How should I approach this off market potential vacation rental?

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@Orion Walker It sounds like you are smitten with the property, which is not a good reason to buy. How would it cash flow? And do you expect appreciation. (I don't invest for appreciation, but I also don't live in an area that is ripe for it.)If the price isn't great, the terms need to be. In other words, it would need to be owner financed with little down.But why not just manage it for them? You'll get some valuable experience and have no risk.

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One thought that came to mind is that someone fairly well off might be ripe for the owner financing model much as you mentioned. It saves them a large gain they might have if they sell it. Really though what you need is a sit down on what they are looking to get out of the deal. The pros and cons for them will help you structure the best situation for both of you. Are they really interested in an income stream? Do they still want to use the house or are they looking to move on to something different? You might come armed with some numbers on rental prices vacation vs. longterm for the area. property management costs etc. Since it sounds like now they are weighing selling versus keeping as a rental and they are looking for you to provide perspective and insight on whether it would work.

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I love when I'm responding to one post and then after I post I see that a few more posts have come in :)@J. Martin and @Colleen F., thanks for your comments. I definitely will need to learn more about their priorities. When I talked to them a while back they mentioned that they just don't get over there much to use the place. I think the idea of a deal where they could continue to use the place occasionally might appeal to them. I definitely need to see what information I can gather to make decent vacation rental projections. Time to hop on VRBO and look for some similar places and see if I can access the calendars to see how full they are etc. Also time to talk to local vacation manager folks. I've never negotiated an owner financed deal or a master lease deal, so I'm a little uncertain on what kind of numbers/terms to suggest. Any suggestions?Thanks!

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@Orion Walker ,First, what is their main goal of getting this off their hands?Secondly, what would they do with the money if they sold? (asked..?)Would they prefer to keep the property if they could just get a steady stream of cash flow today? Do they want some cash for another project? Whatever's the best deal..? How about working it a different creative way to get a good deal..? If you're going to operate it as a vacation rental, maybe try offering them a few weeks each year (what they're using it for already maybe) in exchange for better terms or price..? @Larry T. has another good low-risk suggestion to manage it for them. That could be one way to ease into the buy/owner finance.. A medium-risk solution in between these two would be to give them a fixed rent for the place (whether that be relative to covering their costs so they have a free vacation home, or making money on it..), then you do all the vacation operations and make $XXXX/mo? You live and die by your own sword and they get the comfort of a monthly check.. Essentially a master lease.But I like the idea of a seller finance deal if they're willing to do it low money down, or consider the lease option..

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@Evan R. thanks for looking at the numbers. Kind of leaves a question mark in best strategy in that average price at average occupancy would be $1500mnth which is maybe just a tad over what most sfr's would rent for long term. Seems like might have to go on a micro/individual basis to decide if a particular property would make sense long term or short term. I'm sure there some over performers and some under performers. I'll look at some comps based on my knowledge of the area and see how they look compared to these average numbers. Also, any experience in seeing different numbers between airbnb and vrbo?

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Looking just at the 42 Fort Bragg listings, the average price per night is $155.55, and the vacancy rate is 70%, which is better than the rest of the coast.

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oh, wait, fort ross is south so I guess that's the right region. That's a pretty large area though, I'd be inclined to just look at fort Bragg. Interesting though, empty 75% of the time eh, Ill have to see how that compares to a few nearby comps. Thanks!

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@Evan R. Thanks but the property is in fort Bragg the area you mentioned is quite a ways farther north.

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@Orion Walker I looked on airbnb along the coast between Fort Ross to Fortuna. There are 186 listings. Across all the listings, the average price per night is $189.78, and the vacancy rate is 75%, which is very high. Breaking down the listings by bedroom, it doesn't look much better for either 3/2, or 2/1.

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I dont have much to ad with the creative options that hasn't already been covered above. But my family is also selling a home on the Mendocino Coast also I'm assuming this is the area you are talking about there's is about 30-40 minutes south of Ft. Brag in Manchester. And the real easte market there is much softer and slower to turn than any populated area i think they have had it on the MLS for 3 months or so.