Short Term Rental Strategy

[Stacey Ocampo]

Hi guys! I recently acquired a short term rental in Big Bear, CA with a partner that closed in January and am now just starting to discuss this topic outside of my partner and circle since I don’t know where else to go.

When we ran numbers, call it rookie mistakes or unexpected events, but we got hit with a blizzard our first month and a half of knowing and the bottom floor got hit with a leak. It’s been a headache to say the least in getting the property ready because of what needs to get done. (I’m more so a “let’s get it done now and urgently”) type of gal, but my partner likes to wait. She’s conservative but I see her point of view because we have bled money (about $2k-$2.5k) each per month and it still hasn’t looked good for us.

It’s been managed and getting bookings, but it’s truly not enough as it’s slowed down tremendously. I’ve gotten 5 star reviews, but it’s not giving the even slightest of break evens.

I have a baby coming up in January and I am getting pure anxiety from owning this thing since I think I may have made a mistake, knowing this was a lot riskier, but calculated risk. I just may have miscalculated.

What would you do in this instance? Would you weather the storm and keep paying out of pocket or sell and move on?

My gut really wants to sell it, take my loss and move on to prevent any further long term losses.