I have heard of investors offering a reduced rate 15 month lease (half normal pricing for 3 months) just to get the house occupied through the winter and spring, then jumping the rent up to market rent during the last 12 months.  

You may find yourself having to find a new tenant in the middle of the winter (Michigan winters are worse than Ohio's brrr), because, remember, if they decide to leave - they too only have to give you 30 days notice. 

Hey @Dylan Brown, if you can live without the winter sports stuff then PCB seems like a perfect spot to get started.I have chatted with Avery Carl quite a bit and helped with the moderation of the STR Bootcamp (another one is coming up in Feb if you are interested!)

Had a good experience but didn’t stay in the market due to the long winters. 

Granted, you could keep the money, but that's not enough to offset the lost rent and utilities, and you have a house sitting vacant in winter that requires checking to ensure it doesn't freeze.

Last summer I made about $7100 in 6 months (I don't rent it in the winter).

The occupancy rate of 63% makes sense because not a lot of people are traveling to Iowa during the winter months.

Well I moved form a northern state 10 years ago and i can say as far as "quality of life" goes, North Carolina seems to be a happier place especially in the winter time!

I live in the Pacific Northwest, so we would use the unit  6 to 8 weeks every winter (flexible--anytime between January and mid April) I am open to most areas.  

As for work, Sarah and I work seasonally in Alaska (summer) and Antarctica (winter) doing expedition tourism.