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Tin Roof

Tin Roof

Rusted
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
728
Messages
1,417
Loc
Iowa
We’ve built up a lot of equity in our acreage over the last 15-ish years and are ready to sell and downsize now that our oldest 3 out of 4 kids are adults. We potentially will have about $400k in equity to play with when we sell. To put that in perspective in our area, you can buy a nice 3000sqft home in a decent subdivision on an acre lot for about $300k. We will be looking at 2000sqft homes to move into. We are selling a 3000sqft place on 30 acres.

We are thinking about buying a vacation home on a lake in upper Wisconsin as income property when we sell/move and listing it on VRBO. Have any of you done this and is it worth the hassle? I like the idea of making some money off the place, but don’t want a headache. It would be about 6 hours from us so we would have to hire someone to manage it.
 
VRBO bites the big one ever since they were purchased by HomeAway. HoeAway itself has turned them into an Air BnB clone, and not in a good way.

We had a vacation home in Vermont - over 40 acres with a half-mile private driveway. 10 year old home with finished outbuilding. It was going to be our retirement home, and we initially rented it out through VRBO when they were still VRBO. It was great and we were successful with it.

As HomeAway came onto the scene, things began to get worse for the landlords. It's kind of what happened to eBay or maybe PayPal with them instituting policies unfavorable to the sellers. I am not talking about shenanigans, I mean the honest attempt to earn a fair dollar.

You will find that you will be forced to rent under rules disfavorable for you. For example, a renter can reserve the property a year in advance. HomeAway makes them pay something like half as a deposit - but you do not get the deposit (HomeAway holds on to it) until AFTER the renter leaves. There are many more issues as well: my wife could write a book as she ran the operation. Bottom line: very unfair to the property owner. It was so bad that we decided to sell the property since we could no longer could deal with it. And our property had nothing but 100% favorable reviews - we used to go the extra mile for the renters, but HomeAway's policies bring the suck.

TLDR: Don't do it, you will regret it.
 
As a retired a general...
During the real estate boom, and after...
Fawk rentals.
Now I've used old vrbo han only one issue.
Also used to work the coastal rental market.
Get yer OWN maintenance crew!
Enjoy retired life!
 
VRBO sucks. I get 1 booking to every 30 on airbnb. Not the biggest fan of airbnb either, but it gets the guests in the house.

just remember, managing a vacation home is like having a part time job. Easily 5-10 hours a week. If your ok with that, it will pay the bills on your house.
 
I fucking hate those sites. Had too many reservations cancel because I booked them before the owner could jack the prices for special event weekends, cancel for no reason, or the house wasn’t available. I wish they would die but theyre too good at marketing and keeping the name relevant.
 
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Good to know. I am looking at vacation renting a small house on my folks property for them. We just renovated it 5 years ago for my grandmother to live in. She passed last week, so my wife and I are looking to do the vrbo to help pay taxes.

airbnb>vrbo?
 
My neighbors vrbo a studio on their property next to me during summer, I guess VRBO made them go legit with county permits. Turns out the septic on the studio wasn't permitted, that was $30k fiasco. Other than that they keep 100% full all summer but it's work turning it over every few days. Regular rentals are enough work, screw being a maid.

The condo we like to stay in on Maui is setup with a management group to turn the units like a hotel. The management company gets a fee, takes care of everything for the owners. That's the only way I'd do it.
 
BUCKLAND said:
Good to know. I am looking at vacation renting a small house on my folks property for them. We just renovated it 5 years ago for my grandmother to live in. She passed last week, so my wife and I are looking to do the vrbo to help pay taxes.

airbnb>vrbo?
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AirBnB is like a hotel. Mostly one-night stands. That gets your cleaning bills up and makes more administrative work for the owner. VRBO/HomeAway is mostly not one-night stands. But they still want you to run it like a hotel in terms of scheduling, payment and expectations. Also there is no longer a way to pay for 'highloghted property' posting, so if VRBO/HomeAway fucks anything up (they do a lot) or does not like the dot you put over that 'i', your listing ends up buried and you will not get any inquiries. Once you get an inquiry, things are handled for the renter as if the owner is the Marriott Corporation, and you are just a homeowner, so you get fucked. Ala eBay and PayPal.

Management companies take 20% off the top. You are better off finding your own local on-call repairperson and cleaning person. They appreciate the work and the management companies only do so much, and also on their terms. For example, a dumbass renter once got their car stuck on ice at 0 dark-thirty on a weekend. Our local retainee went with his truck and got them out. No management company would do that and if the customer dings you you are fucked.

Try it and you will see what I mean.
 
All good info to know. We’ve used VRBO 4 times and have had great experiences, I had no idea they were that bad on the owner’s side of things.
 
I'd think you'd want a mortgage on it so that it wasn't profit? Somebody will 'splain that one im sure


We really enjoyed all the places we rented, and I was scoping out doing it for myself, and noticed trends

These were mountain cabins, but almost all electric, higher utility bills to owner, but idiot proof. The gas heated places had space heaters in the closets just in case.

The garages were locked.

There was always a locked closet. I imagine when the owners come to visit for their weekends, they spend 20 minutes, pull out their totes, their family pictures, their bedding and make it theirs.

These are all things is be looking at when I buy one.

I did some handyman work for a lady here in Tucson that turned a long term rental into a air bnb and is killing it, she's full on super host. She also lives a mile away from her rental, and she is her own maid service, but still charges the $120 cleaning fee every time
 
i have a co worker that bought a place to rent out at broken bow. this was 2 years ago. it is damn near paid for. this covid shit has lots of places rented.
 
I had no idea that owners were getting bent over like that. We have stayed in homes in Washington several times. They have always been a good experience. The last place the owners lived just up the street and took us on a tour of their over the top yard at their house. Nice as hell people! He offered to sell us the place we rented if we moved up there. There always seems to be some way big companies screw up a good thing in the name of money.
 
Tin Roof said:
We’ve built up a lot of equity in our acreage over the last 15-ish years and are ready to sell and downsize now that our oldest 3 out of 4 kids are adults. We potentially will have about $400k in equity to play with when we sell. To put that in perspective in our area, you can buy a nice 3000sqft home in a decent subdivision on an acre lot for about $300k. We will be looking at 2000sqft homes to move into. We are selling a 3000sqft place on 30 acres.

We are thinking about buying a vacation home on a lake in upper Wisconsin as income property when we sell/move and listing it on VRBO. Have any of you done this and is it worth the hassle? I like the idea of making some money off the place, but don’t want a headache. It would be about 6 hours from us so we would have to hire someone to manage it.
Click to expand...
I live in a town where probably 25-35% of thebhomes are vacation rentals. A lot of people have gotten sick of VRBO and the shit show they are becoming. A local place into charges a premium but takes care of all the BS for them. And since we are in a ski town many just put a sign in their front yard with there contact info as well.
Just make damn sure either you are close enough to manage it yourself, cleaning, repairs or guest help, or you have someone that can. Not being able to be responive to guest problems will get you a bad rep quick.
Also some of the less desirable ones also target advertise. They encourage hunters to stay there by having a out building you can cool down to hang your game or fish cleaning/processing place outside. Doing that takes a C- rental and makes it close to a B+.
It’s a dance for sure and one my Wife and I are thinking about doing after the housing market crashes again. But it is a double edged sword as many people that are locals in a small town dont like vacation rentals as it brings flatlanders into town. Know you area.
 
Im sitting in my living room watch the neighbors for the weekend fish off the dock next door.

Guy that owns it has it rented almost every weekend in the summer and alot of them in the spring and fall.
 
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