Gulf Shores, AL Airbnb Beachside Condo

[Stacy McElroy]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Gulf Shores.

Purchase price: $215,000
Cash invested: $21,000

Two bed one bath condo short term rental on Gulf of Mexico

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I had friends that owned short term rentals in Gulf Shores. After discussing their NOI we decided to invest.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We had a RE Agent. It had been sitting on the market for a little while because it needed updating. The view of the Gulf was excellent, but I think the rehab scared other buyers off.

How did you finance this deal?

We sold our home and used the proceeds to purchase it as our primary residence. We lived in it and then moved out to begin renting it to guests via Airbnb.

How did you add value to the deal?

We rehabbed it by dumping around $14K into it.

What was the outcome?

We're still renting it out. 2021 was our best year so far (of course it has only been renting since 2020).

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don't sweat the small things. You must remember that when renting your place for guests you are in the hosptiality business. We do the best we can for our guests which has resulted in 100 5 star reviews pretty consistently. Of course you can't make everyone happy, but we definitely try.