03-10-2011, 04:07 PM
grousehawker. We did, and are doing, exactly what you are writing about. We bought a house and are renting it out short term to vacationers for now, and will be moving to the Big Island. Maybe later this year.Maybe next year. we are tieing up loose ends here on the mainland first.
We have the real estate team of two gents, mark and Ron. Ron sells homes. Mark does the rental management for some homes. We bought mid last year and started renting last October. I'd say our average is from about half to three quarters of the month our place is rented. We pay a fixed rate for each day of rental to the manager. There is a fee for VRBO adds (optional, but a very good thing to do), and charges for minor repairs. Next month, April, our place is rented all but one day. So, usually, the money we make is paying the house payment. In April, we'll make some money.Our manager stays quite busy, and for him, things are most definetely picking up. There are new flights from the mainland to the Big Island coming up.
Our place is 1056 square feet.Three bedrooms, bath and a half. On one acre of beautifully landscaped property with a nice covered barbeque and a car port.The house was built in 1996.The house is nice, but not a palace.We knew what we were going to do, so found a place with the lanscaping DONE. No way we could spend the time and mony to landscape an acre. It's in HPP and closer to the highway, so it's like 15 minutes from Hilo and the airport.
We're on catchment. So regular maintenance includes replacing filters and UV light (this last-once a year). Our neighbors are wonderful and keep an eye on our place and mow the lawn and spray, as they have a landscaping company. My daughter and her spouse AND our granddaughter live nearby (a big reason we are moving there-you should see our granddaughter!!).
I can't speak for anyone else, but this situation is working for us so far.We have to sell our place in Wa. State, and my father in law's place as he passed away recently. It depends on how long it takes to sell these two. I sold a house (my Mother's, she passed away Jan of 2009) not far from us last year in a crappy market time-but we did it.
I am totally happy with Mark and Ron.This includes the buying of our place (which I found doing research from the mainland) and the renting of it. Mark watches over his rental places like a hawk and has high standards for the ceaning etc. The renters pay for all the cleaning and a nightly fee with a little break for longer stays.
This team made things way easier for us to do exactly what you are thinking of doing. Since we don't live on the island, we needed someone we could trust and that could take care of the little problems that come up such as having the screen in the sliding door replaced when it got torn, replacing a broken fan/light pull chain,etc. He has a fine cleaning team and a handyman that is very reasonable.
We go over as often as we can, and love it there. The folks we bought from were going back to the mainland. They didn't really want to ship all there stuff back,and we didn't relish buying everything to furnish an empty house, so we made a deal to include their furnishings as part of the home buying. This helped us both out a bunch.
If you'd like to email me to dsicuss this feel free.Here's my email address: birdmove@yahoo.com.
If you'd like to contact Mark and Ron here's theirs:
markron@earthlink.net.
My wife and her friend will be there in early May. I can't go as I have no more time off till the end of June.
Enjoy your visit to the Big Island,
Jon
Jon in Puyallup, Wa.
We have the real estate team of two gents, mark and Ron. Ron sells homes. Mark does the rental management for some homes. We bought mid last year and started renting last October. I'd say our average is from about half to three quarters of the month our place is rented. We pay a fixed rate for each day of rental to the manager. There is a fee for VRBO adds (optional, but a very good thing to do), and charges for minor repairs. Next month, April, our place is rented all but one day. So, usually, the money we make is paying the house payment. In April, we'll make some money.Our manager stays quite busy, and for him, things are most definetely picking up. There are new flights from the mainland to the Big Island coming up.
Our place is 1056 square feet.Three bedrooms, bath and a half. On one acre of beautifully landscaped property with a nice covered barbeque and a car port.The house was built in 1996.The house is nice, but not a palace.We knew what we were going to do, so found a place with the lanscaping DONE. No way we could spend the time and mony to landscape an acre. It's in HPP and closer to the highway, so it's like 15 minutes from Hilo and the airport.
We're on catchment. So regular maintenance includes replacing filters and UV light (this last-once a year). Our neighbors are wonderful and keep an eye on our place and mow the lawn and spray, as they have a landscaping company. My daughter and her spouse AND our granddaughter live nearby (a big reason we are moving there-you should see our granddaughter!!).
I can't speak for anyone else, but this situation is working for us so far.We have to sell our place in Wa. State, and my father in law's place as he passed away recently. It depends on how long it takes to sell these two. I sold a house (my Mother's, she passed away Jan of 2009) not far from us last year in a crappy market time-but we did it.
I am totally happy with Mark and Ron.This includes the buying of our place (which I found doing research from the mainland) and the renting of it. Mark watches over his rental places like a hawk and has high standards for the ceaning etc. The renters pay for all the cleaning and a nightly fee with a little break for longer stays.
This team made things way easier for us to do exactly what you are thinking of doing. Since we don't live on the island, we needed someone we could trust and that could take care of the little problems that come up such as having the screen in the sliding door replaced when it got torn, replacing a broken fan/light pull chain,etc. He has a fine cleaning team and a handyman that is very reasonable.
We go over as often as we can, and love it there. The folks we bought from were going back to the mainland. They didn't really want to ship all there stuff back,and we didn't relish buying everything to furnish an empty house, so we made a deal to include their furnishings as part of the home buying. This helped us both out a bunch.
If you'd like to email me to dsicuss this feel free.Here's my email address: birdmove@yahoo.com.
If you'd like to contact Mark and Ron here's theirs:
markron@earthlink.net.
My wife and her friend will be there in early May. I can't go as I have no more time off till the end of June.
Enjoy your visit to the Big Island,
Jon
Jon in Puyallup, Wa.
Jon in Keaau/HPP