All Forum Posts by: Shannon R.

@Natalie Kolodij  I have not done a lot of research into it, but I have spoken to an Airbnb host in the area and he is booked almost year-round.  I believe if I found something convenient to the freeways, the train station, and the fairgrounds there would be high demand.  

Welcome!  I'm looking to invest in Puyallup and then use the property for short term rentals (Airbnb), but haven't found the right place yet.  And the market is pretty high right now, so I'm not sure if it will work out for me.  Good luck!

Landlord type homeowner's insurance does not cover any contents, so if all of your furniture was stolen or burned in a fire you'd be out of luck, unless you have an STR supplement.

Also as @Scott V.mentioned, say you rented to someone and they had a huge party at your house and caused a bunch of damage and you didn't tell the insurance company ahead of time that you were using the house for STR - I would think they would either find a way to not pay the claim or else non-renew you. You are putting your property under a lot more risk than the average landlord, not doing background checks, and have a constant flow of strangers in and out, while not paying them any more in premium for the trouble.

I would think you could get year-round rentals in cities such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Nashville, or Dallas, where there are a lot of conventions and business travel, but also they are fun destinations for families and bachelorette weekends, etc.  Any city where the winters are not horrible, and housing costs are reasonable.  

I use Netgear Arlo for security cameras and I'm fairly happy with them, just a couple issues.  And I have a Honeywell thermostat that is wifi, that just has a few basic options of moving the temp up or down or resuming the schedule, which is all I need.  

Love the idea.  I know in Washington state, you can't rent out multiple slots to people with their own tiny homes unless you are classified as an RV park.  Though not sure about your way with you providing the house.  I know there are some regulations about providing a minimum livable square footage.  One of the speakers at a tiny home conference I went to got in trouble with the Seattle authorities for renting her tiny home on Airbnb due to the small square footage.  I believe in King County (Seattle area) the home must be more than 120 square feet, and then there are regulations about each room size and how many people in relation to the size.  

I am hoping to buy some land on a lake and build on it later, but in the meantime rent slots with hookups to people with their own tiny houses to cover the payment on the land.  I think it's not currently legal, but maybe that will change or maybe it would be fine with 1 renter.  But it would not be done through Airbnb, I'd have to find some tiny home groups on reddit or Facebook to advertise on.  

Good luck!

Paula Pant at the Afford Anything podcast makes the argument that unless the VR cashflows well, run away!  She says why not find something close to you or in a nearby city where you will get renters year-round and not all the high fees.  If it cash flows well, it will pay for your vacations!  She says it is a purely emotional decision to buy a VR so that you can vacation for "free", when it just about breaks even, and there are usually better deals somewhere else.   

I have the same thought of building a duplex and using both sides for short term rentals.  Seems like it could be a great money maker in my location which is a suburb of Seattle.  Possibly I would live on one side eventually.  I look forward to hearing about your progress!  One thing that I am seeing a lot of in my area is a duplex with a one car garage for each side, but the garages are in the middle of the duplex, with the living areas on each end.  That seems genius to me, because then you would not ever hear your neighbor through the walls.  

For the RV hookup rental - in my area tiny houses are a huge new trend and there is a serious lack of good places for people to park them.  Many people park them in a family or friend's back yard, but then if they are rented out then the authorities find out, and some people have gotten into legal trouble.  They are classified as RV's and are illegal to live in because of their small square footage except in a few specific situations like you are farming the land, or building a house, or caring for a sick relative.  The only legal way in my state at the moment to rent out hookups is to classify your property as an RV park.  So I think that would apply in your case as well if you are offering an RV hookup for rent, but if you can find a way to do it legally you might want to tap into the tiny home movement as well.