North Tacoma Short Term Rental during Covid-19

[Christian Pirotte]

Hey All,

I am looking to purchasing either a duplex or an SFR with an ADU in the North Tacoma area with a VA loan. I am planning on house hacking for about 6 months, moving out and then airbnb-ing the second unit/ADU as a separate unit. However, I am currently experiencing analysis paralysis and have missed several deals because I'm having trouble coming to terms with the risk--particularly the inflated Tacoma market and rental demand during COVID. I have analyzed data from Airdna for weeks at this point and I'm reasonably certain that a two unit airbnb in North Tacoma would produce a good return (although I imagine the data is skewed from COVID). However, I would love to hear from the BP community if anyone can see any major pitfalls or shortsightedness in this strategy.

Appreciate any input I can get!

CP

[Michael Haas]

@Christian Pirotte thank you for your service! North Tacoma is a great place to live, and the neighborhood around UPS is top notch. I lived there for 4 years and loved every minute of it. 

To @Michael Baum ‘s point- I think he's right about STR demand being weak in that area. Don't let the eviction moratorium scare you into STR's when they aren't the right play for the location and housing type. Within 7 blocks of UPS your highest and best use is going to be student rentals at $500-$600 a room, especially if you acquire a larger house or duplex. UPS just doesn't have enough year-round tourism traffic to make STR's profitable when you compare them to highly profitable student rentals.

As for location- you have a VA Loan Voucher, and the benefits of 0% down and no mortgage insurance or PMI far our way the downsides of investing in higher cost areas like Tacoma.

I’m happy to talk to you a little more about student rentals - I have clients with 14 of these in and around UPS and PLU and they’re extremely profitable.