BiggerPockets

Hey there everyone...

just floating an idea and or seeing if anyone has rentals in Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead CA. as a rental income property and how well it works or does not work for them.

I'd like to look at a fixer in this area to just see how the seasonal income potential would be for this.

so if anyone has some experience in these two areas, might I pick your noodle a bit?

Thank you Steve for the reply, I think I am going to start looking in the area. There and also Wrightwood. just something simple to see if there is a future there, if not, I'll keep it for me as a small vacation place when needed from my Los Angeles Rat Race Chase get away.

I've been doing some on-line calculations against various other cabin rental places and I think with the right approach and decent down payment, the ski season would cover most if not all the mortgage payments.

We'll see after I do some more numbers and research.

Big Bear is one of my favorite weekend getaways and go to the cabin quite often. I too have done some extensive research as far as buying to flip and buying to rent there.
For flipping, there are far too few buyers so your hold time could be too long. For buy and hold, the management fees are too high for this to make a cash flow positive siuation. With the right purchase, you could potentially cover a large majority of your mortgage, taxes, insuarnce, but you would still be cash negative. The only benefit to this strategy is the long term approach in "hoping" for appreciation as well as a vacation home for yourself to enjoy.

Management fees run 30% + costs and the winter months are 3-4 at best. Summer is almost dead with the exception of holiday weekends like Labor Day, 4th, etc.

The best bet in my opinion is to get a beat up cabin and rehab it on the Sugar Loaf side. This will offer yoru best bang for your buck and in prime months, you can get premiums for the rental.

Thank you P NW and Nationwidepi,

as a matter of fact, Sugarloaf as well as Fawnskin are on the list for me to start looking into. I am really looking at a total fixer upper unit as it would be a rental.

Im actually driving up to the area this morning to take a look around the areas, see how far they are from any ski areas as well as just get a general feel for the area.

This property might end up being both personal getaway as well as rental when not in use by me.

Couple of other things to think about? Big Bear is still on water rationing due to drought. Water shares go with land. Also, you really need to know the type of Snow Bunny's renter you want to attract. Great deals in Sugar Loaf, but considered to be the arm pit of Big Bear City. Find prop. in Big Bear Lake area. Close to the slopes and close to the lake. Rentals there are all year round. I know the area well after 30yrs.

I got into the Big Bear vacation rental market by accident. We owned a second mortgage on a home heading to foreclosure...first lender (Countrywide) gave us a modification plan that would not require payments for 8 months. So from Nov 07 to July 08 we were basically given a free trial.

Couple of points:
1. Self managing is pretty easy to do and you will get a much higher occupany rate than using one of the companies. The numbers they quoted me would have had me dumping this property. Post on CL and VRBO.
2. For our property, Moonridge, we book pretty solid fromThanksving to end of Feb. Summer months we rent longer term to Palm Springs couples escaping the heat.
3. You have to view it as a home that you want to keep for personal reasons...and use when available. Because although one year it paid for itself, another year we had to throw in a little bit. So there are definitely better ROIs out there. But when you factor in the joy a 2 and a 5 year old gets from Big Bear...for me it tips the scale.

When we move back to Orange County, one of the first things we want to do is to buy something in Big Bear or Arrowhead. If it makes money, fine, but my first priority is to have a retreat to go to at least once a month. Moving back to OC from the Rocky Mountains is going to cause me to miss my mountains tremendously. If it cost me a grand a month to have that home, it's cheaper than a psychiatrist!

I went and looked at the property and again as much as I want it after looking at the numbers...I figure either I'm not wealthy enough to buy the property because there is no financing for anything under $60k or again not wealthy enough because I can't make an all cash offer for the unit and I refuse to do a personal loan for the property. Renting the unit would not cover the repayment of the loan and I'd have to come out of the pocket.

Hello there investors,

I have a lovely and upgraded 2 unit property in the woodsy area of Big Bear City. It is not on the MLS but I am thinking of listing it. It has been a personal vacation home for my family however it is two units each have 2BR 1BA. I know a very good property manager whom I am working with to rent out the units. Feel free to contact me if you are intesrested in purchasing. I will be happy to tell you more about the property.