After purchasing a new house in Virginia a couple years ago, we find ourselves with one house too many. Two is manageable. Three is just silly and one doesn’t get visited. Last year solidified that. We stayed at the lake house for a total of two times. That’s it!
We went to the lake often to go out on the boat and since home is only an hour away, we didn’t find the need to stay at the lake house. We just used it as a place we would deposit our clothes and dry out towels.
At first I was very hesitant to do anything with it. Our current cost with taxes and fees is just shy of $9,500 a year. I spoke with a rental company and they are thinking we can get $2,100 a month for it.
($2,100 x 12) – $9,500 = Net Profit
That number is $15,700
Of course I have to look at the full picture, it’s just not a positive $15,700 it is also a positive $9,500 on top of that. Without renting, it is costing me the $9,500, so if you think about it, my bottom line accounting number will be a full $25,200 swing.
The math works out for the 1% rule or at least we are real close to it. We did get it cheaper compared to the sale prices today, but we did renovate the interior, bathrooms, and just recently the windows.
I’ve been putting aside savings for another duplex, but the prices are still not making financial sense, so I’m just sitting tight until the right one comes along, so using this sit and wait time to add a rental that won’t cost me anything (contrary actually) it will be the right move.
