[JGatti]

Right now my wife and I do not have a house of our own, don't have rent either. We talked about the possibility of buying a house on a lake we've been watching for about a year now and renting it out weekly during the summer. My buddies aunt does it and although her's has been paid off for years she makes decent money and makes enough to pay taxes, a cleaner, and still have a good chunk of money left over. She hold's it open for family members on weeks they want to use it. I thought this would be a good way to get the home we've always wanted up north and with any luck not have to pay much out of pocket for payments etc.
So to anyone who does this is it worth it? Is it a pain? Do you need to register with the state as a business or how exactly does this work? I wouldn't even know where to start as to who to contact. Someone on the state level? County? Any help would be great.

[Eric_P]

I don't own a house up there, but did rent this house out a few years ago:

Keweenaw Acres Vacation Home (http://www.ecologyusa.com/Keweenaw_Acres_Vacation_Home.html - broken link)

Could ask them. People usually love to talk about their business.

[tecpatl]

I have vacation rental property in Leelanau Cty. It's a prime, prime destination so it works out well for us. Our tenants come from St Louis, Dallas, New York, Cincinnati, Muncie, and even a couple from Michigan.
If you don't live somewhere near the property or have anyone local to run it for you it might not be such a good idea. There is maintenance and upkeep, both before and during the season, bad tenant behavior, possible damage, just for starters.
It is, in two words: a pain. But if conditions and circumstances are right it can pay off. My summer tenants will have paid for the house and property in another 5 years, along with taxes, insurance and keeping a maintenance fund solvent. If I get a winter tenant I'm making a 7 to 9 grand profit.

Do NOT talk to local government, except to anonymously inquire as to whether there are zoning restrictions for short-term rental. This is getting to be a big issue, especially on lakefront property. Lakefront residents like to believe they own the lake, and often seek to keep use to a minimum by restricting rentals. Of course, lunkhead tenants can also cause problems with all night beer and fireworks parties, drunk boating and other oafish behavior. Be careful who you rent to.
We declare our rental income so we can also deduct expenses and depreciation, etc. Some people just pocket the rent money.

[tecpatl]

forgot something: you can probably look your lake up on VRBO.com and see what places are bringing for weekly summer rental

[Eric_P]

Originally Posted by tecpatl

If you don't live somewhere near the property or have anyone local to run it for you it might not be such a good idea. There is maintenance and upkeep, both before and during the season, bad tenant behavior, possible damage, just for starters.

Greg, the guy that owns the property I mentioned above, had a local service come out and handle it. Not sure who it is, but they cleaned it up, did the laundry, etc. He was based out of Montana when we rented in 2007, and now he seems to have moved to Hawaii. We were there when the heating oil truck showed up, and even though we told him we were just renting for the weekend, we signed the oil receipt anyway.