Newbie Looking At Second Home/Short Term Rental Big Bear CA

[Cheska Bacaltos]

Hi everyone, new here. Title is the gist of it. Husband and I love snowboarding and have wanted to get a vacation home close to a ski resort that we can also rent out. We tried looking into Park City (we love the resort) but couldn't afford the down payment so have shifted our focus to Big Bear area. We've already set our sights on some 2 bed homes around the 300-350k price range. 

Our goal is long term investment, our family's enjoyment, and be able to cover as much of the mortgage payment as possible (we're not expecting to be cash positive... we'll be happy with short term rentals covering half the mortgage, really). 

Anyone here have experience with Big Bear CA (or Sugarloaf)? What does the rental market look like now? Utilities? And any tips with property management? We were thinking of hiring a property manager (like Vacasa/TurnkeyVR) even though the fees could be a bummer. OR any other winter towns with ski resorts worth investing in? (Ideally a ski resort that takes the ikon pass as we live in Los Angeles and would use that pass for Big Bear too)

Anything helps. Thanks!

[Kushaal Malde]

Hi Cheska, this is a great way to take advantage of a 2nd home loan-- 10% down and interest rates almost as good as a Primary. One caveat is the monthly payments would go against your DTI and you can't count rental income against it.