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Updated almost 5 years ago,
Buying property for vacation rental - good idea?
Hi everyone! Hope you all having an amazing start of the year!
I am a novice real estate investor (some experience overseas, but none in the US). I am looking to buy a rental property, and one strategy that i have in mind is to buy a vacation rental (most likely condo) in Miami and use turnkey management company to run it. My logic is two-prong: i want to use the property myself several weeks a year and save money that i would otherwise have spent anyway on airbnb, and the rest of the time have passive income.
With 300-400k cash available for investment, does this sound like a good idea? What are some specifics/pros/cons of investing into vacation rental property as opposed to regular rental? My thinking is that vacation rentals in Miami should always be in demand, even if the economy goes south. Is vacation rental a good idea for a novice or its better to start with regular rental?
Another alternative is to buy regular rental property (or several cheaper properties), and it breaks down into 2 options: buy where i live (Austin, TX) or wherever i can find a new deal. I know we had crazy appreciation here, but i am not sure how much further it could appreciate being that prices are outrageous already and economy might go into stagnation any time. Since prices are high, rental profitability doesn't seem good either. In case of buying in Austin i will still be using property management company since i work full-time, but at least i have better grasp of the market, and of course finding properties, as well as controlling management company would be so much easier locally.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on these alternatives!