Big Bear short term rental

[Adrian Provenza]

Hello everyone,

I live in downtown Los Angeles and I go up to Big Bear quite a bit. I know this subject has been mentioned here a while back before but I want to start something newer. 

I am looking into purchasing a 3 bedroom/2bathroom cabin in Big Bear and put it on Airbnb and/or VRBO. After my downpayment I am looking at a mortgage of $1700/month approx, plus tax and insurance maybe $2100. 

I plan on going up there about one weekend a month and rent out the rest of the time.

Anyone here have experience on this that may want to share with me? Is it profitable or break even? 

[Denise H.]

I have a STR in Lake Arrowhead that we purchased in October. The expenses that I didn't fully account for have been STR insurance (almost $400 per month due to extreme fire danger, regular homeowners insurance won't protect you), snow removal (about $200 per month December/January), clearing of lot required by county annually ($250), very high utilities (our Jan-March average for gas and electric this year was 402 per month). The upside has been that we have been rented all but one weekend and are at 100% occupancy for July and August. We do use a property manager who takes 30%, honestly couldn't handle all the day to day stuff ourselves, but when it is all said and done we make a very small profit. We love the property and are planning on it more as a second home for our retirement years and are happy it pays for itself in the mean time. Good luck to you!