In addition to being the political seat of the state, it is a major cultural and music hub – it’s also knows as “The Live Music Capital of the World” and hosts the annual SXSW (South by Southwest music festival) – one of the largest music festivals in the U.S. – which brought over $220 M into the city in 2013,[1] and has an economic impact that far exceeds the festival’s 14 day length.

I'm planning to begin REI in Palm Desert next year and really wondering how the rentals are doing in this area during festival seasons and off seasons. 

As for our vacation rental out in Indio (think Coachella Music Festival) it is much more geared towards large groups so we have many amenities.

I also have major price jumps for sorority/fraternity parents' weekends, graduation, baseball series and a few festivals. 

The timing of the purchase makes perfect sense as I am sure folks are busy with family and festivities during the holidays.

Meanwhile, I went to a music festival that closed-IN people living in rundown apartment buildings.It was surreal.The city literally had an entire section of town off of Fremont St closed off, and people lived in government houses inside the festival.  

We did some (very mild) white water rafting outside Canon City and went to the Blossom Festival last year... absolutely gorgeous area.

They even have a Luxemburg festival here!

Maybe look for affordable cities that have some kind of draw to them like universities (especially if sporting is big there) or concerts/festivals.

One was a single woman who was a Music Therapist at the same hospital I worked at; she owned some expensive instruments and frequently left on weekends to attend different festivals; would some take (but not all) of these instruments.I told her fine; she paid for the installation; it was done professionally and she gave me the code in the event that I had to enter for a repair when she wasn't home.Ironically there's never been an issue of any break in in any of the houses where these tenants have put in security systems.They often do forget to shut these off but it's fairly easy to disconnect them after move out.Gail