I gotta Question

Distinguished members...I have a question, mostly for the yinzers. I have a pipe dream that I am considering acting on. I may have opportunity to buy my childhood home. It is less than 500 yards from one of the best steelmutt spots on earth. It has a good size lot, but the house needs gutted. The house and lot are coming at a super reasonable price. I can do every inch of the work myself and would only have materials into it.

I am considering buying this property to offer up as rentals to fisherman. I see soo many posts about where can I get A clean room and something good to eat?"....What if I could offer both? With boat parking in a quiet safe place. A little "bed and breakfast" for rent on lake Erie. I also know a few guides/charter guys that I may be able to incorporate into a package...I'm sure I could solicit a few more.

Besides the house....I would also have room for additionial boat storage, and maybe even overnight camping...my old man did it in the same house in the 70's for the salmon runs.

Typically what kills these types of businesses is the cost of Labor on remodling/upkeep of this kind of facility....since that's what I do for a living...that's covered


Anyway....thanks for bearing with me. My "pipe dream" seems more of a "feasible idea" the more I think about it. Do you duuds think I'm dreamin'...or could it be a profitable business? I value your opinions....pos or neg.

I don't expect to get rich. I figure I could pay for the house in less than 10yrs and make a decent profit after that. Who knows....it could blow up.


Depending on how this thread goes....I may really delve into this. I'm sure I can get my employer to contribute, he always digs a good investment. If I could get it down on paper....would anyone else be intersted? Maybe even a timeshare deal between Fisherie members? Might b sweet for some of you duuds....just sayin....fire away....


Slick

The biggest problem as I would see it would be having someone "on Site" to supervise the place. Not everybody will respect your property. (I know of this 1st hand) and with the turn-over of guests it could wind up being quite labor intensive. Unless you intended to reside there and rent out rooms. Just my 2cents. If you want it bad enough it can be attainable.


BTW I live sooo far south I'm a yawaller.

Code may kill your budget

I just went through this a few months back.  We were torn between restoring the house to enjoy it ourselves, or using it as a rental property.  The most important thing for you to do is first answer that question, then run the numbers.

When we factored in the costs to redo the house, the labor and time involved, the taxes, utilities, insurance (we needed to get flood ins. too), and the multitude of other issues we decided to pass on it.

We figured we would have 20k in it before it was done, with a yearly base cost around 2k in taxes and what not.  Figuring on the 2k a year alone for personal enjoyment, that's a pretty nice vacation every year that you are spending just down the road. 

Putting 20k into a business is a little different, but with my time already maxed out with the family and work, the last thing I needed was another lawn to mow and more people to clean up after.  You could do well because there is a lot more than just steel to keep people in Erie most of the year.  You'll have to decide what's more important though, the money or your sanity.  It's definitely going to drive you crazy, and if you do it you need to start a thread entitled "where I found the fish guts today."

Sounds like a good idea to me Slick!  Go for it buddy...

Thats BS, no offense to you Scott.....just renovate the place as if you were doing it for yourself, without plans to rent it out....then, later on, conveniently decide to rent it out and become a landlord....NO laws against that.  Some of these assenine Govn't Regs seem designed to keep the little guys down....unreal and pizzes me off!  I would, however look into all the regulations/insurances and such on renting out a place/home and decide if you want to deal with it all.  Good Luck...I still think your idea has serious potential.

I think you should pass on it. Where did you say it was?

Seriously though, it sounds like a good opportunity and I know you have the knowledge and skills to do the work. Gov BS will be your biggest hurdles. Not sure, but I think once you start it as a "resort" type property your tax assessment will change. You'll definately want to discretely check on what the requirements and costs will be once you decide to start renting. "Violent Pike's Bed and Breakfast"

I'm in for plumbing and electrical!

ShutupNFish is right!
 
One question:  Are you talking about a bed & breakfast, as in, you live there too, and rent out a room or two?  Or are you talking about a rental house/cabin that you rent by the day/week/weekend?

"Are you ready and do you have the time to be a building manager?"


Duud manages a city block worth of buildings now... just sayin'

Slick,

Me and John (Frisco and Hogsett) have a camper up at Pine Lane Campground that we keep there year round. We are usually up there 1-2 weekends out of the month. The trip is a 3 hour drive to be there. From my experience, I would say there are a heck of a lot of people that would like to either rent a place for the week or stay for the weekend during the fishing seasons. Now the question is when is fishing season..... Steelhead is hot from Mid October to Early January..... And you also have the charters that run Hot during the summers. My guess is that there will be an open season for no rent from February through April or May... With a few stragglers in between.

You probably will not be able to put a camping tag on the property being it is a LOT as you stated. It would be nice if it were available but I really dont know the regulations where you are at.
If it is possible, there are some nice cabins that you can line the property with and have electric only for additional value and income.

As far as a Time Share as you stated, There would be plenty of members and fishermen that would be willing to throw in the help and finances that are needed to remodel the place and get it up to snuff.

Basically, my thoughts, which have been many about doing this same thing would be to offer a time share opportunity to 10 other people who I would entrust with a set of signed rules and regulations for Finances, Work for Remodeling, Owner Time and Rental Time.

Each of the 10 owners would get 4 weeks per year entitled to them 1 week during each of the four seasons and there would be 12 weeks left for Rental mainly during the peak seasons.

Your Rental Income should offset any taxes and services that may need to be paid.

I would definately be interested in something like this and I am sure there are many more that would be willing to get involved.

Rick Frisco

Funny you mention it Glen, I'm actually headed for Maine tonight for a week....rented a beachhouse too! I think its Biddeport Maine. Been wanting to go there for years.....lookin forward to it.

Doesn't sound like you would be risking a lot of dough. If it's just sweat and not money the you are going to risk, why not?
 
I like the sounds of it. You know the place and what you are getting, better than anyone. Good luck.

Duud manages a city block worth of buildings now... just sayin'

Me 2

Hey Slickfish, yinz gunna have a flatscreen for tha stillerz games an 'aht?