Southern VT Vacation Rental?

[Tim Racho]

My wife and I are considering making a 3-BR, single-family home in Lower Vermont our first real estate venture. Currently renting in CT, we are considering doing this as a long-term investment that we could stay in a once or twice a year. Looking to be roughly 15-20 min. in between some of the more popular mountains. I've been running numbers, checking AirBnB, VRBO for rental prices, digging on Trulia for as much info as possible, but still trying to answer these questions:

• Has anyone had any success or failure stories with a similar asset?
• For investment purposes, is renting in this area considered more volatile or safe compared to other vacation areas?
• Is there a typical vacancy rate for a property in this area (i.e. only rents 60% of days per year)
• What are some general pitfalls to watch out for in this area?
• Are there any considerations to appreciation/depreciation for properties in the area?
• What would the average time on the market be if I decide to sell it?
• For people who are doing this: How much time do you spend scheduling and securing renters?
• Have any alternative suggestions for investing?

Yes, we understand this is a huge risk, but still vetting the options if it would be a profitable investment short and long-term. If anyone has done this with single or multi-family, any insight would be great. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to the responses!

[Al Williamson]

I'll take a stab. 

Plan for no short term rental bookings for the first month. 

If you go the STR route, stop thinking about vacancies from a traditional landlord perspective. Start asking " how long will it take to net the same amount I would if I operated as a traditional landlord".

Regarding appreciation/depreciation anywhere: just plan on loan pay down if you're the buy and hold type. If you're speculating, then you must do your own homework for yourself. No short cuts. 

Regarding success stories: I have been successful operating monthly rentals using Airbnb/vrbo to fill it. And I those I teach have been successful with STR in rural, urban, and touristy locations no matter if faced with unfriendly city ordinances or not. It does take a good strategy to operate without a lot of hassle.