This is why things are not ran efficiently, the project is costing more than anticipated... a lot more... which now leaves us virtually $0 budget towards the design and finishings which is what really sells the property. 

We tried to keep one unit STR through the non-summer months as 50% occupancy would have provided better return than the LTR, but we could not get even that close to 50% occupancy (today we have virtually 100% occupancy on both units).I think a recession as bad as the GR is unlikely but in the event that there is another recession that bad, and it behaves similarly, the vacation rental occupancy in the non summer months will decline significantly and the summer months will decline. 

@Carl Ohai I'll be attending math behind lead gen and making it rain trainings tomorrow (live, virtually). 

From a practical sense, virtually no one has been busted for doing it wrong yet.

@Nathan Burris there is actually a free virtual Self-storage summit, in a few weeks, which will be a huge resource.

I have two triplexes renting to students in Chicago. Each unit is 4 to 5 tenants. Because they are students the longest they stay is two years. The students are usually from all over the country. I also have parents s...

I've got a client looking at 1br units in Capitol Hill right now and we've seen the rent roll on two other spaces that have only seen increases or steady rents with virtually no vacancy.Also, my wife and I have two condos in Capitol Hill, one of which we live in (and had a third that we sold earlier this year).

If you knew, for example, that you had a terminal illness that would kill you in 2 years, there's virtually no job you could plug into the right side of the equation that wouldn't outstrip the left side of the equation:Lifetime average earnings ($0, since education>lifespan) - cost of college (let's say $10k per year) > McDonald's burger flipper (minimum wage x 2080 x 2 years): FALSE, since ($0) - ($20,000) does not exceed ($31,200). 

That said, we rent to a lot of students and virtually none of them have a washer & dryer when they rent our properties, so they have to obtain one, have it hauled in and installed, and then move it away when they leave.

If you had a track record of projects, where I knew I'd have virtually zero time invested and could get 50% equity, MAYBE if it was a slam dunk project.