Newbie Investor - STR in the Poconos

[Mike Dolan]

Hi BP - I'm a 26 year old newbie investor looking to purchase my first STR property in the Poconos. More specifically looking at Lake Harmony Estates. Been doing a lot of research online and doing my own analysis, but wanted to hear from people who have experience in the area. My criteria is 3-4BR, 2BA less than $550K. Planning on doing a 10% vacation loan and splitting it 50/50 with my father.

In order to break even, we’ll need to have it booked about 50% of the time. Looking on AirDNA and other websites, and seeing the average occupancy for the area is about 60% for properties in my criteria. Is this a reasonable occupancy rate? Was also looking through old forums, and saw people mentioning you’d be lucky to get 20-25% occupancy, and wanted to see if this has changed?

Please let me know what your experience has been and if there are any other areas I should be looking at. Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

[Scott K.]

You're trying to buy at an all time high like you said. Housing prices are up 30 to 50 percent in last year or two alone. I really can't recommend it for someone new. If your numbers are running that close to breaking even, I'd strongly suggest you try something else. That sounds like LTR property if it's that bad. You should be able to crush it in an STR, it's a lot of work so if you aren't making a big profit why would you work for that?

Are you aware that the Township is drafting an ordinance that may make STRs banned? You should do some research and see what the local regulatory climate is like in different townships. Lots of lake Naomi residents are pissed off at STRs and are fighting it. 

Seems like you've got some work to do, I'd suggest slowing down and doing more investigation.