Short Term Rental Help - Lake County IL

[Shane Huckstadt]

I am looking for some assistance in both buying and managing a short term rental in Lake County, IL, preferably in Grayslake, Gurnee, Libertyville, Waukegan or Vernon Hills.  I assume I'll be trying to get traffic from either Six Flags Great America traffic or Navy Graduation families.

My main reason for purchasing in this area is to have a vacation home for myself. I am originally from the area and still have family here, and therefore want to be here during the summer (in the winter, no thank you!). I would like to rent it out short term for the rest of the year.  I am mainly looking to cover my costs of ownership, but since I'm in the real estate investment business at home in Florida, long term appreciation and general cash flow would be great too!

So if anyone has great contacts/recommendations for management of a short term rental in this area, please send them my way. Or if any realtors have opinions or knowledge of specific neighborhoods they'd say to avoid because of STR unfriendly-ness, please let me know.

Thanks in advance folks!

[Doug Anderson]

Are you looking at fully furnishing the home? That might be the best option for short term rentals. However, some towns do not allow for rentals less than 30 days (Vernon Hills, Mundelein and I believe Libertyville). Also be prepared to have to sit thru a 6 hour landlord course if you want to rent in Mundelein or Round Lake Beach. I have a rental in Gurnee and another one in Grayslake and both have been great rentals. There are always military families looking in those towns. I don't know about short term though, we usually rent them out for 2-3 year leases at a time as that is normally their orders to be at Great Lakes.