Marietta, GA · Member since 2013 · 53 posts · 4 votes
Hi there, and thanks to all who take the time to read my post. I recently moved to Marietta, GA and I'm just getting my feet wet in the Cobb County/Atlanta market.
I'm curious to hear from those who have experience in vacation rentals through sites like Airbnb, Homeaway.com, etc. Or from anyone else who is researching short term/ vacation rentals for themselves.
Have you found much success with them? How do they compare to the traditional buy and hold, long-term real estate investments? Are the vacation rentals/short term rentals considered to be riskier?
I'm really trying to learn as much as I can before investing in my first property. I'd be honored to assist someone in the Cobb County/Atlanta area with their real estate business needs as well to learn as much as I can while adding value to someone else. I'm truly a sponge right now.
I'll admit, I haven't nailed down my investment strategy quite yet, so I'm exploring the many options available. But any helpful information that can be offered would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Welcome. You have already set yourself up for success by joining BiggerPockets!! This is really the premier place to start learning about RE and what it can do for you! I personally haven't dealt with rentals (like youre describing) but I'm sure others here have !!
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I am not a vacation rental investor, but since no one has chimed in, I will share what I have learned when researching vacation rentals.
I would imagine that vacation rentals are not "riskier" as long as you know what to look for in the market and what factors impact the market. You can use sites like AirBnB to determine the going rates for rentals as well as vacancy rates. Once you are able to determine your expenses (average nightly rent, vacancy, association fee's, maintenance, taxes, etc...) you can then determine the right purchase price for it to cash flow.
I would think that when investing in vacation rentals you need to research the market extensively. You would need to know what properties do well year round or when to expect increased or decreased traffic. You would need to know your target clientele (are the local, national, or international). As an example, Hawaii is highly targeted location because people visit from all over the world and weather is stable year round.
Hopefully that gives you a high level overview until someone with more expertise can respond.
Investor · Suwanee, GA · Member since 2015 · 127 posts · 34 votes
10y
One more thing. You may want to check out
Afford Anything Blog as I think there may be some information specific to Atlanta vacation rentals you can use. Also, I believe that @Monika Haebich has some experience with vacation rentals in Atlanta.
Investor · Kailua Kona, HI · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 4 votes
10y
Hey Casey. Regarding Airbnb and homeaway or "VRBO". They are actually great. Here in Hawaii there are many people using those sites with great success. VRBO allows people to book far in advance and will clear the dates people reserve so there's no double booking. great for forecasting future income. I'm not too familiar with Airbnb in that sense of booking far in advance but they are great and reliable as well. One thing I like about vacation rentals in comparison to long term rentals. The guests are renting short term for their vacation so they don't make much of an impact on your property, other than some minor cleaning. Couple other things to keep in mind when running vacation rentals. You need to clean, re-stock and prep your place after every departure for the next guests. It's a lot of work, especially if you're renting a big place you should Hire a good VR cleaning company. Those costs are usually added to the renters fee when booking. Hope that helps a bit, good luck on you ventures
Marietta, GA · Member since 2013 · 53 posts · 4 votes
10y
Thanks @Maxwell Hunter. I'll definitely be spending the next few months analyzing the Atlanta vacation rental market, and the expenses to run it. Thanks for the link to the Afford Anything Blog as well. I appreciate your input!
Thanks for the Hawaii Vacation rental post, @Mark Guagliardo. There are definitely some points that I'll consider when looking for a vacation rental in Atlanta.
Marietta, GA · Member since 2013 · 53 posts · 4 votes
10y
Hi @TJ Urban. I've been looking into some property management companies that specialize in short term/vacation rentals and they seem pretty reasonable for the most part. I'll probably begin with doing the property management myself, and then transition into using a professional company. Especially since you mentioned it's a lot of work to maintain.
Investor · Kailua Kona, HI · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 4 votes
10y
Casey, that's a great idea. What better way to learn the ropes than by doing it yourself. Shouldn't be difficult at all, especially since you have BP here to ask questions anytime