STR in Sun Valley, Idaho

[Melvin M.]

Hello,

Looking for words of advice, experience and any help for direction on possibly doing a STR with my aunts house in Sun Valley. Lots of unknowns right now, but I want to just hear from experienced investors and those in that market who can aid some words of advice or warnings to consider. Thank you

[Mike Smith]

@Melvin M. I ride eMTBs in the Sun Valley area at least once a year. I love the area. I've also owned a STR in McCall. I feel that Sun Valley suffers from the same problem as McCall:

1.  Great occupancy in the summer time, good occupancy in the winter, and very poor occupancy in the shoulder seasons of March-June and September-November.  I've never owned in Sun Valley and only visit in the summer, so I'm only speculating that is has similar occupancy to McCall.

2. The home prices in McCall and Sun Valley have been driven to astronomical levels.  If you are paying 750k to 1.5m for a home, it had better command very high average nightly rents and also a high occupancy.

Fun fact : I have a friend of a friend who cleaned STRs in Sun Valley. He was decently well off so it seemed like a weird job for him. Turns out, it's quite common in the Sun Valley areas for STR renters to purchase brand new entire ski gear (jackets,pants,skis,boots) for the entire family and just leave it in the rental when they left. They wanted to purchase new gear when they arrived the next year, and didn't want to bother with the hassle of lugging it all home. He said he made more off of the ski gear than he did cleaning...