From Colorado - Looking for Coastal STR

Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 8 posts · 0 votes

6y

Hey! I live on the Oregon coast in Rockaway Beach. I am a broker here and have a property I Airbnb. Can I help you in any way?

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Marie Hill

Realtor · Broomfield · Member since 2019 · 12 posts · 9 votes

6y

@Matthew Weidinger I am a Realtor in San Clemente. One of the most affordable beach communities in Southern California. I am here to help!

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JJ P.

Real Estate Agent · San DIego · Member since 2019 · 177 posts · 185 votes

6y

Well, you've got a couple of people to contact and get input about San Clemente and Coastal Oregon. Those are also the areas I'm familiar with. I'll talk more about ideas since the others didn't.

So Cal-- SUPER STRONG appreciation. High price point entry. What's your budget? San Clemente is great area and less expensive than many areas to the north of it (Newport Beach through Malibu). San Diego is cheaper generally and Oceanside is very cheap. There's lots of direct, inexpensive flights from Denver to SNA or SAN. That would make it easier to get to from Denver, if that's where you're flying from. There's lots of competition for vacation rentals, but the market is strong and demand is high. Expect greater demand if you've got an ocean view, and even more if you can walk or bike to the beach. Ocean front has the highest demand. Summer time is usually booked out, winter rentals are more sporadic.

Coastal Oregon-- beautiful and runs less than half price from So Cal. Sometimes, if you're looking down near the California state line along the Southern Coast, the entry price is more like 25-30% of what it would cost in So Cal. Oceanfront/bayfront/lakefront/riverfront is possible. Huge panoramic views of river, bay or ocean are there to be had. Why is it cheap? Because that southern coast is hard to get to! There are no easy ways to access the very northern coast of California (The Lost Coast) or southern Oregon. It's a long drive from pretty much anywhere. We opted for Coos County due to affordability and proximity to an airport that has flights from two hubs (SFO & DEN). As a general rule of thumb- The closer to Portland you get, the pricier the real estate becomes. The more remote areas would have less of a VRBO draw off season, but Portland would be more year-round. It's easy to fly to PDX from anywhere in the world.

Florida- I would think it would be very easy to find a beach location to buy that's affordable. Much of the construction is newer and there is lots to chose from. However, I'd never buy a vacation home in a place I've never seen, and you shouldn't either. IMO, there's not much that interests me to see in Florida. If you are a boater, that would be different. I can't speak to the VRBO market, either. Usually when people are raving about how great an area is, it's saturated.

Myrtle Beach-- more activities in the area, lots of history. Some interesting looking older homes that vary in price. If you got an old duplex, you could claim one side and rent out the other, maybe throwing in a little sweat equity for a rehab. I think your families would enjoy exploring the area, if the travel time allows.

How about Texas or Louisiana? Very affordable options along the coast in both states. And they are half the distance from the East Coast from you, although I don't know much about the ease of getting flights to Louisiana. Texas obviously has huge airline hubs and lots of flights.

Don't forget that you can sell the house if it doesn't work out. So try it for a few years, then reassess.

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Andy EakesPro Member

Property Manager · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 205 posts · 162 votes

6y

@Matthew W. Sounds like you've done your homework!

All of those places sound like great spots for STR. I can only speak for So Cal though. I know people bash it for being so expensive and all, but its like that for a reason. So Cal is so popular and has tremendous value. Even through COVID, our tourism remains super high! You can get top dollar with Air BNB and you dont have many of the other risks involved. Oregon has seem so much bad press lately, I'd be curious to see what their tourism is like right now. Another thing you need to consider is weather. All of the places you mentioned besides So Cal have periods of bad weather. And you have the threat of hurricanes in the South East. Many people will say there are earthquake threats in CA, but in my 26 years of living here, I have experienced 2 very mild earthquakes.

So I would always go So Cal no matter what. You also get amazing appreciation too. I bought my home in February and had it appraised recently. The value has already gone up $100,000. And I don't even live near the beach.

Good Luck!

