Posted: 11/5/2025 12:06:57 AM EDT
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We’re on OCONUS orders for the next year and will be returning back stateside to a known location. We are going to buy a house and are currently in negotiations. This is a small town house in a somewhat touristy historic area. Our questions are whether it makes sense to prep the house as an Airbnb for the year out that we have? My wife is not working at the moment so she could do the initial prep and planning. We’re about to start looking for short term property manager. Not trying to make massive money but we need to establish a home of record and build some equity. All of my capital is in the market right now so we’re vulnerable to a downturn. I can’t make sense of the housing market. Prices never fell and rentals seem to debated on their projected growth. |
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I live on a lake, there are 15 houses on my street. Of the last 4 homes that have sold, all 4 are investors doing STRs, bringing the total to 5 on the street. Of the 4 that have sold 3 have put in swimming pools, and the 4th already had a pool. I dont honestly see how the market is sustainable for them... |
Dan_Gray: You're right
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I looked into Air BnB for my family farm..... if you're not local then a local manager, cleaning service, etc. really eats into your profit. Unless it's a high demand property that can bring premium prices I probably wouldn't bother with it. I would look at buying it and renting it out short-term to somebody trustworthy (another military family?), then you can deduct the cost of any work you do to the property (since it's a rental) before you move in. If the property needs any $$$ work (roof, HVAC, etc) deducting the cost while it's a rental can save a lot in taxes. You can also depreciate the house while it's a rental (ie. write off about 4% of the cost of the house each year on your taxes). If it's a $400k house then a $10k HVAC and $15k in depreciation means a $25k write off on your taxes. If you're in the 12% tax bracket you're saving $4k in taxes and if you're in the 22% bracket you're saving around $8k in taxes. |
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No offence taken. I misread exactly what you were asking. Rereading your initial post, I don't think I'd be a buyer until my return. We faced a similar situation in 2020 when we were retiring from Vegas and heading to IN and FL to do elder care for an undefined period of time. We really wanted to keep our place in Vegas as we really liked the house. Ultimately we went ahead and sold because as I said we really didn't want to long distance landlord. We really thought we'd want to return to Vegas and wanted to lock in our base price. In the end, we sold and ended up not returning to Vegas. Your situation is somewhat different. Why not park the money elsewhere until your return? |
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Just sharing two different stories. 1. Neighbor a few doors down decides he and his wife are moving to Hawaii permanently but want to rent their house. Find renters. Renters have a divorce in the middle of living there and the husband who remained didn't want to stay there either so they abandoned the house/renters contract requiring the owners to return to deal with the drama. The township cited them for the uncut grass and generally overgrown/disaster of a yard after the male renter (a cop BTW) left all kinds of trash in the yard. 2. Coworker rents a hunting cabin (more like a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house) in an area that gets some seasonal traffic (mostly spring/summer/fall). He lives within 1 hour of said property so he and his wife maintain it between Vrbo usage. They were doing well on the rentals (i.e. pays for the property, utilities, and about half of another property they utilize). They are looking at retirement/travel and looked into a property management firm who would clean it and maintain it. The costs of that service would cut into the profits to the point they decided to continue what they've been doing. The property management group suggested increasing the volume of rentals or upping prices, but my coworker simply said he wanted to maintain the current situation of usage and manage it themselves. That being said, if you can find a price that works and you're comfortable with it, go for it. |
“Liberalism, the noble annihilator, has hollowed out every institution, every binding force, every social failsafe and backstop, and its agents feign surprise when the liberating infanticide it promotes is taken to its next logical step.”
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Looking into it as well right now for a second/vacation home. A few notes: Generally, you are better off just investing. Properties come with a lot of sunken costs. Outside of this latest run up, real estate hasn't exactly been a barn-burner for growth. A lot of townships and HOAs are absolutely sick of STRs. Covenants and laws can change leaving you with the property you aren't too keen on. STR has gone from "fun way to save some money" to "I am better off staying at a hotel unless I cram 3 families of 4 in the house". Location is massive. An hour or so outside of a major metropolitan area is going to yield better then bum-fuck no where. Watch out for clientele from shitty cities. |
WTF is up with this bullshit anti-bayo lug crap. Was there a group of irrate japanese guys bonzai charging disabled school children and puppies that I wasn't aware of?