Vacation Rental in the Catskills

[David J Lepard]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $175,000

Cash invested: $35,000

This is our vacation rental in the Catskills region of upstate New York. For photos and booking information go to coziestcatskillcabin.com

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

FSBO. We originally saw the property at $200k. We were prepared to offer $187k but around the same time the seller dropped the price to $175k. We weren't able to negotiate them down any further but we did negotiate for some maintenance to be completed and furniture to be left, since we were furnishing it as a vacation rental anyway.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

We fixed some major safety issues like replacing the electrical panel and upgrading the railings on the deck. We added new lighting inside the house and build a fire ring outside.

What was the outcome?

We put our cash flow for the first year into additional capital improvements and repairs to make the house more guest-proof. We refinished and treated the original logs, adding significantly to the curb appeal. Operational costs and repairs should drop in the second year because many things have now been fixed or upgraded. All our mortgage payments have been made for us. We're now enjoying the cash flow as well as mortgage paydown.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Your investment as a vacation rental is only as good as your underlying asset, your marketing, and your property management. I wrote a short ebook detailing how I believe this process could be replicated by anyone, anywhere. Check it out at buyvacationrental.com.

[Les Jean-Pierre]

Nice job. Do you list it on Airbnb or any of the other vacation rental sites?

[Scott Wolf]

@David J Lepard that’s awesome!

Do you own more RE or plan to expand and buy more vacation rentals, or was this a one off for a place for you to use while also collecting cash flow?

[David J Lepard]

Hi @Les Jean-Pierre,  yes we list it on airbnb and homeaway/vrbo. We try to direct people to the homeaway listing because they're a little more protective of hosts. https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p4728361?...

[David J Lepard]

Hi @Scott Wolf, we own some single families and duplexes in the midwest. Expanding that portfolio is the current goal. In the meantime we do love using the cabin when its not rented or for special occasions. We'd love to do additional vacation rentals in the future, but they tend to be much less passive and our time is limited presently.

[Les Jean-Pierre]

One more question: how do you manage it from NYC?

[David J Lepard]

@Les Jean-Pierre We have a really great manager who lives about 15 minutes from the cabin. We handle the bookings and she handles the property and guest emergencies.  

[Randi Plevy]

Very cool.  Just started shopping for a property in the same area.  Looking for a great mountain view at a reasonable price.  Let me know if you hear of anything.  

[Christopher Polanco]

Hi David,

Great post. Im also looking to invest in the area in the near future. Is there any realtor that you would recommend? Thank you. 

[Tara DeVere]

Hi David! 

Thank you for sharing this information - I find it very useful for the rental property we want to purchase in the near future. I visited your website to purchase your ebook, however after purchasing it, I received the receipt but still have not received the ebook. Is the ebook sent via email after purchase?

Looking forward to hearing back from you! 

-Tara 

[David J Lepard]

Hi Tara, 

So sorry about this. I just resent the file to your email address. Please let me know if you have any problems receiving, downloading, or viewing the file. 

Best,