And if you’re listing the house online, try platforms like LoopNet or local Facebook groups for real estate or community housing.Just make sure to do your homework and ask for references, check their track record, and make sure they’re following any local zoning or licensing rules.

Many people / and or agents really cant do simple math.

More competition equals less income per cabin.It's possible you can grab a cabin at a low price from someone who bought at the peak in 2022,  Just do your homework and be sure you can make your ROI before you enter this market.

It seems like I need to check further away from the DMV area.My feelings are if you want “cash flow” you should buy a bond (I really like the tips rate right now) there is next to no reason to buy real estate for cash flow, if you are going to buy you should buy with appreciation in mind, which is not to say that’s the route I’d go, I’ve been liquidating properties to put in stocks and money market funds over the last few years and u just did the math and I’ve come out well ahead, but just to say there are arguments for stocks/bonds, there are arguments for levered appreciation, but the cap rates pretty much anywhere aren’t worth it vs an inflation protected bond, especially since a 3/rd of inflation is real estate anywhere, you could get “cash flow” and inflation protection much easier through a tips.

With your background in computer science, math, and finance, you’re bringing some valuable tools to the table.

Run the math and see what you think.

First off, congrats on doing your homework before jumping in!

I just did the math and it was obviously better than stock account retirement.

Role-playing.     . you paid $300k 10 years ago, it’s worth $660k, (so when you sell you net $600k to make math easy.)and your cpa determined that you owned zero land, so it’s all depreciatable. you owe 15% on the $300k gain plus 25% tax on $109k depreciation recapture, so you owe $70k in federal taxes, then California reaches out for another $30k?  

This math implies that the property is being purchased at a 14% discount to current market value.