New to BP from Cape Cod

[Aja A.]

Hello All, I'm so excited as I stumbled upon BiggerPockets and I'm addicted. My spouse and I live in Cape Cod, MA. I've always been interested in real estate investing but had a bad experience in 2007 when the  market flopped after I purchased my first home which was a "fixer-upper" outside of Boston. Luckily, I was able to rent the single-family residence for a small monthly profit, so I became a landlord by necessity. So far so good on that...This year we purchased our next home, which is our primary residence on the Cape.

We both work 9-5 jobs but recently, I've been contemplating getting back in to real estate investing so we can transition out of our full-time jobs to pursue other interests and to gain more financial freedom. This site is exactly what I needed. I've got a lot of reading and learning to do....but I'm thankful for the resource and hope that I too can contribute in the near future.

As I work on plan I am interested in another SFR or a vacation rental in my area. Any thoughts appreciated....

Take care,

Aja

[Mike Fitzgibbons]

"...to max out rents, you need important selling points in a Cape Cod summer rental, like central A/C, an outdoor shower, and location (South of 28, close to beaches for south shore seekers) that gives us the ability to charge premium weekly rates ($2,350/week). We had our place rented out for 8 weeks this past summer which covered and exceeded our annual PITI and expenses."

Totally agree with this. For "South of 28" rental properties, I would focus on West Dennis or Dennisport. Such popular areas and some of the lowest taxes on the Cape (only Chatham and Orleans have lower taxes than Dennis).

Disclosure: I live in West Dennis and love it!