All Forum Posts by: MIchael Rickerd

I would personally leave the shower as is, and offer the property up for rent. I would pay close attention to how prospective tenants react to no tub. To me, not having a tub is not an issue.

If you find that families (due to the church and the school) are passing on your property because of the tub thing, I would reanalyze. If you have enough cash reserves to offer the property for rent, and then install a tub (which in my experience involving building bathrooms that require the rearrangement of things in the floor, is going to cost you) I may chose that route.

But then again, I may just drop rent to a more attractive price, as long as the numbers still work out, and get it rented that way.

Go with your gut, but be ready to reanalyze and shift gears at a moments notice if not having the tub is an issue. 

Excellent information in this thread, and I am glad I read through it all before I move in my first tenants into my owner occupied property.

Definitely excited to start learning about this area of REI. I am sure I will have some pointers to add to this thread in the future.

- Mike

Josh,

The rental market in Flagstaff (22 miles north of Munds Park) is incredibly strong due to the university. In my experience, most, if not all, college students avoid Munds Park due to the long drive into town everyday. The farthest most college kids will live out of town is Kachina/Mountainaire, which is just 7 miles south of town. 

This does not mean that no one will rent the property, but acquiring a rental property in Munds Park is going to remove a whole lot of potential renters from your pool. I pass on properties in Munds Park for this reason, and choose to purchase homes within the city limits. 

If renting to college students is not your cup of tea, you will probably be able to find an older tenant to rent from you year round, but the selection pool is much more narrow. 

Rent in Munds Park is significantly lower than within the city limits. Single rooms in town will rent for 600 without utilities (if they are not a dump) without too much struggle. You are looking at closer to 400 without utilities down in Munds Park. ( I have never purchased a property in Munds, nor have I had any friends who have rented from there, so my estimate may be off slightly).

As far as vacation rentals are concerned, I agree with Joel above. Much more demand in summer, but there is still a chance in winter due to the mountain, and tourists coming to ski/snowboard. Before you make any decisions I would research through airbnb and vrbo to see what vacation rentals are like in this area. I had the same idea of vacation rental for a property in Kachina (15 miles closer to town than Munds) and I passed on it due to the almost infinite number of choices available online. There is a staggering number of vacation rentals in Kachina/Mountainaire alone. Probably over 100, no joke. Most of the ones I researched into had entire months worth of vacancies, including many that had no vacationers for the upcoming weekend. This was not a good sign to me, especially since some nicer, larger homes were renting for less than 100 a night. I felt that it would be too difficult to compete, so I passed on vacation rentals.

To sum it up, I would personally pass, and I have passed on several properties, in the Munds Park area. There is nothing to say that you wont strike gold and find the perfect tenant who pays enough to cover the mortgage, but it is much easier (especially if you don't mind college students) to charge a premium rent that cash flows hundreds of dollars into your pocket every month if you find a property within the city limits. Even better if you find one close to the university.

- Mike