Vacant land - Short term rental to build

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Vacant land - Short term rental to build

Christian Mathieu
Montreal, Québec · Member since 2017 · 1 post · 0 votes

Hi everyone,

We are in the process of buying a beautiful land on a river and close to the ocean (East side of Canada), 500 000 + square feet. It's a part of the country with lots of mountains, great for hikers, awesome for skiers and a soul refresher for nature lovers. The idea is to build a small house to use as a short time rental. Something durable but light and simple to keep the focus on the moutains :) 

We are in a stange place as a society, tourism lost is freshness and speed but we are confident that some people will soon want to have the opporunity to sit, walk and relax in a place like this one we have in our heads.

And if this project hatches and lives well, we would like to build the same type of "house" on another land that as the same type of criteria, beauty, calm, nature and some tourism.

You toughts would be appreciated, have you any ideas on this topic (building short term rentals)?

Thank you :)

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Michael BaumPro Member
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
6y
You could maybe build something like this:

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  • John UnderwoodPro Member
    Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
    6y

    Have you ran the numbers?

    Cost to build, plus land, operating expenses, cost to furnish.

    Then Daily rate and occupancy of similar properties.

    See if it looks profitable or not.

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  • Michael BaumPro Member
    Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y

    Hey @Christian Mathieu, that is about 114 acres which is a ton of land. Are you limited to only one place? What is it close to? @John Underwood hit the nail on the head about running those numbers.

    With that much space, it would be easy to put 2 or 3 places on it without encroaching on each other.

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  • Jonathan Balos
    Member since 2019 · 13 posts · 3 votes
    6y

    Have you considered buying instead of building? Buying a trailer, tiny home etc..

     Would be much more efficient way of scaling this on same land and future land purchases.

    0Reply
  • Paul Sandhu
    Investor · The worst town to live in, KS · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    6y

    You could even put a modular home there for probably a lot less than building one.  How's the hunting there for waterfowl and big game?  A few months ago there were several of us that went to Argentina for 4 days of dove hunting. I went through 2650 shotgun shells.

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  • Michael BaumPro Member
    Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y
    You could maybe build something like this:

    1Reply
  • Sara Abernethy
    Investor · Hummelstown, PA · Member since 2016 · 70 posts · 28 votes
    6y

    I was totally going to say tiny home, but others beat me to it:) Putting a tiny home on there gets you nearly automatic revenue - the septic + well + pad would only take you a few weeks if you line up the players or find someone who is all in one. Then you purchase the tiny home and have it delivered - this gets you started with income coming in right away. At that point, you can take a step back and figure out what you want - do you want to subdivide? Do you want a tiny home compound? Multiple vacation homes? Get VERY VERY familiar with the zoning laws and any other laws that pertain to that property (for some reason the environmental health department is all up in my business - it's not straightforward whose opinion matters and it takes time to work out). STR is a really sticky thing and it's continually changing (look at what happened in NYC!).

    Don't get discouraged about tourism - my cabins in the Finger Lakes NY have been slammed since the moment I opened. I have 4 nights left to book across 4 listings across the entire summer. Tourism will come back, especially if you're a driving destination. 

    @Michael Baum I'm obsessed with that silo house and if you know anyone in NY state who would be able to build me one of those, please do let me know :) 

    1Reply
  • Michael BaumPro Member
    Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y

    Hey @Sara Abernethy, A.N. Martin is one of the largest silo and grain handling companies in the NE. Located in Clyde NY. I would start there. They won't be able to help you with anything other than the silo itself. You will have to find a contractor for that.

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  • Charles Cooper
    Real Estate Broker · San Pedro, CA · Member since 2016 · 206 posts · 89 votes
    6y

    That's an awesome silo for vacation rental.

    0Reply
  • Melissa Wesling
    Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2020 · 148 posts · 97 votes
    6y

    We are also starting the process of subdividing a lot (much, much smaller lot than you!) to build two STRs.  We already have 2 STRs in the town, so we feel we know our market pretty well, which is a confidence boost when taking the risk.  Just make sure it makes sense for profitability.  I have a free proforma tool I like to use when analyzing short term vacation rental income and expenses.  I'd be happy to share it with you if you want to message me! 

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