Virgin Islands Vacation rentals. British or Us

[Shane Vince]

Hey everybody I'm interested in purchasing a home or condo in St Martin / st barts / st croix / st Thomas and renting it out as a vacation rental. Not sure which is easiest or better. Anyone with any experience / success in the Virgin Islands ? Is vrbo and airbnb best? Or use a realtor etc? Would love to discuss anyone with experience or any re attorneys down there etc. Best

[Jeff Wagner]

@Chris Seveney

There certainly are single family or condos that cover expenses.  I just found some financials of a house that I analyzed a few years back.  Expenses were ~$90K/yr and rental income $120-$130K/yr.  Home value is likely $1.4M.  The high season rate is $4500/week and low is $3100/week.  The owners did a great job of minimizing expenses and handling the bookings themselves, thus cutting out some of the steep PM fees. However, those rough numbers represent a 3% cash on cash return and if you finance it wont even cash flow as the debt service will be $80K/yr. 

Not to say that there arent profitable investments in the VI, they are just difficult to find.