gotchas in Oregon coast for short-term rentals

[Robert Smith]

I'm looking into getting a vacation/short-term rental property on the Oregon coast. Currently looking at Coos Bay, but also open to other suggestions.

My main question is what gotchas are there to consider for an out-of-state investor? What is the stuff that's obvious to locals but which I might miss? I've already heard that some places are putting restrictions on short-term rentals, so that's one to check for sure. What else? Any specific maintenance items that might not be expected? Legal issues? Difficulty with banks or lending? Other?

[Dane Fitch]

I own 7 vacation rentals between Lincoln City and Rockaway Beach. You do need to understand what is drawing your crowd to the specific city and yes it's very seasonal so expect Dec - February to be lower than your mortgage payments, but summers are awesome. Financing is very challenging. The easy way is to buy it as a 2nd home if your income allows, but you have to qualify without using any rental income. Otherwise, you need a full 2 years of tax returns showing income for any bank to get really comfortable lending on STR's. Even low doc loans are only wanting to lend to month to month rentals with leases. What I like to use is lower interest private loan that's good for 2 or 3 years and then refinance into a longer term product once I have the tax return history. We do very well in Pacific city and Rockaway with a few of our houses going over the $100K in gross income.

      Shoot me a message if you want to know a little more on the financing strategy and/or what cities I target on the coast.  Also we use Vacasa to manage the properties and have really liked using them.

Good luck, STR's are an awesome rental strategy that's fun for the family as well as the pocket book.