely want a good property manager so you don't have to handle shit yourself.

I don't have a vacation rental but I do have a rental property. Job 1 is finding quality renters that won't wreck your shit. #2 is making sure you have someone to cover all the piddly shit that your renter will want fixed - drip here, light switch there. If you're really lucky, #1 and #2 are the same person but in your case, getting a property manager is the better call because you won't have long-term renters I would assume.

Yeah from what I can tell I won’t actually have to deal with customers if I don’t want which is a nice feature. The places I’m looking at are managed communities and when you rent these units you do it through the company so you don’t actually talk to owners or have access to them. Added benefit is your property appears more professional. At this stage I have no idea what they can or would do for minor fixes here and there but it’s definitely something I’d want to ask.

[Bearcat]

IIRC, when I've researched it before, management companies for longer term leases were something like 5-10% of rent... not sure about shorter term or if that's gone up over time.

It's probably not enough to worry about though, since it seems like people pass that onto their renters, given the ridiculous cleaning fees on AirBnb/vrbo these days (and I assume they use them for higher profits depending on how much those services take off the top and take from the fees).

Ideally, you could find someone who would be handyman/cleaner as a side gig for cheap, but there are probably companies that you can research for Estes Park, too. And I'd check out existing AirBnbs/vrbos in the area to see how booked they are right now.

[MIAdragon]

It’s typical 20ish percent for a quality management company and worth every penny. I have several. It’s not all roses and sunshine though, I’m dealing with 3 that are currently underwater….

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by MIAdragon

It’s typical 20ish percent for a quality management company and worth every penny. I have several. It’s not all roses and sunshine though, I’m dealing with 3 that are currently underwater….

Dang that sucks about those properties. Florida is actually a place we had thought about doing this in but I don’t know about that anymore. These are vacation rentals? That 20% is 20% of what amount and what do they do? Basically everything?

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Rent it out when you arent there.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

We’ve stayed in a lot as well which is where I first started thinking it could be a good investment. The idea of having a place to go whenever is great as well of course.

Obviously I will need to figure out monthly costs beyond mortgage/taxes in the specific location though as that will determine if it’s best to put down as little down payment as possible or if more is better.

From what I’ve seen it seems like 60% occupancy throughout the year is sort of a conservative estimate to work off but I’m guessing it’s higher in Estes as there aren’t many high density hotel options.

Estes is a ghost town a lot of the year, so take that into consideration.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Estes is a ghost town a lot of the year, so take that into consideration.

It’s definitely lower after Christmas but I’ve seen yearly rates consistently around 70% for Estes specifically but yeah it’s definitely something I’d need information on for a specific unit which I assume will be provided.