Investor · Londonderry, VT · Member since 2024 · 5 posts · 0 votes
Hello! Our long term goal (one of them) is a 10+ acre, single family, multi-bedroom house/cabin with room for expansion in central-northern Vermont within 30 minutes of skiing to be used as a family vacation home along with STR. We want to begin the journey this year but will likely have ~40k for a down payment. More than anything, monthly payments cause us concern. We don't want to end up with a monthly payment that we couldn't handle if there were long periods of time without renters. We have no previous experience with renting of any kind.
Question: would it be advisable to start with a studio or 1br condo that's within 15 minutes of the slopes, on which we could make monthly payments if we had to and build equity and then trade up in a few years orgo right for what we want now and be prepared to work like heck to book it year round? The price difference seems to roughly be 200k vs 500k based on what I've looked at.
What do you do if all of a sudden you can't swing your monthly payments?
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
2y
Hey @Benjamin Frank, well, for the last question, you get foreclosed on. Pretty simple really.
Starting small is a fine way to go. I would look at a more modest SFH vs a condo. Start looking around the ski areas, but my gut says that you are looking at more than 200k for something like that.
Why 10 acres? Why not 2? You don't need 10 acres to have a nice STR. There are some cool stuff you can do with 10 acres, but frankly a nice 1 or 2 acres will be just as nice for guests at a much lower cost.
Distance to stuff to do is key. When you start looking at large plots like 10 acres, you end up being farther away from skiing, shopping, entertainment etc.
So I would start near the ski areas and work your way out. I think you might be in for 500k being 10 minutes from the ski areas.
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
2y
Hey @Benjamin Frank, well, for the last question, you get foreclosed on. Pretty simple really.
Starting small is a fine way to go. I would look at a more modest SFH vs a condo. Start looking around the ski areas, but my gut says that you are looking at more than 200k for something like that.
Why 10 acres? Why not 2? You don't need 10 acres to have a nice STR. There are some cool stuff you can do with 10 acres, but frankly a nice 1 or 2 acres will be just as nice for guests at a much lower cost.
Distance to stuff to do is key. When you start looking at large plots like 10 acres, you end up being farther away from skiing, shopping, entertainment etc.
So I would start near the ski areas and work your way out. I think you might be in for 500k being 10 minutes from the ski areas.
Hey @Benjamin Frank, well, for the last question, you get foreclosed on. Pretty simple really.
Starting small is a fine way to go. I would look at a more modest SFH vs a condo. Start looking around the ski areas, but my gut says that you are looking at more than 200k for something like that.
Why 10 acres? Why not 2? You don't need 10 acres to have a nice STR. There are some cool stuff you can do with 10 acres, but frankly a nice 1 or 2 acres will be just as nice for guests at a much lower cost.
Distance to stuff to do is key. When you start looking at large plots like 10 acres, you end up being farther away from skiing, shopping, entertainment etc.
So I would start near the ski areas and work your way out. I think you might be in for 500k being 10 minutes from the ski areas.
Thank you. Ultimately, what I'm after is a family vacation home on 10 acres, I believe str is the path as opposed to just working and saving. If I read your reply correctly, starting with what we can comfortably afford at low risk now is the way to go.
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
2y
Yes, I am a calculated risk taker, I don't just dive in and hope for the best @Benjamin Frank.
The only thing is once that is up and running and making a profit, will you want to sell it? Would you have to sell it to buy something on the jump if it pops up?
It is always a roll of the dice when you start at one place and try to fulfill a plan.
Real Estate Consultant · OH · Member since 2023 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
2y
What do the numbers say? Have you run numbers on a condo to see if it would bring a profit, or the property 30 minutes away to see if that would be a good place for a STR?
What do the numbers say? Have you run numbers on a condo to see if it would bring a profit, or the property 30 minutes away to see if that would be a good place for a STR?
I'm building my comparison spreadsheet now to evaluate exactly this.
What do the numbers say? Have you run numbers on a condo to see if it would bring a profit, or the property 30 minutes away to see if that would be a good place for a STR?
I'm building my comparison spreadsheet now to evaluate exactly this.
Great! I'd love to hear what you find out and then maybe give you a couple thoughts about your question.