A must-read for Vacation Rental investors

[Collin Hays]

There's been lots of sunshine pumping in recent years over how easy the money is with vacation rentals.  Manage your mountain chalet from the comfort of your lounge chair in Aruba with your handy smart phone, etc.   Reality has been setting in during the last year.  

Don't misunderstand me:  Real estate, and particularly vacation rentals, can be fantastic, and someday life-changing investments.  But when evaluating such, count the cost.  There's no free lunch.  

This article is worth your time:

‘Don’t screw up your life with an Airbnb’: Dave Ramsey didn’t mince words when this North Carolina woman floated the idea of refinancing her home to buy a vacation rental — here’s why (msn.com)

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Collin Hays:

There's been lots of sunshine pumping in recent years over how easy the money is with vacation rentals.  Manage your mountain chalet from the comfort of your lounge chair in Aruba with your handy smart phone, etc.   Reality has been setting in during the last year.  

Don't misunderstand me:  Real estate, and particularly vacation rentals, can be fantastic, and someday life-changing investments.  But when evaluating such, count the cost.  There's no free lunch.  

This article is worth your time:

‘Don’t screw up your life with an Airbnb’: Dave Ramsey didn’t mince words when this North Carolina woman floated the idea of refinancing her home to buy a vacation rental — here’s why (msn.com)

Wow. DR is wrong on so many fronts in that article I don't even know where to begin. Most of your STR tenants don't "destroy your property", even though some of course may and there's always that potential. "Buying cheap houses in the bad end of town" for LTRs is a very good way, however, of actually going broke unless you have a lot of skill and patience renting out Class C or below housing. And how many landlords are standing on the stoop collecting rent payments any more?

That said, being cautious with STRs is certainly good advice. You can get in a lot of trouble real fast if you don't have enough reserves to maintain your house and can't withstand economical downturns. And right now with housing prices high it's not real easy to find good cash-flowing rentals, short or long term.

DR is like riding a bike with training wheels. They keep you from falling but prevent you from progressing.