STR near Zion National park

[Brandon Bonfiglio]

Hi, I'm looking to invest in a town close to Zion national park. I live in NY full time but have no problem commuting back and forth as the area is my favorite and I work remotely. I've been looking at Springdale, Hurricane, St.George, Virgin, and other surrounding areas. From what I can see the area seems profitable and looks like it's appreciating rapidly . Would this area be a place for cash flow potential on an STR? What is the months that are typically busy for tourists in this area? Any information would be super useful! Thanks

[Ryan Moyer]

If you want to do it above board you will find it very difficult.  

STRs are banned in Rockville.  

In Springdale you have to be zoned commercially rather than residential and there is currently no commercial land for sale (and on the rare occasion it pops up, it is very expensive).  

Hurricane has a waiting list for permits that they anticipate to take longer than a decade to get to the top of if you were to place your name on there today.

St George only allows nightly rentals in developments pre-approved for nightly rentals AND you are required to use whatever property manager is assigned to that development.  You cannot self manage or choose your own management company.  Given their monopoly on the development PM rates start at 30% and go up from there.

I haven't looked into Virgin so that may be doable but I'd imagine if they didn't have stipulations as difficult as the rest of these spots then there would be a lot more of them there.

In our extensive time in the area (we live just outside of SLC) it has been described to us as a great place to buy if you're looking for a vacation home to use yourself that you can supplement some of the costs in by renting out.  It's not really a place to look if you're looking for cash flow.  Possible I'm sure, but you're going to really have to knock it out of the park.