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Rental Properties

The Pros and Cons of Vacation Homes

Last Updated on August 23, 2022 by Mark Ferguson



My wife and I just got back from Turks and Caicos, which is an incredibly beautiful island in the Caribbean. While there, we were tempted to buy a vacation rental. It seems like every time we go on vacation we think about buying a vacation house, but this time we gave it more thought. Turks and Caicos was the favorite place we have ever been too and the prices were relatively affordable.

We thought about buying a vacation house because we loved the island and plan to go back again and again. At first, buying a vacation rental appears to be a wise decision if you visit the same destination enough. The plan would be to buy a house or condo on the beach, stay there a few times a year and rent out the place when we are not staying there. But when you look at the pros and cons of vacation homes from an investing perspective, we were reminded why it is not always a wise financial decision. The expenses are extraordinarily high on vacation rentals and are you really saving money when you stay there on vacation?

Why was Turks and Caicos so amazing?

Before I get started with an analysis of vacation houses, I want to discuss Turk’s and Caicos. TCI, as it is called locally, is a chain of islands in the Caribbean between the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. We choose to vacation there, because the water looked crystal clear and had that amazing blue-green color my wife and I love. We have been to Mexico, St Martin, Dominican Republic, and taken a cruise to a few more destinations in the Caribbean. We enjoyed those destinations, but we heard TCI was better, had fewer people and was worth the extra money (it is expensive). We were not disappointed in Turks and Caicos as the water was gorgeous, the beaches were soft white sand and there was a reef right outside our resort that we snorkeled at every day. We saw a giant ray, sea turtles, many tropical fish, a large barracuda, corals and much more.

The island is not as busy as many other places we have visited and everyone was very friendly. My wife also has many food allergies including gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, and the grocery stores were extremely well stocked in allergy-friendly and organic food. There are 40 islands in the country, most of them uninhabited with the same perfect water and beaches. The main island, Providenciales was expensive as most are but was well worth it.

What are the pros and cons of vacation homes?

We enjoyed the island so much, that we looked at buying a vacation house or condo there. The prices actually seemed somewhat affordable for oceanfront property compared to other places we have been like Florida. We stayed at the Coral Gardens and although there is a rather ugly half-finished resort next to it, it was a lovely resort.

The resort next door (The Toscana) was supposed to be a high-end Italian style resort that was started in 2008. The island was hit very hard economically in 2008 thanks to two hurricanes and the global economic meltdown. The building of the Toscana stopped dead in 2008 and the site has been an eyesore ever since, although I found it fascinating. It turns out the original company that started construction ran out of money and went under after taking many deposits for the complex from future owners. The bank that took it over tried to auction the property off multiple times without success, but recently the owners of the penthouses got together and have agreed to finish the project themselves.

Staying on the island is very expensive and our one-bedroom condo goes for $400 to $500 a night. It had direct ocean views, a balcony, two baths, and a full kitchen. You can buy similar condos in the same building we were in for under $400,000. On the surface that looks like a great return on your money. Buy a place for $400,000 and rent it for $12,000 a month. That blows the 2 percent rule out of the water and is a lot higher rent to value ratio than I get on my 13 rental properties. The properties I buy in Colorado rent for $1,200 to $1,500 and I bought them from $80,000 to $135,000.

Can you make money?

One reason I was intrigued by Turks and Caicos real estate is the rent to value ratios. We stayed in Florida on the gulf coast a couple of times in the last few years. On our last trip, we paid $2,400 for a week in a three-bedroom, oceanfront house. That house was recently for sale for 1.6 million dollars and I guessed it was worth $1.5 million. The rent was less on the beach house in Florida, but the value was over three times as much as the Turks and Caicos condo.

The problem with vacation rentals is the cost to manage and maintain them. I pay 8 percent of my rents to have my rental properties managed by a property manager. The cost for a property manager on vacation rentals is 30 to 50 percent of the rents! The management fees on the Coral Gardens units that we looked at were 40 percent.

There will also be many more vacancies on short-term rentals than on long-term rentals. There are also high and low seasons for vacation rentals and you can’t expect to see peak income year-round. The total income for 2014 on one unit in TCI was $72,000 and another $62,000. These units were identical and right next to each other, but these income differences show the volatility with vacation rentals. It also shows that you can’t count on $400 a night every night. Weekly rates will be lower, many nights will be vacant and rates will be much lower in the off-season.

