My wife and I are debating purchasing a condo for rental property. We are thinking about 3mm to 35mm. It must be waterview with large slip. It must be 3 bedroom plus and 2 bathroom plus. Is this a wise investment or am I going to lose my butt? Should I look new or used for such property? And finally has any other OSOers done this and been/are successful using a rental company to operate it? Thanks for any and all info. Scott

If you want a condo that will be in high demand, then find one between 17 and 25 mile markers.

ask jesse james on here

I think Jawbreaker Kid is trying to get out of his condo at the 21mm. Send him a PM

i currently have 2 condos, so i'm selling one. it is a turn-key, walk-in level, 3 bedroom / 2 bath w/ a 14x40 slip for sale at the 20MM if you are interested. i did a total remodel on it and it has never been stayed in since. if you are interested, send me a PM.

Chad

It's going to be tough to cash flow a property like this for a couple of reasons. First of all, you are looking at around $200K or more for a condo with those requirements. Unless you put down a substantial amount, your payments will be much more than rental income. Theses properties bring in decent rental income, but the season is too short to cash flow the property. In addition to that, assessments can kill you. Assessments can get expensive because of the inherent expenses with docks, pools, insurance, etc with lake condos. All that being said, if you are in it for long term appreciation and not monthly cash flow, you should be in good shape.

rental at the lake can be a frustrating thing, there are literally thousands of homes and condos competing. if your with a management group they try to accommadate all of there renters so they rotate the properties so that each renter gets some ( like throwing a bone out every once in awhile to keep them on the program ). they take a hefty fee for such. The wear and tear on the property is huge, remember people come to the lake for one thing ( to party ) . A home are condo will go through more abuse in one season then a home you live in for years. If your thinking you will buy a condo or home for personal use and rent it out to defer the cost you'll be disappointed each time you use it. You cant leave your personal belonging in it ( swimming suits, life vest, staple items shampoo, deoderant,tooth paste, underwear etc.) so each time you come down to use it, its not like your own. when you get your statement at the end of a rental month and the management company has taken ther % and then deducted light bulbs, tolit paper, paper towels, and charged you for emergency plumbing repairs ( because 15 people staying in a 3 bedroom home have puked there party cove experience out and flushed there condoms, tampoon, sanitary napkins, or evidence of what ever), down the tolit, you still have the mortgage, insurance ( rental property) god forbid a drunk falls over a balcony, slips on the dock or falls down the stairs, and the upkeep and maintance on the property. the rental season is from mid june ( school ) through labor day, period. 2 1/2 months, anything before or after that is a gift 60-75 days and out of those days you really are only looking at weekends maybe 12 weekends at 3 days 36 days total. maybe more if you can get weekly's. Been there done that. Im not interested. If your still interested try to rent on you own as much as possible, little more work but you can be more selective as to whom you rent too, and you dont have to give up 35-40%. But then again you have the agravation of deposit money, keys and clean up, something to think about. I was down every weekend and was able to meet people for keys etc. deposits and rental fees in advance. i tried to rent mainly to families, the rental management dont care they rent to anyone, They dont have to fix anything and they are not much help in collecting from renters when things get broke. good luck and i hope this helps.

later
Dave Hughes

The aforementioned arguments aganist rentals are good ones. I rented for years prior to buying one. I would never think about placing mine on the rental program. But there are plenty of people that do. It keeps companies like PMG in business.

As one who considerd what your thinking about, don't do it. If possible buy a place and watch it appreciate, this is coming from a real estate appraiser of 25 years. I cannot add anything the afore mentioned have, other than believe what they say.

I would agree with everything above except I have never heard the high demand area being the 17-25mm. I have owned a house at the lake for 5 years and have been going for over 10 and I would say the 4-21mm is what most people are looking for. Just my $.02