All Forum Posts by: Robert Mulfinger

I found this online spread sheet for vacation rentals that looks pretty good.   

HERE

Seems to be from a now defunct website though.   

I've been crunching the numbers quite a bit, and I can't understand how any of the vacation rentals around the area are coming out on top.   Quite possibly, they might not be... and are only offsetting their costs as much as they can so they can have their vacation cabin.   I found a place that seems to be reasonably priced, so I don't think the price of the place is really the problem...    

Well, I'm going to go take a look at the interior soon and get a better look at the interior.   The place comes furnished, but that could be be a positive or a negative depending on the furniture.  

Thanks

Thanks again for the replies.   I'm taking a look at a cabin this Thursday and meeting with a  finance broker too.   Do you have a recommended spread sheet for vacation rental cash flow?  

Hi All, 

Thanks for all of the great responses!   

To be clear, I am not looking to do a vacation rental in the Poconos.  I'm actually looking at Lake Raystown in Huntingdon county.   I grew up going to a cabin there and going out on the lake, and I want the same for my two boys.  

I've talked to a property manager out there who was super eager to help and was very knowledgeable about the area, peak rental times, cleaners, handymen, etc.   She even sent me a few listings that she thought might make good rentals.  I've talked with a real-estate agent who also owns vacation cabins, who does quite well.   I think I have a little bit of a unique angle to extend my rental season.   

I will look into the local meet up in camp hill.  I had no idea.  

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for the reply.   I am making an appointment with a local lending broker who has re-fi'd my residence in the past and has many rental properties himself.   I'll see what he has to say.   

My current credit union just does not finance second homes, period.   I'll see about talking to some other banks. 

I know I will need to do my due diligence with a business plan, etc.   And honestly, I'm going to have to prove to my wife that the numbers work out for it to go anywhere.  (I'm the dreamer of the relationship, she's the reality check)

We just spent a weekend at a different cabin out in the area I am looking and it was a bit of a disaster.  The more times we spend out there, the more we see how we could do it better....  and I get more excited every time.   

Hi all, 

Newbie here from Harrisburg, PA.   My co-worker just bought his first rental property and is a lurker on BP.  We both listen to the podcasts and are constantly comparing notes.

I wouldn't mind having some passive income as well, but that's not my primary goal.   

What I really want is a vacation cabin and to do the vacation rental thing to make the cabin pay for itself.   

There are times where I question if that is the smartest plan, or if I would be smarter to do local rentals and/or flips and just utilize the cash flow to rent whatever vacation cabin I would want to use.....   

I'm hoping to utilize BP to learn... and take action.  

Thanks!

Roger,  I have not talked directly to any of the local banks yet..  However, every realestate agent I've talked to says that the banks will NOT consider vacation rental income as consistent income.  Apparently they want to see a year's lease at the least.   

Any experienced vacation rental owners... what financing did you use to make it happen? HELOC on your residence to cover down payment and mortgage the rest?

Thanks

Hello BP, 

The Dream:  Buy a vacation cabin, use it once or so a month, rent it out the rest of the time, make the cabin pay for itself.   

The Problem: The the problem with the BRRRR method (Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) is that the banks won't take vacation rentals into account for the refinance part. The bank needs a year lease to consider the income to be additional to my income before they will refinance. (or so I think from my research)

The Idea: Do the vacation rental thing with the management company for a year or two... then offer to Lease/rent the cabin to the management company (or anyone else) with a year lease. Then, I would have a year lease to show the bank for refi purposes.  

I've started looking into it and there is a thriving market in the area I want to find a cabin. I think I can break even on cash flow at the absolute worst case. Financing will likely require me to pull a HELOC on my residence to come up with the down payment.

I found a property management company that is very reasonable (10% of rent) and has lots of connections for cleaning, handymen, etc.  

So.... would we call it BRVLRVR???    Or perhaps I could go straight to the Lease, BRLRR and turn it to a vacation rental anytime after that 1st year? 

Buy

Rehab

Vacation Rental

Lease

Refinance

Vacation Rental

Repeat

Thanks for any discussion on this idea!  

Bob