# Vacation rental property



## Sully (Mar 3, 2015)

I know a little about different types of businesses, but I've never done any real reading about owning rental properties. Can anyone offer some advice? 

Here's the full scenario. I can retire from my job in 8 years, and am planning on relocating immediately after. The west coast is most likely location, either central Cali, Oregon, or Washington. I know that's a little vague, as it's almost the whole coast. But, the specific location is mostly irrelevant. 

I want to start planning for retirement sooner rather than later. After spending 2 weeks in Cali, it occurred to me that buying some rental property now might be a good investment. As long as I can keep it rented out for a certain amount of the year it should pay it's own mortgage, and possibly give me a free place to stay on vacation a few times a year. 

At this point, that's about all I know. I don't have the faintest idea about the specifics, tax liabilities, would I need to incorporate, how do I find a company to maintain/manage/book the property, etc. I would be living 1500 miles away for almost the next decade, so being a hands-on type owner wouldn't be an option. 

If anyone has any first hand experience with this type of rental property, I'd really appreciate some pointers on what I need to do and look out for. This would be a major investment for me, and one that I'd need to be able to see all the angles on to make sure it didn't go south on me. I really want to make sure I have my eyes wide open before I start exploring this avenue. Thanx guys.


----------

