Coastal Carolina STRs

[Jordan Dzubak]

It's been a while since I've been an active investor, mostly because prices where I'm located are a bit out of control (SLC area), but I'm looking to get back into things. My aging parents just recently moved to New Bern, NC for retirement. I had never really considered getting involved in any east coast investing but was out visiting them and had kind of a change of heart, especially with them being out there. I have some really general questions, most of my coastal rental experience is with the Oregon coast, which is super unfriendly where STRs are concerned. Ideally I'd love to get some condos or other small properties for STRs, marketing to coastal tourists. I've been looking specifically in the Morehead City to Emerald Isle area because it's what I'm familiar with, but wouldn't be opposed to getting down towards Wilmington as well. How friendly are the local cities to STRs in the area? I've seen a lot of condo listings with super high HOA fees, which I'm not opposed to paying as long as I can make it up with the rental income. A lot of those condo listings on the market say that they can take care of the VRBO/ AirBNB listings and manage the rental, but I'm a bit skeptical of that. I'm not really looking for crazy high cash flow, but I'm also not looking to lose money either. And I don't want to rely on my parents for anything about running the rental, so definitely need to connect with a local group to help run things. I guess I just want to start up a conversation with you experts in the area to see how viable things are, I'm just used to absolute insanity with real estate where I live, so its kind of tainted me a little.