Visiting in May, looking to buy a vacation rental

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When we first moved here we rented a series of vacation rentals from landlords who were sooo glad to rent to us for 1 to 3 months at a time, because they couldn't keep the places rented. Many of them had had the same plan as you, or were counting on the rentals to pay their mortgage. Being a successful host requires a certain kind of person: warm, friendly people pleasers who are very knowledgeable about the area, but these are not easy skills to hire for either. Many of our landlords discovered too late that they just weren't that kind of person. Maintaining an up dated website and calendar are also essential to operating a successful vacation rental, too many websites are essentially set up and then ignored, which is not helpful to potential renters. Too many landlords are slack about responding to inquiries promptly too.

We have a friend who lives in Puna and runs a very cute vacation rental attached to her home. She is a warm friendly person who stays on top of her website, responds to all inquiries the same day, and has in the past had many return guests. Last year was super slow, with less than a third of the visitors she had the year before, and this year is only marginally better, even though she is very close to the lava viewing, which has been a big draw in the past. She is really glad that she isn't trying to pay a mortgage from her guest payments.

Unless you are ocean front or otherwise have a truly desirable location you need to stop and ask yourself: who would possibly want to stay in a typical Puna subdivision on vacation in Hawaii? I love my neighborhood in HPP, but it just isn't a vacation destination.

Carol