For my entire adult life I have been dreaming about getting into some type of real estate investing. My dad worked in construction and I always loved how tangible it felt when he completed a project. I got to see, touch, and go into the place he worked so hard to complete. I think watching that process is where my desire to be in real estate began.
When my husband and I were first starting out as a family, I had dreams of buying rundown houses, fixing them up, and flipping them for profit. We did buy a rundown house to fix up but ended up living in it for nine years. We made a nice profit on it eventually but it doesn’t really count as a flip if you live in it that long! The experience did teach us a lot about the work and cost involved with a flip.
My experience selling that first house is part of the reason I considered the idea of short term rentals. I deeply regretted selling Bowers St. It is down the road from my parents and I would have to fight back tears when I drove by it for the first year or so after selling. It was where our kids were toddlers and I had an emotional attachement to that house. We lived in the house after Bowers for five years when we found another house on the market that was a great deal. I wanted to move on the deal but wasn’t ready to get rid of our family home. I loved the house and our neighbors. We considered doing a long term rental, but even that felt like giving up my house. Setting it up as a short term rental made the most sense. A short-term rental would allow me to maintain access to my house while also providing an income.
I had a lot of concerns as we prepared to list our property as a short term rental. Could my area support a long term rental? Will anyone want to stay? What type of furniture did I need? How should I decorate? What did guests need in the kitchen? What if we have a difficult guest? What if something goes wrong at the house?
These were just a few of the questions and concerns going through my mind. At the end of the day, I had to decide if the potential upside of listing the house as a short-term rental outweighed the possible downsides. This is something you will have to do as well.
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Here is a video where I talk about part of the thought process I went through to decide if a short-term rental was the right option.
I did some research before we put the house up as a short term rental but there was a lot that I didn’t know when we got started. This meant that much of what I have learned has been through trial and error. The good news for you is that you can benefit from the experience of others and avoid learning everything the hard way. Owning a short term rental may or may not be the right option for you. There are a lot of factors to consider. And, even after looking at every single factor you can, there is still an element of the unknown until you actually go out and do the thing. Let us help you determine if owning a short term rental makes sense for your area and your situation.
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