Short Term Vacation Rental Near Lake Tahoe

[Matt Dunlap]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Incline Village.

Purchase price: $260,000
Cash invested: $285,000

Short term vacation rental near Lake Tahoe. 3 bed/2 bath condo near the lake and diamond peak ski resort. Spent about $25,000 to remodel. Listed on Airbnb and Homeaway. Our goal when buying it was to rent it for 100 days a year at $200/night. We are currently doing about 200 days/year at around $200/night. gross rental income around $48,000/year netting around $23,000/year.

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

Our family loves Tahoe. We thought we would buy a condo and "Vacation for free", but it turned out to be very profitable. I have to save our time there because it books really fast before winter and summer.

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

We looked for about a year all over Tahoe. We started in South Lake Tahoe. We fell in love with Incline Village on the north shore. We also looked at large homes and major fixers. Since we had no experience with STR we decided to start small and get the cheapest condo on the market. We bought the condo off the MLS

How did you finance this deal?

Cash

How did you add value to the deal?

We remodeled it and furnished it. We wanted to make it feel like a warm, comfy cabin.

What was the outcome?

It has exceeded our expectations, I think due to the healthy economy, Tahoe is booming for vacationers, and the city of Incline village is added more activities during the off seasons which will help increase the nightly stays

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Get a reliable cleaner and make contacts with handymen. We do not have a manager for this property. Our cleaner is very important to us. There are a lot more Airbnb's on the market now in our complex. Some of them have lowered there prices considerably which I think brings in guests that party. We keep our prices on the higher end and target families that would need to get 2 rooms at the Hyatt. They save a lot by staying at our place, and they are not going to party.