My concern is the “shoulder” season (fall/spring) when it’s low tourist season.

That's about 12 weeks, so you'd likely only be unable to rent for an additional 4 weeks. (52 weeks a year - shoulder season=40 weeks).

As for creating a buyers list, what I have been doing is this... 1) Ask realtor if she knows of any investors who are actively interested/seeking to buy properties. 2) Networking at local real estate clubs and seeing what you can find out from rubbing shoulders, and potentially finding a mentor/partner with connections.

I think it’s about your readiness to shoulder the difficulties.

I joined BP because my husband got tired of me looking over his shoulder on his account

Honestly the last 6 months of my life have been so crazy, not knowing when roommates are going to pay and then I had just gotten shoulder surgery so I wasn’t able to work full time and that really put me in a bind.

They didn't have any idea of the local market so we missed out on bookings because they priced our listing too high during the shoulder seasons.

Your head and shoulders above many other people getting started.

Brian Theres a lot of explanation above how its risky for the CPA licensee to issue this letter to you so you'll see all these disclaimers for paragraph on top of paragraph but, ultimately at the end of the day it says almost nothing.The best way is to show:- CPA letter for 2 + years self employment if you have a more private EA (enrolled agent) or CPA who doesnt have that risk or weight on their shoulders.

This will determine how you proceed with your decisions on how you operate it.My personal goal for an area with a definite high season and longer shoulder season is to make sure I can cover my total annual expenses during the high season when I know I'll get the bookings.