Lifestyle Investment - STR

[Kevin Heater]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $350,000
Cash invested: $60,000

2b 1 ba Condo at the Maryland shore. Small building with only 4 condo units. Steps away from the sand.

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

Initial property purchase. Wanted a place by the ocean that we can use and rent to make money to pay the mortgage. Investment with my wife - first of many to come!

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

MLS - changed our buy box and decided to spend a little more for location and larger property. Listed for $429K, dropped to $379K then to $359K. Offered $350K and accepted. We knew it would stay on market much longer. Also, building is called Lauren which is our daughters name...destiny.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional + HELOC on property

How did you add value to the deal?

Paint and added mini split system. Property had window units. There are a lot of properties in this market with window units and we wanted to upgrade to differentiate and add value.

What was the outcome?

Bought in mid June 2023. First STR reservation by the end of the month. Almost fully booked for July and August. Listed on VRBO and AirBNB. Pleased to say ALL ratings have been 5 stars!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We think we may have over paid, but we can't dwell on that. Onwards and upwards! For STR - details matter and we paid attention
to them. It has paid off gaining us Superhost status after only a couple of months. We missed 2 months of the season for rentals. We will buy again in this area, but time it so we hit the full season. Learn more about creative financing. We borrowed from 401K for deposit - have to pay that back! Bought partially furnished - Unless brand new furniture, don't do this!