The actual income is not $12,000 a month, but closer to $6,000 a month once you factor in the vacancies and off-season rates. Now we are getting closer to the returns we see on my rental properties in Colorado. However, we have not considered the management fees.

Why are management fees so high on vacation rentals?

I pay 8 percent for someone on my team to manage my rental properties. I used to manage them myself, but once I got to seven rentals I started to run out of time to manage my properties, flip houses, run a real estate team and write this blog! With a property manager, my properties have become almost completely passive, except when I first buy them.

I own single-family rentals that take very little management. The tenants tend to stay for long periods of time, the houses are repaired after I buy them so little maintenance is needed. We occasionally have problems, but for the most part, our tenants pay on time and take good care of the properties. The tenants pay all the utilities and are on long-term leases.

When you manage a vacation rental, it is an entirely different situation. Vacation rentals take much more marketing, much more active management, have more inquiries from renters, need more cleaning and are more like a hotel. Managers need to be able to check people in at all times of the day and night and even be a concierge in some cases. More responsibilities and work means you have to pay much higher fees as sometimes the manager will need to hire from services like Tidy TN due to time restraints of their duties.

Just the property management fees on the Turks and Caicos condos are $20,000 to $30,000 per year! We have not even talked about the other expenses that come with a vacation house.

What expenses will you have?

When you invest in condos you also have to consider HOA or maintenance fees. On beach front condos the HOA fees can be very expensive. There is a pool, maid service, parking lot, towels and properties close to the beach that have extra expenses. The beach has to be maintained and buildings weather faster due to salt and winds. The occasional hurricane can really cause problems. HOA fees on beachfront condos can easily run $1,000 a month or more.

Vacation rentals must be furnished, have plates, silverware, linens, televisions and everything someone would need while staying there. Over time these items would have to be replaced and upgraded to keep the rental unit desirable. If you are charging $400 a night, it better be very nice.

Vacation rental owners will have to pay for all the utilities as well. The electric, gas, cable, water, internet all are added expenses and will most likely cost more in exotic places like the Caribbean islands. Fresh water comes from rain and desalinization, not wells or rivers. Internet, cable, electric all cost more.

If you want an oceanfront property it is almost guaranteed to be in a flood zone. You will have to get flood insurance, which is much more expensive than regular insurance.

Here are the total costs per month of a vacation rental on the beach compared to a regular single-family rental (assuming they rent for the same amount, or you have multiple single-family rentals that rent for the same as one vacation rental):

Vacation House                      Single-family Rental

Rents received                       $5,833                                              $5,833

HOA fees                                  $1,000                                                  0

Management                           $2,333                                                $467

Utilities                                     $60                                                        0

Credit card fees                       $200                                                     0

Travel agent fees                    $300                                                      0

Maintenance                           $600                                                   $600

Taxes                                        $0                                                        $416

Insurance                                $500                                                   $400

Total Costs             $4,993                         $1,883

These are not all the costs but are meant to show the huge differences between a long-term rental and a short-term vacation rental. I did not include vacancies, because the rents I used for the vacation rental are actual returns. Keep in mind with a single-family rental property you will have much fewer vacancies than a vacation rental. There are also a few more costs I did not discuss yet on the vacation rental.

  • If you are renting vacation rentals most people will book with a credit card and you have to pay credit card fees to accept credit cards.
  • Travel agents also get paid a commission if they book a vacation rental for you.
  • The insurance number could vary greatly. I am assuming 5 single-family rentals were needed to create that income, but its insurance could be higher or lower based on the number of properties. Flood insurance is much higher per property.
  • Taxes are very skewed in this scenario on the vacation rental. In TCI there are no property taxes, but there is a 15 percent tax on all property purchases. You would have to add $60,000 to the purchase price of $400,000 for taxes when you bought the condo. Over five years that would average out to $1,000 a month.

The utilities on the condos we looked at were not very high, because the HOA took care of the water, electric and cable. The HOA takes care of the exterior maintenance, but not the interior maintenance. You can see that almost all of the income is used up by the expenses on the vacation rental. If you consider the huge initial tax bill all the income is used up on the vacation rental and you don’t have any loan costs!

Do you save money?