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Dan H.Pro Member

Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes

6y

Originally posted by @Matthew W.:

Hello! We love our home state of Colorado, but we're eyeballing the ambitious project of acquiring our first real estate property as a family vacation home which can successfully operate as a short-term vacation rental when not in use by us. My wife and I would like a bit of ocean breeze and fresh seafood in our lives, but we want to be smart about how we pursue it...

I'm aware that we need to do a lot of number-crunching, local contact development, and research into local STR regulations, but we're actually struggling with the broader question of -= WHICH MARKET? =- Input is welcome... we are flexible as to condo/townhouse or SFR.

Oregon is a quick flight from Colorado and in general, a good hub for our relatives to gather as a kind of family reunion spot. However, I've seen a lot of posts here and elsewhere which suggest that its shorter summer season makes a coastal Oregonian rental property struggle to get year-round revenue. Although we want a place convenient for us, we don't want to ignore the financial calculus, as this is meant to be a profitable springboard to more real estate investments..

Hilton Head Island and Myrtle Beach are interesting as beach destinations which don't typically receive hurricane activity, but do get considerable tourist traffic. HHI seems more ritzy and hostile to STRs, while Myrtle seems more receptive to them if perhaps less glamorous than HHI.

Florida.... I have never visited Florida and have really no idea how to invest here. The prospect of doing so is intimidating, but blogs and articles re: vacation rentals overwhelming support the profitability of Florida. If Florida is really a vacation rental gold mine, we'd consider it, but the plane flight is starting to get pretty long with kids. Also, hurricanes seem to whack it every 5 minutes.

California - REI blogs and forums seem to strongly disfavor this, presumably because of the high property purchase price and already-high presence of retail hotel/motel chains, and competition keeps avg daily prices modest... San Clemente caught my eye when visiting as a slightly cheaper SoCal area to buy property, but I am not sure if California is even worth investigating heavily because of the aforementioned concerns...

If you think there is another beachfront market we're completely missing or one that is likely to boom in the coming years, please chime in.. :)

We have two STRs in San Diego. I believe you have missed the risks. It is not low rent. Pre-Covid we averaged $16K/month rent ($8K/unit) basically a block from the beach.

The risk is regulations.

A few years ago San Diego council passed a resolution banning STRs. A signature petition was started to put the item on the ballot. The council reverted the regulation. All we would seem to be good, but statewide there is also a movement to ban STRs. A couple years ago there was a ballot initiative to eliminate a rent control limitation (I think it was called Contra Harris, but something close to that). The pro-rent control ordinance lost at the ballot. but less than 2 years later the CA legislation passed a rent control bill. This shows that the state legislation has ignored the constituents recently. So it may not matter if most people are for STRs (I am not saying most people are for STRs, it seems to be split but that it does not always matter what most people want). The realities is that CA STRs are at risk of being eliminated at any time. BTW the San Diego STR legislation that never went into effect resulted in a 10% decline in value to our STRs. I am confident it would have been greater if the regulation had actually gone into effect.

When Covid hit, STR occupancy was banned in the city. We lost ~$60K in lost rents. Granted this is hopefully a once in lifetime event. However, other areas in the country did not ban all STR rentals. I personally think the ban was the safe approach, but a similar event has to be noted a risk item.

If you buy in CA, be sure you have a plan other than STR. The plan could be LTR or it could be selling immediately if STRs get banned (before prices fall significantly).

Good luck

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Denise H.

Member since 2018 · 40 posts · 21 votes

5y

I know this thread is a little old but thought I would chime in on San Clemente. I live here and it's great but I would be very cautious trying to purchase a STR here. The residents have been really pressuring the city to outlaw them completely, as it is the area where they are allowed is pretty small and would be pretty pricey. Here is a map:

https://sanclementeca.maps.arc...

I feel like Oceanside might be worth looking into. Coastal, between San Diego and LA, so much to do within an easy drive.

Good luck!

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From Colorado - Looking for Coastal STR - Oregon Florida SC Cali

From Colorado - Looking for Coastal STR - Oregon Florida SC Cali

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