buying a house with a vacation rental? good idea?

[steve1]

Not saying that it can't be done but if you look at the photo of the house on 8 road it's most likely landlord upstairs and rental downstairs. Living underneath anyone in an uninsulated house is a drag and most people don't want to live under their landlord. Definitely don't want to pay big bucks to do it.

It also takes a special sort of person to be a reasonable landlord. Preferably someone with experience living on the island or who brings experience being a landlord from somewhere else. I think it would be difficult for someone with little to no experience to try and manage a vacation rental while they are also trying to learn and adapt themselves.

Just my opinion I guess, but why make life more difficult from the outset. Lots of people move here to just go away again a few years later, so why deal with the extra headaches?

[KeaauRich]

Kimo, we advertise on vrbo.com/homeaway.com and purpleroofs.com. And Steve, you're right, it takes a special sot of person to be a vacation rental landlord -- in our case, I had done lots of business travel in my former life, so I had a good sense of what travelers wanted in an accommodation. It was a steep learning curve to conquer the business aspect of a vacaion rental (taxes, accounting, etc.), so I would advise anyone considering it to view it as a real part-time job, not a hobby or "easy money." It's not easy and its not much money.