Do Joshua Tree Short Term Rentals Actually Make Money?

[Rohin Dhar]

From afar, It's been wild seeing the price of homes in Joshua Tree absolutely skyrocket in the last few months. Homes are selling for 2-3X their prices in 2019. I started monitoring the area at the end of 2020 and it feels like the prices have doubled since then in about a quarter.

I'm curious for folks with properties there if it's a great market or if it's super competitive and hard to cashflow at today's prices? I remember pre-pandemic people mentioning it was pretty crowded already and hard to standout. That said, the prices still seem reasonable if the market has decent occupancy and pricing year round.

Also, is there any risk of the regulatory hammer coming down on the market from the county or locals? Almost every California city eventually makes running STRs pretty challenging if local residents or second home owners complain about them. La Quinta, Cathedral City, Palm Springs etc have made STRs pretty challenging to varying degrees.