Finding a Good Short Term Rental Deal

[Monica McCaskill]

I am new to real estate investing and I am reading "The Book on Rental Property Investing."  I am looking to find an investment property in my area, but the market in my area is very high at the moment. There are a few deals for beach front condos that need a little TLC. I am looking for advice on long term vs. short term rentals. To the people who have short term rentals: Is it typical to have cash flow each month from these properties, after the mortgage and expenses (including high HOAs due to beach front)? What vacancy rate do you use when evaluating these properties? 

[Lake Lutes]

Hey Monica! Congrats on taking the leap into real estate investing! Exciting stuff.

Short term vs long term investing have a number of key differences. Short term land-lording is more involved, and typically requires a little bit higher risk tolerance through dry months, higher insurance rates, etc. However - like everything - this doesn't apply in all scenarios. I am an investor friendly agent on Florida's Emerald coast from Pensacola to Destin to PCB, and 90% of the clients I deal with are after short term rentals. The cashflow is great out here.

For long term, there is usually a bit less involvement, but typically lower cashflow will follow in today's high rate, high appreciation market.

Let me know if you want to check out some short term rentals in Florida and I can run you through some numbers!