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Pros and Cons of a Short-Term Southfield Rental Property

Plano Man Falling Down the StairsOver the past few years, the popularity of short-term rentals has grown exponentially. One opportunity, as a Southfield rental property owner, is whether you should buy or convert one of your properties to a short-term rental. Before you make a decision, its always a great idea to scrutinize both the pros and cons of owning a short-term rental property first. For many, short-term rentals are a good fit, but other investors might feel that the sheer volume of work entailed does not make it a worthy venture.

Oftentimes the most valuable advantage to being in possession of a short-term rental property is the possibility for an increase in rental income. Long-term rentals rent less per day compared to short-term rentals. Compared to a long-term lease, you could make quite a bit more each month if you can keep your property rented out. With short-term rentals, you can increase prices whenever there is high demand. This allows you to take full advantage of your profits.

One more added benefit of being an owner of a short-term rental is that it often comes with a lot of flexibility. You could be renting your property for several months or just a week at a time depending on how you go about it. If your rental property is at a beautiful vacation site, you could easily use any vacancies as an occasion for a personal retreat. Consider signing your property upon rental platforms like Airbnb. By doing this you never have to bother with leases. What if you want to change your property back to a long-term rental? Not a problem! You can quickly remove your listing from those sites at any time.

However, there are a few drawbacks to having a short-term rental. The income is a lot less stable even though the prospect for higher income is bigger. A good number of short-term rentals undergo seasonal fluctuation and that means your property might be forced to remain empty often. While impressive marketing and a sprinkling of creativity could aid you in circumventing this, its vital to recall that your best efforts may be insufficient. Short-term rentals are easily affected by economic conditions, and economic downturns often produce less demand.

One more critical shortcoming of short-term rentals to think of is that you will have a larger overhead. Setting up a short-term rental means you ought to decorate it and provide it with the essentials of daily life. If you wish for your property to be really competitive, then you should decorate it with eye-catching furnishings and décor. Your tenants will need to have everyday essentials on hand, like linens, toilet paper, pots and pans, and more. These things should be replaced between tenants, which will cause costs to add up over time.

Short-term rentals will require more cleaning and maintenance, too. Getting the place ready for the next tenant will take quite a bit of your time, especially if youre doing it yourself. On the other hand, hiring a professional to do it for you could get pricey, especially if your property is in a popular vacation spot. Its critical to ensure that the place is being carefully cleaned between tenants and that required maintenance and repairs are conducted suitably and straightaway. Disregarding to do so might give rise to damaging online reviews and a smaller number of bookings in the future.

As a final point, its vital to find out what are the state and local regulations on short-term rentals. Some places have created strict regulations hindering the operation of short-term rentals in some areas, just like many homeownersassociations across the country. Due to restrictions being different from city to city – and even from neighborhood to neighborhood – its necessary to do your research before acquiring or transforming a property to use as a short-term rental.

Need help managing your current rental property? Give Real Property Management Advantage a call at 248-259-2575. Or conveniently contact us online.

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