The reason most people consider a vacation rental is they think buying a vacation house will save them money. Even though you are actually losing money on this particular vacation condo, maybe it makes sense to buy it if you stay there enough. You will save thousands on every vacation, right? The problem is every time you stay at your vacation rental you are taking it off the rental market. You could be renting the property to someone else and you are losing rental income.

Is it really an advantage to own a vacation house if you are staying there a week or two every year? Will you also feel obligated to go on vacation every year to the same spot? What if you have a wedding, graduation, a family reunion, a funeral or another occasion you have to use your vacation time on? Most people do not use their vacation properties as much as they think. This is one reason timeshares are such a horrible investment, but that deserves another article.

Loans on vacation houses

All of the numbers I have used so far have assumed you are paying cash for a vacation rental and you are still losing money! If you get a loan it will lose even more money and do you want to tie up $400,000 plus in a vacation rental that you use a couple of times a year? That much money would make me over $7,000 a month in rental income because I can use that money with financing and still make money each month. That $7,000 a month would more than pay for a couple of vacations a year in some really nice places! Not to mention it is not easy to get financing in another country or even another state.

When would it make sense to buy a vacation rental?

There are a few instances when it would make sense to buy a vacation rental, but they can still be very risky.

  • If you wanted to invest strictly for appreciation it might make sense to buy a vacation rental. I never invest for appreciation, because I cannot predict the market. Prices can go down on vacation properties just like other houses.
  • If you were going to live in a vacation house for months out of the year, it might make sense.
  • If you were going to manage the property yourself you could make money with vacation rentals. However, you have to spend a lot of time on marketing and management.

Even in these scenarios, there are other risks like beach erosion, natural disasters, political changes in other countries, insurance changes and giant half-finished resorts next to your condo!

Conclusion

On the surface, vacation house may seem like a great investment. They aren’t making any more ocean and there is only so much beachfront property. However, if you have to tie up huge sums of cash to buy the property and you still lose money every month is it worth it? For me, it is not worth the risk, the money it would take and I would lose flexibility with my vacation choices. I love Turks and Caicos, but that does not mean I want to spend every vacation for the rest of my life there.

22 thoughts on “The Pros and Cons of Vacation Homes

  1. Sometimes the traditional vacation spots you think of are not the best returns for this stuff. High management fees, competition, travel expenses eat up profits. Where they can work better is right smack in the middle of year round city. Where you end up with 80% occupancy and lower fees to manage/self manage. There are some expections where the traditional vacation location get away works but one would need to have the rare property combined with year round and self managed. My bro does quite well with his getaway fish ski Eastern Sierras chalet. It books 12 months ahead regularly. It is rare for the area, insane one of a kind 12000 ft peak , waterfall views and overlooking 5 star spa retreat below with restaurant etc. One mile to fish and ski. If there are 1600 others with same offer that would be an issue.

    1. Hi Matt!,
      That is true, a city vacation rental or at least short-term rental would make more sense. That sounds like a pretty awesome place your in the Sierras.

  2. Indeed, it’s not a business buying a vacation house. I think only the time I spend there, the house is off rent. And still I’ll want to change the holiday destination from time to time.

  3. I guess most of the time vacation rentals should stay that way as rentals for you but not to buy. Like you say the only way it makes sense is if you are staying there at least 3 month in a year, or be a regular. Otherwise is a money pit.
    I live in south Florida the ugliest beaches I have ever seen. If you are coming to flag for the beaches you will be disappointed. Any beach out of south Florida is better, trust me.
    Either way, I have thought of vacation homes before, since everyone gets that feel while in vacation. Then I tell myself why would I go to the same place over and over when there are thousands of beaches there. I went with a friend on a small plane to Bimini and those beaches are just like the above , even clearer far away from the shores. The plane was a rental so, let’s say something with beach front in Bimini Bahamas is around 400k I prefer buying a used aircraft for 100k rent it out at 100$ Per hr just to help pay maintenance fees and go every other week to Bahamas, Naples, Orlando, Tampa. .. Etc… From south Florida. And it’s a plus since you can’t beat the views from the skies.
    Either way that’s me, I prefer renting in different places. In December I want to go to Lake Tahoe.
    I know I will then have the urge to buy there lol

    1. Hi Andy, the beaches on the gulf aren’t as nice, but the prices for a beach front vacation house are better and its really hard to find any non condo beach front houses on the other side that aren’t multi million. My wife and I like Ft lauderdale when we don’t have the kids.

