Vacation rental on northern MN recreational lakes.

[Brandon Capelle]

Vacation rental wisdom wanted! 

I'm considering purchasing a cabin on a popular chain of lakes in the Baxter/Brainerd/Crosslake area of Minnesota and holding it as a short term vacation rental. If anyone has experience doing this in the area I'd love to hear your feedback on how it's going. 

[Andy Schornack]

I have seen it work well, but primarily when the rental is on a lake with strong demand. The variability in rents and the limited buyers on an exit make it a less attractive investment opportunity in my opinion.  I would argue a better investment is a duplex in Minneapolis metro where you have longer rental contracts, larger potential exit opportunities, and likely a more stable market price for the building.