Lake Hopatcong, NJ vacation rental experience

[Nicolas Boesch]

Hi,

I'm looking at a property at Lake Hopatcong, NJ (Jefferson, NJ) directly at a Lake for short term vacation rental and the occasional own use. Does anybody have experience with vacation rentals in that area? The season is not very long, but I still think there is potential with lake front property at the largest lake in NJ. 

Any feedback is appreciated.

[Angela Crewther]

Having just sold my lakefront property on lake Hopatcong I can tell you this... I rented the home several times over the last few years. Rents have been coming under pressure a lot and what you need to cover your costs for a year are fast becoming more than what you will see in income. You need to remember things like most homes in the area are well water, septic, have sump pumps. Therefore consider what you will need to do for winterization if you don’t have it rented. Electric will most likely need to stay on consistently.  
it may sound like an opportunity to get some great $ on STR but in my experience anyway, I received more demands for lakefront STR at a ridiculous amount (I'm talking half of what is normally anticipated) than I did in getting anything that was near the rents we used to see five years ago.