Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Does anyone here own a vacation cabin they rent out?

The only way I would do that is if I could interview prospective renters and try to end up with a nice older couple or small family that would be interested in an annual thing w/ a contract.

Would you rent your cabin to about a couple of older guys who met on an internet hunting forum?

We bought a 1 bedroom condo 100 yards off lake back in January. Updated it with new flooring and some other improvements, had it on the market since mid April as a nightly rental. It sat empty 2 nights for the month of June and a handful of nights in May.

As of now, we use a management company that takes 10%. They put the listing out on their website and all the popular websites (air bnb, vrbo, etc). The nightly rates fluctuate based on time of year, day of week, room availability in the area, and how close it is to the date of rental. Rates vary from $70/night to $250/night. Talking to the guy with one right next to us who manages it on his own using a set flat rate per night, we have already made several more thousand dollars than him even paying the 10%.

We pay the cleaning fee directly, but the management company tells the cleaning company when to do the cleaning. We also pay the cleaning company a bit more to be the 'local' contact. Last night she had to go put some batteries in the wifi front door lock because they were nearly dead.

In 2 1/2 months of being on the market, the only issue we had was some crying Karen saying the place smelled of cigarette smoke, the towels were smokey, the bedding was smokey, and the place was terrible. All was a lie, all was a tactic to get a free night out of it. The issue was never raised until check out time. The manager of the cleaning company said there was zero odor of smoke in any of it. I'm not sure what my wife ended up doing, whether she gave a free night, or told them to tell her to go jump in the lake. Other than that, it has been totally hands off so far.

Just bought another 1 bedroom condo, this one right on the lake, and hopefully a few months success with the other one will be indicative of the future as we watch the economy tank and vacation spending come to a screeching hault....

The way to get around a lot, but not all of the above is to have a place that is so expensive, the riff-raff can't afford it.

You want a 6 nights? $10K, pre-paid.

Good cleaning people are critical!
They are the owners eyes on the place.

I've rented a bunch of cabins and lake homes over the years (oddly enough every lake home we've ever rented looked like it started out as a 4 room house and then had random rooms added on for a sprawling mess of a layout) and we've always treated the home with respect, usually because I take time to read the clauses.

Lately on VRBO, the last two home we rented required insurance to be purchased or a huge deposit, which as a homeowner I would think is a good idea. The insurance was pretty cheap, I think like $59 for 4 night and provided up to $10K coverage.

I don't know, I know its a reality that bad renters will mess up the place. I'm in a position to buy something without needing the income, but the idea of this thing sitting empty for 80% of the year while it could be generating some kind of revenue seems like an obvious choice.

The definite consensus is don't do it. I'll have to dig a little deeper.

That would depend on the "couple of older guys."

Now, if it was you and Beav for example, I would have no issues renting it to you guys as long as you both signed an agreement for a Pre-Checkout, Black Light inspection of the entire premises.



Including the garden shed...

Our housekeeper reports that our place is always nastiest when it's a bunch of wimmen[no men] that stayed.

I believe that 100%

Women, from a hygiene and care perspective are nasty. WAYYY back when I worked as a bouncer for a summer - ladies bathroom was ALWAYS the worst at the end of the night vs the Mens. ALWAYS. We would draw straws for whomever had to go pull the garbage out and clean.

Doah! 😳🤷🏽‍♀️😂🦫

Agree with that ☝🏽

Gotta watch those nasty tampons wrapped in 20 layers of toilet paper going into a septic…Seen that a couple of times.

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For a number of years we have rented a beach house on North Carolina's outer banks for a week, usually late May or early June. We've always dealt with the same management company (Midgett Realty) and have always had a positive experience. Once when we arrived it was right after a big storm, the place we had reserved was out of commission, and they had us in another very nice place within an hour of our arrival. They are pretty strict with things and limit the kind of cliental. I can't believe they have a lot of problems because we usually show up right the day after someone else has left and everything is always shipshape. Then again, this company is huge in the vacation rental business down there.

At one time, we were considering getting a place and I had a few discussions with people in the business as well as homeowners. A few things I learned: Your happiness depends on the management company you work with. You need a solid, well-established outfit. It might behoove you to try before you buy. I've been to the Outer Banks enough over the years that I think I would be going into owning a beach rental eyes wide open and get no surprises there. Somewhere else, I don't know.

I have friends who got into that game quite a few years ago who have confirmed that, at one time, if you bought a place with 5% down you'd own it free and clear in 20 years with only your original 5% invested. At the time I was considering it, you could have payed off the mortgage on a place down there over 20 years with 50% your own money. Right now, I don't know. If you go on Midgett's (for example) website and get a feel for the initial cost of places for sale, look at the weekly cost of equivalent places across the season, and look at how booked up they are, it looks, to me, pretty good. But that's all subject to change.

Finally, I talked to a guy a few years ago who lives about three hours away from Hatteras Island. He bought a place there because they went there all the time. He said two years was all he could take because, after every big storm, he was compelled to drive over and see if his house was still there. He sold it and, a year later, the house two places down from his disappeared in a storm when a new channel was cut through the island. I guess you pay your money and take your chances.

My dad lived on the NC coast the last 25yrs of his life, his side hustle was looking after his neighbors homes while renters and family members were staying. He said the owners family members were the worst!

I would be careful renting I was caretaker of rental cabins at El Dorado SP in Kansas for 18 months, also worked at Gunnison Lakeside RV Park & Cabins for 4 summers you get some good ones but most are slobs they leave the place a mess they don't care it doesn't belong to them. They bake in the oven and leave a mess to cleanup once someone cleaned fish in the bathtub took a while to get rid of the smell I could go on but don't feel like typing that much.

OP,

I believe upgrading your personal house by buying and selling is a smart option. Would you enjoy going vacationing somewhere with year around headache of renting it out dozens of times? You’re essentially talking about starting a small business. Has the rent kept up with the cost of real estate as it pertains to vacation rentals? If the price drops 25% in 12 to 24 months will you be happy with that?

Beave loves garden sheds.

We looked into buying a condo in Florida a few times as a rental/investment/vacation home.

The cost of property management made it unfeasible.

Agree, I used to own an indoor tanning shop 30 years ago, tanning beds, 99% women clientele. They would pee in the small trash cans when there were 2 perfectly clean bathrooms just steps away.
Plus other stuff.
ALWAYS late for their appointment and it was always someone else's fault and you should bump someone out of their appointment because everything should always be in their favor.
Appointments based on 30min., 5min. to undress, 5min. to get dressed, no way can a woman accomplish this. Time yourself on a clock getting undressed if it takes you 2min. you have a disability.

KWFA ,

Good luck with venture, IME, no matter what type business/agreement, there are always THOSE people who are not reasonable and believe 100% that the customer [them] is always right.
Scott was right about one thing, his old signature line, ''people are F'rs'' of course he has first hand experience.

Big like on your signature line, Rest in peace Ethan, indeed.

She-Sheds to be more exact…


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