Vacation Rental Success in Breckenridge, CO

[John D.]

For anyone looking to get paid to own a vacation home feel free to read on.

I've lived and skied in Breckenridge, Colorado for the past 12 years. I work in property management and manage 2 large multi-family properties. A few years ago, I bought my first investment property - a condo in Breckenridge. The condo turned out to be a great investment, and after a few years, I was ready to make a bigger and better investment.

I sought the advice from my friend and realtor, @Matt M.   He is always looking for investment opportunities and ways to help others make money. We began looking for investment properties in Denver and Summit County. I really wanted to find a vacation home, and after searching, we realized the Denver market was too tight for the kind of investment I was looking to make. After running multiple scenarios and discussing my end-goals for the investment, we shifted our focus to a vacation home in Breckenridge that could sleep at least 12 people (the more people a home can sleep, the more money nightly rent your can charge). Matt assured me this strategy would give me the most return on my money, and it has.

It took almost a year before we found the right investment property. In summer of 2016, I closed on a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom, duplex-zoned home that sleeps 16 people. One thing that makes this such a great investment property is that the home has options. I can lock the basement off from the upper two-levels and rent the two units out separately. I also have the option of converting the space above the garage to a studio apartment and renting that out for $1,200/month.

Since the purchase I've booked 43 nights already at an average of $1100 per night, for a gross profit of  $46,700.    This property pays my mortgage and leaves me with plenty of gravy left over. This is just my first year owning the property.  Once the property becomes more well-known, I fully expect to net $90,000 per year. Another bonus to my rental strategy is all the food and booze that renters leave behind. Believe it or not, this significantly cuts down on my grocery budget. 

Going forward, I'm going to continue to build my reserves, buy a similar property, and continue this cycle until I'm wealthy and retired in Belize.