SW Virginia Claytor Lake Rentals

[Jordan Dzubak]

Hey I know this is a pretty specialized and local topic so hopefully you all have some keyword alerts haha. But I'm in Christiansburg/ Blacksburg VA area and am just exploring the area. Are there any Claytor Lake rental owners on here? Do you get a decent rental pool? I'd love to have some lakefront property there but want to supplement the mortgage with some rental income. I don't think I'll be able to make too much money off of it, but want to get an idea of what I'd be getting myself into, I'm in the research phase. Are there other strategic locations where we draw some of the Charlotte population for STRs? I don't know where people like to get cabins or lake homes to rent here or if that's even a thing.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Jordan Dzubak, so a quick look on VRBO showed quite a few rentals on the lake.

The average nightly rates is highly variable but that is dependent on size and location of course.

What you can do is drill down on VRBO and AirBNB to see what is out there. Decide what you can afford and want as rental and go from there. See what others in your specified setup are doing. What is their nightly rate, occupancy and amenities.

That will go a long way to answering some questions.

Check out - https://www.awning.com/airbnb-estimator

That tool is similar to AirDNA for basic lookback on the area as far as occupancy and revenue goes.

[Jordan Dzubak]

Thanks Michael, those are the tools I'm using, just hoping to talk to a real person in the situation. It has such a small town feel that I just don't know what's really going on with rentals there. I was going to stay a couple nights with my family there over fall break and the nightly rates seem really crazy, between $300 and $900 for a typical rental house. So I don't know if people are living in those homes and will take advantage of a random booking or if people are actually paying those rates.

[T.J. Beckett]

Hey Jordan, 

We own Blue Ridge Escapes which own and manages several short term rentals around Claytor Lake and the Blacksburg area.  Give us a shout and we can help you out with an analysis. You can reach out to us at brescapes.com!

[Jeremy Hart]

@Jordan Dzubak we played with the idea of getting something at the Lake a few years ago, but ultimately never pulled the trigger in large part because so many neighborhoods were modifying their C&Rs to prohibit short-term. 

Haven't looked in a while, but a good friend @T.J. Beckett runs Blue Ridge Escapes, and could easily help clarify things for you. Also owns property at the lake, so he's the expert there for you!

[Jordan Dzubak]

@T.J. Beckett thanks a ton, I'll reach out to pick your brain a bit.