Buying STR in Desert Hot Springs or surrounding desert areas

[Michelle Dee]

Hi BPs! We're thinking of buying a place in DHS or the surrounding area to turn into a STR. We're a family of 5 from NorCal with 3 kids under 10. We spent time in DHS and Cathedral City this year on 2 separate trips and stayed in Airbnbs with pools and it was heaven. We'd like to buy a place we can visit 2-3x a year and rent out when we're not there.

Here’s the rub. We would only have 3.5% to put down and it would be a stretch for us to cover the additional expenses and any money needed to ready a place to rent out. We could do it but it would be tight.

We’d be taking a huge chance doing this but are excited about taking a risk. How much risk is too much risk in your experience? We’d probably look to rent to families like ours, we want to make the space good for kids and families that just want a quiet vacation where they can spend most of their day at the house by the pool. 

Are there cities in the area that you would suggest we look into other than DHS? I’ve heard Cathedral City is challenging for Airbnbs although the one we stayed in was fantastic. Anything closer to Indio or Coachella, La Quinta? We haven’t visited those areas but we obviously would if we were thinking about buying. Really just wondering about people’s experience renting out their space and making enough money to cover a mortgage. We’re not concerned with making a lot of money, just want to own a place that we can use and build equity in. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have!