Obtaining a Cedar Park vacation home can be a fascinating idea. You can treat it as your own vacation house whenever you want to relax, or you can even rent it out to others so you can cover other expenses. However, anyone who’s owned and rented out a vacation home will tell you it’s not that easy. There’s more to owning vacation rentals than you know. So, before you dive into vacation rental ownership, you need to think about all that comes with it.
Pro: Extra Income & Tax Breaks
A really sweet perk of owning a vacation rental is the extra income you can earn from renting it out. Depending on whether you choose to rent it out short-term (days or weeks at a time) or long-term (several months at a time), you can arrange it in such a way that the property pays for itself.
Con: Another Mortgage Payment & Expenses
Of course, buying a vacation rental comes with a mortgage payment, insurance, property taxes, utilities, and other expenses. All these particulars need to be taken into account when buying a vacation rental. Additionally, financing for an investment property can cost more since lenders often require a larger down payment and charge higher interest rates on second homes.
Pro: It’s Yours to Use
A personal vacation home means that it’s available for your use, whenever you want. It allows you to frequent that location without having to spend money staying at hotels. You can also use the property for business or personal events, meaning you won’t have to pay to rent event space elsewhere.
Con: Marketing and Screening Tenants
Your vacation home needs to be marketed to other tenants if you don’t plan to occupy it most of the time. Marketing can be a time-consuming task, as is screening potential tenants. This becomes more difficult when you rent the home out for days or weeks at a time. Because the turnovers are frequent, you need to find enough tenants to rent the home year-round.
Pro: Building Your Retirement Fund
Do you want to slowly but surely grow your retirement fund? If so, investing in rental real estate is one of the best ways to do that. Rental property owners often include their rental income or property sale into their retirement plans. The volatile stock market or savings account with little interest are both great investment ideas, but real estate offers a lot of safety and growth that no other mode of investment can offer.
Con: Property Management Takes Time
Owning a vacation rental will take a lot of focus and property management before being able to get a sizable payoff. It’s even more work when you have to keep your property clean and maintained by yourself, or if your vacation rental is far from your primary residence. Several vacation rental owners end up shocked at how difficult it can be to prepare for each new tenant; this is something you don’t have to deal with when it comes to long-term residential rentals.
Owning a vacation home and renting it out can be a great investment. However, if you’re not careful, you can fall into a lot of common mistakes. Good thing you can hire a property management company to avoid that! Would you like to learn more about smart approaches to managing vacation rental properties? Real Property Management Longhorn has a top-notch team of Cedar Park property managers to help you navigate the market as well as keep your vacation rental profitable. Contact us online or call at 512-580-3099 today!
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