Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 52 posts · 27 votes
I'm looking at purchasing a property in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego with detached granny flat that seems like a great opportunity to use as a vacation rental. I've looked into these units on AirBNB and VRBO, and the numbers look pretty good. The property is walkable to tons of great bars, restaurants, shops. Does anyone have direct experience with a vacation rental on their primary residence property? I would love to here your tips and tricks, as well as how the property has been performing financially.
Rental Property Investor · Prairie Village, KS · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
9y
@Michael Conway I think this is a great idea! Just make sure you collect taxes for the City and get a City of SD biz license, it's not more than 80 a year. I think you could profit very well from this! Vacation rentals (that are booked) might be the only way to have instant cash flow in SD. Certainly pursue this and keep us posted. I really like this idea but the cost of entry is so high so I've decided to try it in Mammoth Lakes first. There you can short-term rent condos without a problem.
@Keeya WangJones I also like this idea but watch out for condos and short term rentals. Many condos have banned this in their CCRs and others will soon follow suit. I know a lot of condos near the beach have restrictions where you can only rent for more than 30 days. For this reason I like Michael's idea with a granny flat or a multi-family where you own all the units. Just my two cents!
Real Estate Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 69 posts · 53 votes
9y
I have a friend we sold a house to in North Park that has a granny flat that is being used as an AirBNB. I don't really ask about their financial business but from what they've told me, it pays a good portion of their mortgage.
Prices in north park are ridiculous so you'd have to find one that pencils out to your liking. I don't know your financial situation or budget but there are other areas in SD that are up and coming that you may want to consider as well. I've been offered properties with granny flats or to build one but my main focus is flipping.
Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2014 · 36 posts · 13 votes
9y
A friend of mine has AirBNB room in North Park and is always booked 3 to 6 months out. I don't know her exact numbers but she rents slightly below market for AirBNB
Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
9y
I have not house hacked a short-term rental but my family has 2 short-term rentals. I can say that for the family's short-term rentals I would not choose to live on-site. However I should maybe have prefaced this with the family's unit are in Mission Beach on perhaps the top party street in a party area.
So maybe you will not experience the same type of items (like converting the small yard into giant mud wrestling pit).
I am glad to not be living on the same property. North Park may be different.
Hi Michael Conway ,
I know the property your talking about. :) My agent spoke with the owner. He said he has $30k worth of guest reserves setup for next year. So that's good! I didn't take it because it is a bit too rich for my blood at the moment. There is a long term customer that keeps coming back to the property. I'm thinking of doing Airbnb near the beaches as solely investment. Like a small condo.
I didn't find out too much about North Park property except that the back unit is more spacious than the front unit. And to get to the back you have to go through the front. You will need to build a separate entrance.
Cheers!
Real Estate Investor · Rancho Santa Fe , CA · Member since 2016 · 323 posts · 107 votes
9y
I havent done what you intended to do but I have consulted a few family offices, that been purchasing Airbnb in other areas in SD, but North park I was always exited about that area, one of the areas of San Diego I have look at great deals just havent jump on any in NP personally. But Vacation rentals will only get better, even with the new laws coming, wont affect you in that project.
Rental Property Investor · Prairie Village, KS · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
9y
@Michael Conway I think this is a great idea! Just make sure you collect taxes for the City and get a City of SD biz license, it's not more than 80 a year. I think you could profit very well from this! Vacation rentals (that are booked) might be the only way to have instant cash flow in SD. Certainly pursue this and keep us posted. I really like this idea but the cost of entry is so high so I've decided to try it in Mammoth Lakes first. There you can short-term rent condos without a problem.
@Keeya WangJones I also like this idea but watch out for condos and short term rentals. Many condos have banned this in their CCRs and others will soon follow suit. I know a lot of condos near the beach have restrictions where you can only rent for more than 30 days. For this reason I like Michael's idea with a granny flat or a multi-family where you own all the units. Just my two cents!
Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2014 · 17 posts · 5 votes
9y
@Michael Conway I think this could be a great way to house hack in an expensive market like North Park. My wife and I own a 2/1 in North Park near Mckinley Elementary and we rented it part time during 2016. It's our primary residence so we would intentionally only book 1-2 weekends per month and then go crash at my parents' house whenever we had guests. We had no problem booking as many stays as we wanted at about $250/night. We did about $12000 last year with little effort (other than the hassle of cleaning and moving out for the weekend). However, we recently deactivated our listing as we're expecting our first baby soon :)
I think a home with a granny flat would be ideal.
Honestly, I'm tempted to move into an apartment so that we can rent our house out full time, but I don't think I could convince my wife on that one haha.
Regarding @Lee Ripma's comment about taxes, the nice thing is that Airbnb handles collecting and paying the TOT on your behalf so no need to worry about that.
My only concern would be that San Diego is currently working on new regulations for short-term rentals and it's uncertain what those will be.
Let me know if you have any questions about our experience with Airbnb, happy to share!