      I always get the itch to buy too, even though I always end up realizing it is a bad deal.

  4. If you like key largo or nearest keys you can find cash only, small houses , beach front 1500 to 2500 sq ft for 800k to 1 million. I would only suggest it if you want to retire away from the city, traffic and everything else. Otherwise the Florida keys are boring.. Mainly old people with money. I guess within a month you can actually go to all the restaurants in around 30 miles north or south, that’s just an example.

  5. So true. We have been tempted so often to buy a house/condo in the Rockies, but every time we do the math, it doesn’t make sense financially. We could stay at the Ritz every time we go ski (we don’t) and still have more money left at the end of the year than if we would own a very average 2 bedroom condo. Tempting, but so not worth it

  6. Hi Mark,
    Thanks for this great post!
    I’m a Canadian real estate investor and flight attendant who currently owns 4 rental properties in Florida. I have two condos in Fort Lauderdale and two houses in Kissimmee. They are all rented to long term tenants. I’m looking to buy a duplex or triplex in Fort Lauderdale in order to do short term rental and to live in one of the unit two weeks per month. I’m mostly looking for great cash flow as all my properties including the next one will be 100% financed. I think that short term rental would be great for me because I have higher mortgage payment to do and I could also escape cold canadian winter and live in FLL during at least the winter. I know that short term rental require more expensest, that the market is quite competite and that incomes are less stable then long term rental but I also feel like it could be a much better return on investment. Duplex and triplex that I’m looking at are between 250k-350k. Based on other investors, monthly expenses are between 2000k-3000k depending if you have a pool or not. Monthly income are between 6000k-7000k per month after vacancy. Could you please tell me what do you think of my idea. Thanks in advance!
    JP

    1. The numbers sound decent. A big question would be who would manage the properties?

  7. sorry Net Operating Income is between 6000k-7000k. The gross rental income after vacancy is evaluated between 8500-10 500k.

  8. @Jean-Phillipe,
    Keep in mind that the IRS doesn’t allow you to take most deductions/expenses if you live there more than 14 days per year. It is considered a second home, not rental property. And you still have to declare the rental income with your income.

    I’m not saying the numbers don’t work, just that you need to be aware that you won’t get the same tax advantages.
    Good luck

  9. Mark,
    Thanks for providing the details for running the numbers on vacation property. The beach is a tough place to make money because of wear and tear, and insurance. But there are situations where the numbers do work.
    For example, ski resorts and lakes. The sales prices are lower and the management and HOA fees are lower.
    Also, if you’re really intent on the beach, you can get into a condo for less than 25% for all fees. Management is lower (for a good size condo) because they have to run it like a hotel anyway.

    Lately, just owning a place at a large city can make money. Hotel space is generally short ‘(vacancies are very low) and business travel is up.

    Thanks for the article.

    1. Thanks Toby! I agree there are better investments. I think the trick is doing the numbers.

  10. In regard to the beach front or near beach vacation rental numbers don’t seem to work at all for condos BUT for Cash buyers on Multi’s it SEEMS to work. Buying a 3 fam and renting all but one place gets you a place to stay for free or close to it. But then again you could just rent all 3 and use that income to score short term rental deals all over the world.

  11. Boy, not my experience at all with vacation rentals. I found a great area where I get 275 days a year with reliable local support. My return is better than the current Trump Bump. And I pulled $22k cash out this year. Initial investment $225k. Just do your homework.

  12. Sry bud, your math makes no sense. You would need 8x the rental properties to get the same income as one vacation property because you can rental vacation properties much higher (high daily rates) than rentals (low monthly rates). So you need to add 8x the costs to your property rental numbers and 8x to your capital investment if your going to have multiple buildings supporting the rental number on a rental property. The increase in costs managing 8 apartments offsets the cost of a property manager for one vacation property, hence the return is almost identical even at 50% occupancy on the vacation rental.

    I think you should be noting that in your experience, it doesn’t work for you but in other experiences, running the numbers can yield great results.

    1. But if you have a manager having to clean, and book people non stop that is going to cost much more than a property manager who is working on long term leases. The management percentage fees will be much higher. You also have to furnish the properties and provide many essentials that will need maintenance and replacement. As I mentioned there are usually HOAs and other things to consider as well and much higher insurance costs on destination vacation homes. Not saying you can’t make money at it but it is not as easy as many make it out to be.

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