Renting a Lake Home as a Vacation Property Versus Full Time Rental
While some people who buy lakefront homes do so with the idea of living on the property, others consider them a prime rental investment. Those who chose the latter can look at a number of ways to start making money with their newly acquired property. One ways is to lease or rent the home to vacationers during peek holiday seasons. Another is to rent the property to full time tenants who pay a monthly fee on a year round, contract basis. The route you choose will depend on what your financial needs are and how involved you wish to be with the property and those who inhabit it.
For example, an investor who chooses to rent the lakefront to vacationers will only have to keep the property up on an occasional basis. In this scenario, he will inspect it every so often, cleaning the home so it's inhabitable for guests. The investor will also take care of the home after visitor's leave to make sure it's in the shape it was found in. Since the visitations will be seasonal, the lakefront property owner will only have to make periodic trips to see to the home for maintenance unless an unexpected problem arises.
With permanent renters, the owner will be responsible for taking care of any issues the tenants face, like electrical or plumbing problems. One has to also worry about the wear and tear that comes with consistent habitation. Of course the upside of continual rental is consistent income. Holiday seasons can be fickle and there could be times when the rental property sits unoccupied even in the height of vacation seasons.
The route you take will largely depend on what scenario you feel most comfortable with. There really is no right or wrong answer, and with the proper research an investor will most likely find a fit that suits his lifestyle and needs.