Anyone with Cabin Rental Experience??

[Skis]

My wife has planted a bad seed in my mind. She thinks we should purchase a house on the lake we go to (Bottle Lake) and rent out the house when we are not there.

So my question is to property owners up there, what has your experience been (good, bad, or otherwise) in house/cabin ownership/rental?

Thanks!!

[TroutYammer]

Screening the tentant is KEY!!! Longer durations 6-months/1-year are easier to deal with. Turnover of renters is where the main work/expense/risk occurs.

Week to week and monthly rentals are a real hassle no matter where your rental property is located. Most damage to rental properties usually occurs at move in, just before or on the move out date. And once they are gone you get to go through the entire place and clean it up.

Just a few of my thoughts from being a rental agent for a few years in Madison Wisconsin.

[TroutYammer]

You might be able to hire an agency to manage renting the place but then you lose direct control of the situation by handing the management off to a angency. An agency will also cost you $$$ which may negate the financial objectives of renting.

[gregg52]

good money if you can find a good reliable person/housekeeper

i'm not sure where you are but resorts are usally a grand a week so you could probably get at least that..4k a month a good person cost you 1k

should be alble to rent to decent people get big deposits will kinda give you an idea if there are decent

but one or 2 bad renters good cost you some $$$$$$$$

pros and cons to every thing

like they say if it was easy everybody would be doing it

[Skis]

I would be looking at a weekly and possibly longer rental deal. I want to keep the house/cabin for a couple of weeks in the summer for me

Thanks for the input so far. More input appreciated!!

[cylinder]

We did it one summer a couple of years ago. We listed with vrbo and had a neighbor clean the house & remove trash between groups. It cost about $100 or less (at $14/hr) per cleaning. Charge an extra $100 per group to cover that. Get a damage deposit of a few hundred bucks, whatever you're comfortable with. I think people are more conscious of not doing damage when they have already put money up front. There are some who want to make a deal for lower rent. It's up to you - if they call and want the house for the next four days and it's going to be sitting empty, I've given a lower rate. Instead of $200/day, make it $175. Or forget about the cleaning fee. It's part of the hassle of renting. Labor day, July 4, Memorial Day - for weekends like that you can charge a higher rate. Look through vrbo for your area to find the going rate for similar homes.

Most people didn't want it for a full week; most resorts require a week's stay but lots of families only want 3-5 days. That was the bulk of the business.

We stopped doing it because it ended up with us only able to go there once a month. Then I'd have to dig my stuff out of boxes in the garage that we had stowed away. We never had a problem with a renter damaging anything but they will rearrange furniture, put silverware in different drawers, etc. We cleared several thousand dollars after expenses. It was kind of a hassle keeping track of deposits, scheduling cleaning between groups, etc.

I think you'd have a hard time finding monthly renters. Not many people take a month off from work. You could find someone for the whole summer, but then you wouldn't be able to use it. Also, you'd get a lot more per day on short term rental than monthly.

[TroutYammer]

Spend the $50 bucks to do a background check on the each potential renter even if the person "looks clean". It is truely amazing who is running around out there. I have been an acting rental agent on/off (currently not doing it) since 1981 and the one thing that never changes is that you never really know who will come walking through that door. Good luck!