Playing with the idea of Buying a second home in CDA

[Alan Asriants]

Hello BP Community! I have been recently playing with the idea of purchasing a second home/vacation home near the mountains and have really gravitated towards CDA and other IDAHO areas. I like the idea of it being a very Red state, nature activities all year round and I think that areas like this are scare and will continue to appreciate if they continue to keep their beauty and policies. 

My goal is to have a property where I can put 5-20% down, and be able to airbnb it to cover a decent chunk of the mortgage payment and be able to visiting a couple months of the year.

If anyone has any experience with this I would greatly appreciate to connect with someone!

Thank you

[Sarah Kensinger]

I'm sure you know it's a very seasonal area but if you're willing to do extended monthly stays during the off season that may help you cash flow better. It is beautiful there but from our research if you go further south towards McCall the area is better known nationwide.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Alan Asriants. Our lake house is in Harrison, ID about 36 miles downlake from CdA.

We are in a very seasonal area like @Sarah Kensinger said. You have to plan accordingly in order to make things work. Prices are very high so I am not sure how well you can do in our area these days.

McCall is nice, but prices are also very high and it is a bit limited on access in the winter. It really depends.

I guess I would need to get an idea of how much you want to spend and what your expectations are.

I have a good agent in the north end of the state that can be helpful. I actually put her together with a guest from Boise to find them a new place.

[Alan Asriants]

@Michael Baum I guess I am looking for an area that is better suited all year round. Ski in the winter, hike/bike in the summer/warmer months. 

This way I can float the house on STR for the times I am not there and enjoy a very outdoorsy place all year round.

The deal doesn't have to be killer, if I need to pay a couple hundred bucks per month I will be ok with that

[Michael Baum]

That will limit the areas you could choose. Up near Sandpoint you can get some of that. Skiing is close (depending) plus the lake (Pend Orielle).

Your budget should be around 1m give or take. 

[Cody Fenske]

Hey fellas, sorry for getting in here late. This is my main market so I wanted to throw out a few things... Primarily @Alan Asriants, I'd encourage you to look at Kellogg, Idaho. It has Silver Mountain Resort which sounds perfect for what you are wanting. I have seen a huge uptick in activity out there and represented 2 buyers in Kellogg this last month alone, which is unusually high for that area. The area is known for not just it's skiing but also for mountain biking, an awesome year-long waterpark, and trail riding (ATVs/UTVs but also bicycles. Look up The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes which brings people from all over the country). Coeur d'Alene River runs through there too which is well known for it's fly fishing, which also brings quite a lot of tourism. The financials are really strong on most of those places year round with summer oftentimes even out-performing winter. Considering that the prices are still WAY lower than CDA, it may be perfect for you. There was an old superfund in the 80s to clean up metal contaminants in the soil from the old mining activity, so maybe check into that if. Don't eat the dirt and you should be just fine though haha. I'm thinking about buying one of the resort condos after going deep into the financials with my client last month. I always knew it was good, but I checked into them on almost every condo that was active and I was impressed that even after the resort took their massive 50% cut to manage everything, the owners were still often grossing over 2k many months for a 250k condo. Pretty great stuff. If you want higher returns, they are definitely possible. Reach out if you want to know more, but since you are happy with a few hundred, that's what I'd do. Also, you probably want to stay away from Sandpoint. It is our most liberal area in North Idaho. Also, it is more seasonal than Kellogg.

[Cody Fenske]

Forgot to mention, if you have your heart set on CDA, you can still get returns of a few hundred a month even on LTR. STR you'll generally get more though despite the low months. Let me know if you want and I'll send you some that can cashflow immediately. The budget required would be more like 350-400k ideally.

[Alan Asriants]

Quote from @Cody Fenske:

Forgot to mention, if you have your heart set on CDA, you can still get returns of a few hundred a month even on LTR. STR you'll generally get more though despite the low months. Let me know if you want and I'll send you some that can cashflow immediately. The budget required would be more like 350-400k ideally.

 THank you Cody for the insight. I just sent you a message

[Jessie Russell]

Hello! I am happy to connect with you on your quest, I own a property management company in Coeur D'alene. I also regularly underwrite properties for investment potential (aka cashflow!) and work on a team that specifically helps people with their investments/strategies on all levels. I also regularly come across off market sellers and my team member owns a STR management company, so I direct all STR underwriting to them as they are the experts on performing/non performing properties for STR strategies and then identifying options. Thanks : )

[Dado Vucak]

Hey @Alan Asriants I own one STR in CDA. It is quite seasonal as others have mentioned but it shouldn't be something that deters you from the market.

Here's a glance at the performance of my one property. I've had list listed on Airbnb and Vrbo since Jan. 2023 - I've been very happy with the performance thus far.

Also worth noting - I'm just a few blocks away from the hospital - I'm sure these numbers would look much better if I was in the heart of downtown. 

Property details: 4 bed, 3 bath, sleeps 10