All Forum Posts by: Jared Luhman

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts. I would like to get into a lake house in northern Minnesota as a vacation rental and I'm currently looking at two options that are both about the same price and I want to know which people think would have the best income potential.

Option 1:

$310,000 for a 750 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bath on .3 acres right on a 100,000+acre lake. It needs updating and I have roughly $25,000 to spend which would make it very nice and updated. I could potentially put a small game room/arcade in one area of this house.

Option 2: $310,000 for a 1500 square foot 3 bedroom 2 bath on 1.3 acres on a 50 acre lake about 5 miles from the same big lake option 1 is on. So a much smaller lake but would be good for swimming/kayaking/paddle boarding. It has an attached garage plus a small separate garage/shop. This option is already nicely updated and my thoughts were to use the $25,000 to install a putting green in the yard and turn one of the garages into a nice arcade/game room and also install a hot tub and possibly some other nice amenities

I'm also open to hearing people tell me I shouldn't try either. But looking forward to hearing the thoughts.

I would like to buy a lake house in northern Minnesota to use as an STR when we're not using it. There are a few big lakes and then lots of smaller lakes close by. The houses on the big lake seem to be worth $100,000-$200,000 more for a similar house. This would be our first STR and I'd like to spend a little less while we figure out this new business model. I'm curious if people have thoughts on whether or not it's worth it to buy one on the big lake or if the smaller lakes will do just fine? Am I looking at this the wrong way? What other things do I need to consider?

Last fall my wife and I purchased our first rental in Red Wing, MN. There seem to be a shortage of houses for sale and rent and it rented quickly with no trouble. We are looking to continue to buy buy it seems like they are difficult to find and expensive to a point that the cash flow is tight.

Alternatively, I have looked at Albert Lea, MN where there is an abundance of houses available but have been told by some the market is dying, or is a tougher neighborhood. But. 3 bed 1 bath house in red wing that I can rent for $1300 goes for $175,000+ and in Albert Lea I can get the same house that can rent for around $1000 for under $100,000. Does anybody have information on the Albert Lea market, or thoughts on which direction it makes sense to go?

There is a neighboring house I would really like to buy that was foreclosed on. It has been listed and auctioned 3 times on Auction.com and doesn't ever reach the minimum so it doesn't sell. It now has it's 4th auction date scheduled. Does anybody know this process or when it will ever go to the bank REO site or HUD? Their minimum requirement is way higher than what the property is worth in it's current condition so I don't want to buy it on auction.