First Property Purchase

[Joseph Korbel]

Hey guys!

I recently separated from the military and I am wanting to purchase my first home this year. My largest goal with the purchase is to house hack. I live in a rural city with a major tourist Summer scene. I've been eyeing properties in the area since well before I moved back, and after choosing what I believe would be the perfect one I ran into a pretty big hurdle. City ordinances prohibit short term vacation rentals. However there is a state law which says cities cannot prohibit short term rentals of 7 consecutive days or longer (does not state it has to be the same tenant the entire time) 

Obviously strictly renting my place out for 7 day periods or longer would severely impact my audience, even at a reduced rate. My second thought was to potentially list and rent the place out for whatever period the guests wanted. Then to contact them informing them that due to a city ordinance they are entitled to X additional days in the property (for no additional charge), however these days will be owner occupied.

Lastly, there is somebody successfully doing this in my city. There are 3 AirBnBs all managed by the same person. The one downtown is less than 6 properties away from the one I want to buy, and has been listed since April 2018 as far as I can tell. It generates $400-500 per night for short term rentals in the Summer and has an equal number of bedrooms to the property I'm looking at, and a similar setup. I've been trying to contact this owner for the last week without any success so far.

More details on property

$249,900

2,800sqft

4bds/3bath

constructed in 1910. New roof and windows 2015

Plumbing + electric updated 2008-2012

I will be using a VA loan w/ no money down. I have to live there 2 years at which point I would plan on moving on to my next unit.

I do not believe I would make money off of it as a long term rental, however it is virtually impossible to find numbers on that because there are almost 0 long term rental units available in the area. Everybody rents September-May for a discounted rate and then longer term Summer rentals at hiked rates.