3rd STR Property - Massanutten, VA

[Paul Cox]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $287,000
Cash invested: $100,000

Our newly remodeled 4BR / 2BA mountain villa features all new furniture, 3 King beds and 1 Queen Bed, and plenty of parking for at least 4 vehicles. The villa is located in a quiet neighborhood on Massanutten Resort, making it the perfect place to enjoy all that the area has to offer. We're about 1 mile from all the activities that the resort offers.

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

Love the STR arena of investing and providing a place where guests want to pay you their hard-earned money to stay at your place.

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

Found it through Zillow. It was listed for 258K. We contacted our realtor for a showing and offered what they were asking for with an escalation clause up to 300K. We eventually settled on 278K with no inspection contingency. We were allowed to do an inspection, but wouldn't use that in the negotiation.

How did you finance this deal?

30 yr fixed Vacation/2nd home loan with 10% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

We thought it might be a quick cosmetic flip and be able to get it on the OTAs within 3 months. Well, COVID was going on, supply chain was tight and finding contractors that could get you into their schedule was extremely challenging. The whole remodel ended up taking about 2 years and we put in about 80K in remodel expenses and furniture. Definitely a lesson learned about how to do it better in the future.

What was the outcome?

The property was put on the STR market OTAs in May of 2023. We've had a slow start, but are hopeful for improvement over this coming summer.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don't try to do everything yourself in hopes you'll save a bunch of money. It will end up costing you unless you're already a skilled contractor type individual.

Get to know your neighbors that maybe around your property, especially if you're in a HOA situation where there's a mix of STRs and residential properties. It will pay dividends.

Ask for referrals on contractors for everything.