Totoro, since you have experience with furnished vacation rentals, can you give me your opinion on this scenario:
There are a couple of studio condos available in a popular ski area in New Hampshire for about $60k. They are fully furnished, and there's a rental program onsite. Property taxes are about $700/yr, HOA fees are about $300/mo. The studios rent for around $650-$700/week in the winter (or $120/night w 2-night minimum stay) - not sure if summer rates are different, but a lot of hikers in the white mountains in the summer, although winter probably has more tourists. I'm not sure what kind of a cut the property management rental program takes if they manage the property, but we are about 4-5 hours away so would probably want someone else to manage it. I'm trying to find out what the rental history has been on the units I'm looking at. Based on the numbers above, do you think we could at least break even? What else would you be trying to find out in order to figure out if it was a decent investment from a cash-flow perspective? We would probably stay there a few times a year as well, so would get some use out of it if it wasn't rented.
Oh, and it was built mid-eighties. The association fees cover water, sewer, trash, plowing, landscaping, and cable. ETA also that property management takes 50%. Seems high, right? Although I suppose that could be due to the short-term rental costs - cleaning, advertising, etc?