Advice for buying 2nd vacation rental property

[Travis Eckert]

Over the past 15 months, I have fallen in love with the Vacation Rental business. We stumbled into it by purchasing a second home as an investment. I had heard about people renting their second homes to help cover some of the carrying cost. I figured if I could cover even half of the carrying cost, I'd be thrilled. Our property is in the mountains of Sapphire, NC and our brand is Once Upon a Stream. 

In our first full 12 months, we grossed about $50k and our carrying cost is about $20k per year. My Cash on Cash return was more than 20%. So needless to say, I'm ready to do it again and again and build a portfolio of vacation rentals.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to fund the #2 property and also, where should I go next? I'm assuming I'll need 20% to put down but that may be a challenge. It will also be challenging to satisfy traditional lending guideines around debt to income restrictions and other such guidelines. I also would prefer to purchase the 2nd property through an LLC (for liability protection) but I'm not sure how you do that without any business credit?

Anyone have advice for me or a good story to tell about your experience in a similar situation?

Thank you!