Short term rental in new market

[Brendan Moehn]

I am wondering what people's experiences are on starting a STR in a somewhat new market.

Specifically, I am looking at a house in Montgomery, IL. It is a beautiful house with walkout basement into a gorgeous backyard and <1 block walk to get to the river. Plenty of room for hosting in the backyard/patio as well. The unit would be the walkout basement and my family would live in the rest of the house. 

There are plenty of rentals in Aurora, Naperville, and a couple in Oswego but none specifically in Montgomery that I can find.

There are a couple of hotels in the area, which shows there is at least some demand for stay in the area.

What are people's thoughts/experiences on this? Thanks in advance for any input.