Medina Lake house, part-time Airbnb

[Troy Jaster]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Lakehills.

Purchase price: $185,000
Cash invested: $25,000

This is a part-time personal vacation home on a lake that we also part-time Airbnb.

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

Owning a lakehouse was a long time dream for my wife and I.

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

Listed on MLS. It started at $240k when we first looked at it - which was too high. We kept our eyes on it as the Realtor (also owner) dropped the price a few times. It was listed in the upper $190s when we put it under contract. We were also helped by an appraiser who didn't know the area and valued it lower.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional 2nd home loan, 10% down

How did you add value to the deal?

Simple stuff. Cleaning up any random junk, painted the inside to make it more modern, add a floating dock.

What was the outcome?

Presently still using it on a regular basis with my family and friends. We also have it available for Airbnb probably less than 50% of the days during the year. We've only done it for about 13 months (2.5 of those were totally closed due to COVID) but we've nearly covered all monthly costs (mortgage, utilities, etc) for the year. So...almost free lake house? Yes please!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest challenge has just been learning how we want to use it on Airbnb. In the summer of 2019, we had a LOT of guests come through the house and it was sometimes stressful to get one group out, cleaning crew in/out, and be ready for the next one a few hours later. This year, we took the COVID break to force a slower pace. We now only allow one group of guests per week with a mandatory 2 night minimum. So far it's been better.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

ME! :-)