Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 76 posts · 22 votes
I am a small real estate investor in Florida and I really only invest in small multifamily and single family homes. I am thinking about buy a vacation rental and I am wondering if anyone has had any success with vacation rentals. My dream is to profit from it but use it for personal time during slow seasons. Any thoughts or experiences would be very helpful!
Real Estate Broker · Aberdeen, WA · Member since 2015 · 101 posts · 74 votes
10y
In my experience, people that genuinely profit from vacation rentals are people that buy exceptionally smartly (truly unique location, and property, expertly designed for that vacation rental market in that area) and do not cut off their cashflow by using it themselves during peak times (or worse, giving it to generally unappreciative family members) and understand that regular reinvestment in new furniture, dishware, and maintenance is not optional.
Teacher, Business owner · Port Isabel, TX · Member since 2015 · 26 posts · 7 votes
10y
Only speaking by my exp. I live in a small resort area and I have a small 1 br condo. Bought it at a low price so fixed it up and hoping to sell it but in the mean time, I am doing short term vacation rental. Because it is a condo, I dont want to hassle with all the other condo owners, tenets and onsite management, so I let a management company take care of the unit to field all the complaints. I am breaking even because I am in competition with about 800 other similar units all trying to do the same thing.
I also have a house that will sleep 24 persons. I am doing well because I am doing the mgt myself and using airbnb, vrbo and flipkey. Not that my opinion is very valuable to you since you are in a different area, but to those where I live, 1. do you own management and 2. dont go into competition with 800 other similar units unless you are going to offer something different or unique.
Real Estate Broker · Aberdeen, WA · Member since 2015 · 101 posts · 74 votes
10y
In my experience, people that genuinely profit from vacation rentals are people that buy exceptionally smartly (truly unique location, and property, expertly designed for that vacation rental market in that area) and do not cut off their cashflow by using it themselves during peak times (or worse, giving it to generally unappreciative family members) and understand that regular reinvestment in new furniture, dishware, and maintenance is not optional.
Real Estate Professional · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 279 posts · 109 votes
10y
Hi Aaron,
I'm not a property manager, but I work with hundreds of investors who profit primarily from vacation rentals.
Some words of advice:
Really look into the numbers! Consider everything from occupancy taxes to marketing costs to maintenance to cleaning, and get a good idea of typical occupancy rates in the area. This calculator includes some industry averages and may help.
If you're looking to self-manage the home, be aware of how time consuming it will actually be. Owners spend on average 8 hours self-managing their vacation home, so know whether or not you'll have the bandwidth to successfully manage the home.
Use smart technology to automate the home. You'll have better control of your utilities even when other people are there, and it'll vastly ease up your involvement in the home.
Look into doing outright rentals. I work for a marketplace where professional managers buy up owner weeks, which gives owners guaranteed income and removes all the risk of self-managing, and we have over 400 management companies that make offers like these. If you're thinking of working with a PM in your area, 1. I'd be happy to see if we have demand. 2. Even if you don't want to go through a marketplace where you'd get a competitively-derived offer, ask the PM you plan on working with if they do outright rentals. It's a little-known solution, and there might be significantly more upside for you there.
Best of luck! And please let me know if you have any questions! :) Always happy to talk about vacation rentals.